There are many reasons for this. The AC cost model previously intended for academics mainly, was being bypassed by many universities as under it permanent staff could not normally be funded. The FCF model was a variant of the standard FC model introduced for SMEs. They will all now be funded by a single model. However the differentiation between the various organisations will now be addressed by the funding rate for RTD Action direct costs, summarised as follows: Type of organisation | SME | Large industrial | Academic | Other | Under FP6 | 50% | 50% | 100% AC | 100% AC | Under FP7 | 75% | 50% | 75% | 75% |
Of course indirect costs (i.e. organisational overheads) can be added as before. A fixed default overhead rate option of 20% will also be available, as in FP6. 100% rates for Consortium Management, Dissemination and training will also be available. However Demonstration activities are raised to 50% across the board. A transitionary derogation rule will permit those organisations who previously could have used the AC model to optionally claim 60% (rather than the default 20%) fixed overheads for projects under calls that close during the first three years of FP7 and a minimum of 40% for funding of projects arising from calls closing in the following four years. However this latter 40% will be confirmed later. An important change for those that could previously have used AC is that permanent staff can now be funded. However, "demonstration" will be funded at 50% instead of 100%. The overhead rate for CSAs (i.e. SAs and CAs) will be limited to 7% instead of 20%.
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