How to submit most EU bids in 10 easy steps
Most bids to the European Commission need to be made electronically via the Commission’s dedicated
submission system called the Electronic Proposal Submission Service or EPSS.
This system covers bids under Framework Programme 7, including the Marie Curie schemes. Bids to other
funding schemes, such as Erasmus Mundus II or COST (Co-operation in Science & Technology), are submitted
through different channels.
Computer requirements are:
• Internet connection
• 1024x768 resolution
• Internet Explorer 6 or Netscape Navigator 7 or Mozilla Firefox 1
Safari is NOT supported (whatever the OS)
EPSS help desk:
Phone (9) 00 32 2 23 33 760
Email: [email protected]
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1. The first step: getting a user ID and password
Access to the EPSS is specific to calls and to the corresponding subscheme.
You have to first make your choice for which call for proposals and for which subscheme you want to apply.
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/dc/index.cfm
On the call page, go to the Electronic Proposal Submission Service (EPSS) section;
choose the sub-scheme you want to apply for from the drop down list and click “Go”
You will than arrive at the EPSS start page. Click on "Register"
Fill in the registration form and submit it
The PIC or Participant Identification Code is a unique code for identifying the participant organisation:
UWE’s PIC is 999839432
Find another organisation’s PIC: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/urf/search/searchPIC.do
Please note it is possible to add more than one email address by using a semi-colon between “;”
The EPSS will send the Coordinator two sets of usernames and passwords by e-mail — one set is for
the co-ordinator only, and the other set is for the partners in the proposed consortium.
The EPSS registration email, which contains the access codes to prepare and submit the proposal, will be
sent to the email address(s) you define during the registration.
Important: The login usernames and passwords you receive by e-mail is specifically linked to only one
proposal (for the call and for the instrument you have chosen). For any other proposal you want to
prepare you have to register again, following the procedure described above.
2. The second step: setting up access details
As a coordinator you must use the username & password sent to you by e-mail to access the EPSS.
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Go to https://www.epss-fp7.org and enter username
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•
Enter the Coordinator password
Change the Coordinator password
(it is helpful to choose a coordinator password which is short & easy to remember; the system
expects at least one numerical digit as well as case-sensitive alphabetic characters)
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Enter the Partner password
Change the Partner password
(it is helpful to choose a partner password which is short & easy to remember)
Distribute the partner username and the modified partner password to your other participants.
Note that you cannot change the usernames allocated by the system (which is a random sequence of
letters and numbers), only the passwords.
3. The third step: entering basic data
Go to https://www.epss-fp7.org
Enter Coordinator username & password
or
Enter Partner username & password
Please note: By entering EPSS as Partner, you can only access your A2 Form for editing. Other
participants can view all proposal information but only edit A2 forms.
Tip: It is easier to copy & paste in usernames & passwords
4. The fourth step: checking general bid information
You can now prepare the proposal. By clicking on the “General” Tab, you can find information about:
• The selected call
• The selected sub-scheme
• The proposal’s status
• The proposal number (if this has been submitted)
• The Coordinator’s Name (as registered)
• The proposal Title (as registered)
Please note: If the co-ordinator details change, you do not need to register again; co-ordinator information is taken from
the A2 form
If you wish to modify the Title of the proposal you will have to do it in the forms.
Tip: Please check the call and sub-scheme identification first. If you have selected the wrong call and the
wrong sub-scheme, you will have to register again. The EPSS operator cannot change the registration
information and transfer data from one registration to another.
5. The fifth step: adding partner details
In the proposal setup section you define the number of project partners.
To add another partner you need to provide:
• PIC number
• Partner’s short name
• Partner’s email address
If you add a new partner without providing a PIC number, then the following information is also requested:
The legal status of organization
The Method of determining the Indirect Cost
Please note: only the Coordinator can enter Partner's PIC codes
Once a partner is added, the system automatically creates forms A2 & A3.1 for that partner.
6. The sixth step: adding details to Part A
Section Part A contains the administrative and financial forms of the proposal: a single A1 describes the
proposal, the A2 forms are about each of the partners, and the A3 forms are about costs and funding.
Important! You must make sure that partners open their A2 form to complete validation. The associated
PIC data set is only inherited once the A2 form is opened, and additional details have to be added
manually by each partner, as the PIC data does not fill in the entire form.
When filling the forms, please pay particular attention to the verification.
Fill the fields with data. All fields on the forms are mandatory
(“-“ or “0” are the values that designate the “none” or “Non applicable” value)
The project acronym (entered in the A1 form) will be used to identify your proposal efficiently in the call.
(max 20 character, using standard Latin alphabet and numbers only; no spaces, symbols or special
characters please. The same acronym should appear on each page of part B of your proposal)
When filling in the contact information, it is possible to add more than one email address by using a
semi-colon between “;”
You can use the UWE switchboard number +44 117 965 6261 as the second phone number, to provide a
fallback in the event that your own number is unavailable.
The co-ordinator needs to obtain costing data from all partners (including the co-ordinating institution)
and enter these data in the A3.1 forms (one for each partner). The A3.2 form is generated automatically
by the system as a summary of the financial information in all the A3.1 forms.
Press the “Validate” button at the bottom of every form: The validation is looking for formal errors in the
forms. If it finds errors, it indicates which fields are wrongly filled.
If all the necessary fields are filled you will find “no validation errors” at the bottom of the form.
Do not forget to save the form by pressing the Save
Form button, or your changes will be lost!
Tip During form preparation save early and often.
7.
The seventh step: adding Part B
Part B contains the bulk of the bid. It must be in PDF (portable document format) - other file formats
(e.g. Word) will NOT be accepted!
Therefore, you MUST convert your proposal from Word to PDF format before uploading to EPSS.
There are some Calls (e.g. Marie Curie funds) that request two separate Part B files namely Section 1
and Section 2. If this is the case, then all instructions remain the same with the only difference that the
user will have to provide 2 separate files. Format and naming convention applies for these files.
The format of Part B or so called “Part B Template” can be accessed by clicking on the link “Download
Part B Templates”. There are requirements (specific to each call) about numbers of pages, what can be
included, font sizes, total file sizes, etc. In some calls (e.g. FET-Open STREPs), a two-stage submission
process operates, with a short (5-page) Part B in the first (outline) stage, and a much longer document for
Part B in the second (full) stage.
The Part B filename should not contain any special characters or spaces. It can only contain Latin letters
(a-z), digits (0-9), the underscore (_), the dash (-) and the dot (.) character.
Once the Part B file is created, use the “Browse” button to locate the part B file.
Click on “Upload Proposal File” to upload the Part B file to the proposal. Part B checklist:
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Part B is in PDF format (filename ends in .pdf)
The proposal contains no unnecessary coloured or high resolution pictures. It will be printed in
Black and White at 300dpi for evaluation
8. The eighth step: Validation
On the main screen for the proposal, click on the Validate tab in order to validate the entire proposal. Possible errors
are indicated and can easily be found and resolved.
Please note that during the validation process Errors or Warnings may be reported. It is still possible to submit a
proposal, which has Warnings; it is NOT possible to submit a proposal that has Errors.
If you cannot locate validation errors please contact the EPSS help desk immediately
9. The ninth step: Submission
In order to complete the proposal submission the Coordinator must select the “Submit Proposal” section
and clicking on the “Submit NOW” button.
An automatic validation check will verify the proposal.
If you receive this screen, the proposal is successfully submitted.
For most calls, the proposal can be modified and submitted up until the closure of the call. Each
subsequent submission overwrites the previously submitted version (earlier versions are not archived).
However, for calls where a continuous “batch” submission process operates (such as “short” first-stage
outlines in FET-Open), submission is a once-and-for-all action. As soon as it is submitted, the proposal is
accepted for evaluation as part of the current “batch”, and no revision and re-submission is possible.
There is, however, an option to withdraw the proposal entirely, and start again with a new bid.
If there are blocking validation errors you’ll not be able to submit the proposal.
If there are “Warning” types of validation errors, then you can proceed with the submission by supplying
some relevant comments and click on the “Submit NOW” button:
Tip Simply uploading a new Part B file or modifying the A forms is not sufficient; the “submit” button
needs to be pressed in order for the changes to be registered.
A day or two after a successful submission, confirmation e-mails will be sent to the contact person named
in the A2 Co-ordinator form.
10.
The tenth step: Wait for result