They should be founded at least a month before the launch of the 2nd call for proposals.

Yes, but they should pay very close attention to their legal status - whether they are public institutions or SMEs.

At least 45 days.

The 10 days are meant for sending clarifications after the administrative check of Concept notes.

In case the procurement procedure, which was carried out during the project implementation, resulted into savings, the Article 9 of General Conditions to Grant Contract would give possibility for Beneficiary or project partners to submit the request to the Programme for reallocation of the savings. The Beneficiary or project partners may as well add funds deriving from the savings incurred within the other project budget lines – with the exception of Administrative costs – in case the procurement resulted in increase of the actual costs. At the same time, the Contracting Authority possesses the right to object the requested changes if it considers the justification and supporting documents provided by the Beneficiary together with request insufficient.

In case the procurement procedure is concluded by the Beneficiary or project partners (on their own risk) for the purposes of project implementation before the signature of the Grant Contract, it shall be regulated by the Article 7.2.11 of Special Conditions to Grant Contract, which stipulates that modifications or reductions of the project budget may be imposed by the Joint Managing Authority of the Programme.

The procurement must be organized in accordance with national regulations , except for NGOs and SMEs of the Russian Federation which should comply with the regulation set out in PRAG.

The aim of the Programme is to promote regional development. There is a tangible lack of projects for support of entrepreneurship in these areas. Nevertheless, it should be taken into consideration that a SME cannot be the only partner from a country in the project; it also cannot be lead partner. The co-financing rate for SMEs is 50%, de minimis rule applies to SMEs and its activities within the project cannot be of a profit gaining character.

JTS assists in partner search as far as the section in the www.estlatrus.eu homepage goes, it is also possible to find some partners during seminars organized by JTS.

Yes, it can.

The minimum is 2 partners in the project (one of which from Russia), having a partner from every country will not be considered an advantage that gives extra credit at evaluation of Concept Notes. Partners must be indicated in the Concept Note, as well as their share of financing within the project. The division of financial resources does not have to be equal but it should be proportionate, it depends on the activities that each partner is going to carry out and the amount of money the activities require.