From idea to completed project: we help you plan everything step by step. All funding facilities for feasibility studies, business partnerships and strategic alliances are designated in the following as business partnerships. Possible procedural deviations in the different funding instruments are noted where appropriate.

OUR FUNDING PROCESS

STEP 1: INITIAL ASSESSMENT

Do you have a project idea for an business partnership? Then please complete the initial concept for a business partnership and send it to wirtschaft@ada.gv.at. Based on the concept, we will review whether the proposed project meets our funding criteria and whether the proposal includes the necessary financial contributions by the applicant. After reviewing the documents, we will contact you to discuss how we will move forward.

Please have a look at our funding criteria and prerequisites for funding in our Funding Policy for Business Partnerships.

Please also take note of our Information on the Protection of Personal Data.

STEP 2: FORMAL ASSESSMENT

As soon as you have received positive feedback regarding your concept, please complete the Financial Health Form (FHF).

Please have this document attested by a tax consultant or auditor. Please send us the Financial Health Form both as an xls file and as a PDF by email to wirtschaft@ada.gv.at or to the responsible Program Manager.

In addition, please send us a current credit rating report that is based on a recognized rating system (e.g. from Creditreform, Kreditschutzverband 1870, Bisnode, Crif, Dun & Bradstreet, Schufa, Moody's, Fitch, DBRS), along with a current company register extract or a comparable register extract.

STEP 3: PROJECT PREPARATION – SHORT APPLICATION

If the basic prerequisites for a project application have been met, we ask you to prepare a short application and a budget proposal. The responsible Program Manager will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Please be sure to follow our Guidance on Budgeting while preparing the budget proposal – it will offers useful guidance for your project’s budget preparation.

Please use our Budget for Business Partnerships form to prepare your budget, please use the Feasibility Study Budget Form for feasibility studies.

Please also make sure to answer the following questions in your project application:
- What is the project's objective?
- What activities are being planned?
- What is the expected impact?

If key questions for the project are not clarified, a feasibility study can be carried out before the project begins (Feasibility Study Form).

Funding for a feasibility study will be approved via a simplified procedure. We will send you a written confirmation if you are accepted.

STEP 4: DETERMINING ELIGIBILITY FOR FUNDING

A funding committee consisting of representatives of the Austrian Development Bank (OeEB), the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (BMEIA), the Austrian Economic Chamber (WKO) and the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) meets several times a year and will decide on the eligibility of your project application.

In the funding committee, the responsible program manager will present the respective project application- The committee members will evaluate its eligibility for funding and can also make recommendations for the full application.

STEP 5: PROJECT DEVELOPMENT – THE FULL APPLICATION

If the funding committee has approved your project application, we will subsequently ask you to send us the Full Application for your project, which we will review regarding its content, financial and, if necessary, legal details.

We also ask you to complete and sign the Company and Bank Data Sheet and send it to us.

If several companies or organisations are applying for funding together, please enclose a signed Consortium Declaration.

STEP 6: DRAFTING AND SIGNING THE CONTRACT

The preparation phase will be completed by preparing the Funding Agreement, which must be approved by the ADA management. The following documents are part of the contract and form annexes to the Funding Agreement:
Company and Banking Details
- Brief Description
Project Document
Project Budget
General Terms and Conditions for Business Partnerships

Together with the funding agreement and its annexes, we will send you the following documents together with the Funding Agreement:
Information Sheet Code of Conduct
Privacy Policy

The Funding Agreement will become legally valid after signature by all contracting parties.

STEP 7: PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION AND REPORTING

The planned initiatives described in the project application are supposed to being implemented during the contractually defined project period. Every six months, you are contractually required to send us a narrative report and an interim financial report on the current status quo of the project.

Please use the following forms for those tasks:
- Progress Report
Budget Form

The Progress Report will be prepared and sent to you by your program manager. Please use the project indicators to assess the project's level of implementation and describe what progress has been made in the reporting and accounting period. Please also include "Lessons learned" and other factors that might have complicated the implementation of the project activities.

Should your project be eligible for a Feasibility Study, that study will replace the Progress Report. No format is specified for the Feasibility Study. It is important that the questions listed in the service description (see point 4 of the Feasibility Study Application) are answered in the study.

The expenses incurred in the respective accounting period must be entered in the columns AM to BN in the Budget Form. These columns are marked with "IFR" (Interim Financial Report).

An audit report from an external auditor must also be submitted with every second interim financial report, i.e. once a year.

To that end, we ask you to conclude a contract with an external auditor with a detailed task description and submit it to us with the first Interim Accounting Statement. The Guidelines for Expenditure Verifications of projects (co-)financed by ADA can be used as a guide for the drafting of contracts.

Please send the following documents to abrechnungen@ada.gv.at  and to the responsible program manager both by email and by mail (with the originals), Zelinkagasse 2, 1010 Vienna.

For the 1st, 3rd and 5th report:

- Document scan by email: Progress Report (Word or PDF) and Business Partnerships Budget Form (all documents that may be requested: signed time sheets etc.)

- Originals by mail: Confirmation of the Financial report and Business Partnerships Budget Form signed and  with company stamp.

Additionally for the 2nd, 4th and last report:
- Document scan and original: Audit Report

STEP 8: DISBURSEMENTS

ADA disburses funding for business partnerships (max. 50 percent of the total project costs) semiannually after review and acknowledgement of the submitted progress report and the submitted interim financial report.

ADA disburses its share of the invoiced project costs to the account specified in the Company and Banking Details. For example, in the case of a three-year project, this means that the disbursement will proceed in six instalments.

STEP 9: PROJECT COMPLETION

ADA will review the project's outcome based on the final progress report and the final financial report. Please use the same forms as for the progress reports and the interim financial reports. Kindly also make sure that all indicators are entered and that the results of the project are presented.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Reallocation and term extensions

Content and budget reallocation are possible and are subject to the provisions of the directive on Reallocation and Term Extensions. They must be submitted to the ADA for approval. To do that, please send an email with
- a signed application including justification and
- the reallocated budget (column N-AJ)

to your program manager.

This application must be signed by an authorized person from your company.

A reallocation may not lead to an increase of the contractually agreed total budget.

Term extensions can only be requested once. The extension may not exceed one third of the originally agreed term.

Public relations

Contractual partners of the ADA are obliged to comply with the provisions of the Visibility of Austrian Development Cooperation directive.