Both the Commission and the Consortium have expectations on what coordinator tasks are. Every signed Grant Agreement (GA) lists specific tasks that may not be subcontracted or delegated to any other beneficiary or third party (including affiliated entities).

An overview of what is expected throughout the process:

Proposal Development

In most cases, but not necessarily, the coordinator takes charge from the moment there is an intention to form a consortium and write a proposal. The coordinator then takes the lead in developing the project concept, defining the project's objectives, work plan and consortium structure. He works closely with partners to ensure the proposal aligns with the program's goals and requirements as specified in the call and ensures timely submission of the proposal and all relevant documents in the portal.

Consortium Coordination

A coordinator acts as the main point of contact, facilitator and mediator between the granting authority (mainly the project officers) and the consortium and between the consortium members.

When requested in the Grant Agreement, he coordinates the drafting, negotiating and finalizing of the Consortium Agreement. Although the Commission has no interest in the content of the CA and does not endorse a specific model consortium agreement, it offers general guidance for the drafting. A well known and widely used model is  the DESCA model consortium agreement, initiated by a group of FP7 key stakeholders, and updated ever since for H2020 and HEU. 

In case of conflicts or disputes among partners, the coordinator plays a role in facilitating dispute resolution processes according to the terms outlined in the consortium agreement.

He ensures that all project partners fulfill their contractual obligations as outlined in the consortium agreement and grant agreement. He may need to take legal action if partners fail to meet their commitments.

All consortium related issues (e.g. partner terminations) should always be first discussed/agreed upon within the consortium. Conflicts should be resolved in accordance with the consortium agreement. The granting authority will not get involved in internal disputes. It’s the coordinator’s responsibility to handle these correctly.

Project Management

A coordinator is responsible for overall project management, ensuring that project objectives, deliverables and timelines are met. He coordinates the work for all project partners and takes care of project amendments for all members of the consortium (checked, signed and submitted by the coordinator only, unless the amendment concerns a change of coordinator in the project consortium).

On request of the Granting Authority, he organizes and chairs review meetings.

Whereas costs made by the coordinator (or any other beneficiary) related to proposal writing are not eligible, the Project typically foresees sufficient  budget for a workpackage 'Project Management'.

Typical coordinator tasks for the different aspects are:

Financial Management

• is responsible for the financial management of the project
• submits the pre-financing quarantees to the granting authority (if any)
• oversees the budget, ensures proper allocation of funds and monitors the financial activities of the consortium
• distributes the payments received from the granting authority to the other beneficiaries without unjustified delay
• reports on the distribution of payments
• reviews the individual financial statements from each beneficiary to verify consistency with the action tasks, as well as completeness and correctness (e.g. that the addition of the different costs declared by the beneficiary corresponds to the total amount declared). The coordinator is not obliged to verify the eligibility of the costs declared, nor to request justifications. Each beneficiary/affiliated entity remains responsible for the cost it declares (both as regards eligibility and as regards sufficient records and supporting documents to substantiate them)
• liaises with the EC regarding financial reporting and possible reimbursement claims

Reporting and Documentation

• is responsible for preparing and submitting periodic progress reports to the EC
• collects, reviews and compiles the necessary information from partners, ensuring that reports are complete, correct, accurate and timely submitted in the system
• ensures that all project documentation is properly maintained and archived

Risk Management

• identifies potential risks and challenges that may arise during the project and develops strategies to mitigate them
• monitors the project's progress, identifies deviations and takes corrective actions when necessary

Intellectual Property

• submits the list of pre-existing industrial and intellectual property rights

Dissemination & Exploitation

• oversees the dissemination and exploitation activities of the project
• ensures that project results are effectively communicated to relevant stakeholders, such as the scientific community, industry partners, policy-makers and the general public

Ethics and Compliance

• ensures that the project adheres to ethical guidelines and legal regulations
• oversees ethical considerations and data management practices within the project

Cooperation with other EC projects

• if and as foreseen in the call text

Legal

• It is important for the coordinator to have a strong understanding of the legal aspects of Horizon Europe/Digital Europe projects and to work closely with legal experts and advisors to ensure that the project operates within the framework of applicable laws and regulations. Non-compliance with legal requirements can lead to financial penalties, project termination or other legal consequences.

Available Training

The EC offers regular trainings in the form of (recorded) webinars for coordinators, usually upon the release of a new working program.

The recordings of the webinars are available on YouTube (using ‘coordinators days’ or ‘’implementation days’ as your search term) or via the events section on the Funding & Tenders Portal.

New trainings are announced on the NCP Flanders LinkedIn page and our website (after registration you are automatically informed on all news and events related to the domains you added to your profile).

Other sources of information

Funding & Tender Portal Online Manual

A coordinator frequently gets questions related to the Participant Portal where all Beneficiaries need to register before applying for funding as a consortium. The Funding & Tender Portal offers an online manual that guides applicants through this process.

BRIDGE2HE Annotated template for IA & RIA

The authors of this annoted template guide are Horizon Europe NCPs who interact regularly with applicants. This document contains recommendations by NCPs and expert evaluators. NCPs collected and examined the Evaluation Summary reports (ESR) from projects submitted in the first period of 2022. Thanks to these reading exercise, NCPs were able to identify the most common positive and negative remarks coming from the evaluators by highlighting the recurring elements in their evaluations. The main findings were used as the basis for this document and have been distributed in the different sections of the official Horizon Europe RIA/IA template.