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.

FROM PROJECT IDEA TO APPLICATION

STEP 1: INITIAL DISCUSSION

If you have an idea for a business partnership project, please fill out the initial concept for a business partnership and send it to wirtschaft@ada.gv.at. On the basis of the concept note, we assess whether your company meets the economic prerequisites and whether your planned project conforms with our development policy criteria. After reviewing the documents, we will contact you to discuss the next steps. The formal criteria and conditions for assistance are set out in our Funding guidelines for business partnerships.

Information on the protection of personal data.

STEP 2: PROJECT DRAFT

If your company and the project meet the basic requirements for funding, work begins on the project draft. This means that your project idea is translated into a funding application: Grant Application Business Partnership or Grant Application Feasibility Study. Our programme managers are happy to help you with advice and support.

Essentially, the project draft specifies the planned objectives in more detail. It defines the measures for achieving these objectives and identifies the benefits for the target population. Suitable indicators are needed to be able to measure project progress and outcomes.

The Austrian Development Cooperation adheres to international provisions and conventions such as the Declaration of Principles of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the OECD Guidelines for multinational enterprises, the Global Compact and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Specific questions must be answered on this in the application form.

Budgeting represents another part of the project draft. Please fill in the Budget Grant Business Partnership, which contains a calculation of the planned project costs. For feasibility studies, please use the Feasibility Study budget form. Other relevant documents are Guidance on Budgeting and Company and Banking Details.

If several companies plan to implement a business partnership together, they must append a consortium declaration to the grant application, including the signatures of all partners. A consortium is entitled to apply for funding if at least one partner meets the criteria for assistance.

The completed project application is submitted for approval to the Award Committee for Business Partnerships, which comprises representatives of the Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank (Austrian Development Bank), the Austrian Foreign Ministry, the Austrian Chamber of Economy and the management of the Austrian Development Agency. The committee discusses whether the project can be funded. If so, the grant agreement is prepared. This consists of the General Terms and Conditions for Business Partnerships, company and banking details, the project document and the project budget. The contract for assistance enters legal force after signature by all parties. Furthermore, we kindly request your written confirmation that you forwarded the enclosed Information sheet about ADA's Code of Conduct and the Information Point for Integrity to all partners mentioned in the grant application and to acknowledge the enclosed Data Protection Notice.

Feasibility studies are approved in a simplified procedure. You will receive a written notification of grant approval.

From project approval to completion

STEP 3: PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION AND REPORTING

The planned measures are now put into practice. Continuous reporting is the basis for disbursements of individual grant installments.

Project monitoring: progress report, accounting and auditing

To review project implementation, a narrative progress report must be submitted every half-year, giving account of the measures conducted and providing current results monitoring. A feasibility study substitutes for the progress report.

The interim financial report records project expenditure during the respective half-year. Please use the progress report and the fields provided in columns AM to BN in the Budget Grant Business Partnership. An audit by an external auditor must be appended to every second report once a year.

Please mandate an external auditor, drawing up a contract which includes a detailed description of the tasks and submit this contract to ADA together with the first progress report. The "Guidelines for Expenditure Verifications of projects (co-)financed by the Austrian Development Agency" can be used as a companion for drafting the contract.

Please prove that you have fully informed the external auditor regarding the grant agreement, including all annexes thereto, as well as all relevant contracts with further private sector project partners, to the extent that their work is included in the grant agreement.

Please send the following documents to abrechnungen@ada.gv.at and the responsible programme manager in the Private Sector and Development Unit, as well as to the Department Finance and Administration, Zelinkagasse 2, 1010 Vienna.

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

1. Electronic transfer: progress report (Word or PDF)

Electronic transfer: Budget Grant Business Partnership including rates, amounts and totals for the respective progress report (columns AM to BN in the document) (EXCEL table)

3. Original copy: Confirmation of the Financial Report signed by the authorised signatory with the company stamp; total amount for the invoiced half-year to be entered here

4. Original copy: Budget Grant Business Partnership stamped and signed

Addition for the 2nd, 4th and last report:

5. Original copy: Auditor's Report

Disbursement

Funds are disbursed every half-year after examination and approval of the submitted narrative and financial reports. According to the percentage agreed upon in the budget and the grant agreement (maximum 50 percent), ADA transfers its contribution of the settled project costs to the account specified in the company and banking details. In a three-year project, the funds are therefore disbursed in six installments.

Reallocation and term extension

Substantive and budgetary reallocations and term extensions are contractual modifications requiring prior written approval by ADA. They may not, however, result in an increase of the contractually agreed budget. In this case, kindly submit an informal request giving reasons to your programme manager by email.

Budgetary reallocations are necessary whenever individual items in the Overall Calculation sheet in the Budget Grant Business Partnership will be exceeded by a maximum of 10 percent, but no more than EUR 10,000. In this case, please fill in the reallocations sheet in the Budget Grant Business Partnership.

Public relations

As ADA’s budget is made up of public funds (taxes), we are committed to transparency. As contractual partners of ADA, businesses are obliged to adhere to the visibility guidelines of Austrian Development Cooperation and refer to ADA as their partner in all project-related public relations activities.

To support and enhance the visibility of the Business Partnership Programme and the work of Austrian Development Cooperation as part of its cooperation with the private sector, ADA conducts PR and marketing activities. Please provide us with the name of a possible contact person in your organisation in order to help to better coordinate these measures.

STEP 4: PROJECT COMPLETION

To assess project success, a final report must be submitted upon the project’s completion. Please stat all achieved results. The procedure is the same for interim reports.