Accepting your offer
If your proposal is selected for funding, the project coordinator will receive an invitation through the EU Funding & Tenders Portal to begin grant agreement preparation. All partners should follow the instructions and complete any actions by the deadlines provided.
You may need to confirm or update your organisation’s legal, administrative and financial information, project description and budget. The European Commission will also complete its final checks before the grant agreement is generated and signed electronically.
Read the European Commission’s guidance on grant preparation section 3.2.4. on page 45
Setting up a Horizon Europe project
Find guidance on preparing your project for launch, confirming organisational and financial information, agreeing roles and responsibilities, and completing the grant preparation process.
What happens during the preparation of the Grant Agreement
- The information provided in the proposal is checked and amended, where necessary.
- Key data of the action such as start of the project, number and duration of reporting periods, budget and amount of pre-financing are specified.
- The financial capacity of the coordinator is usually checked (“financial capacity check”).
- The results of the “ethics review” and/or “security scrutiny” are implemented, if applicable.
How the Grant Agreement is signed
- Following the grant preparation phase, each project participant signs a Declaration of Honour.
- The GA is then signed, first by the coordinator followed by the European Commission/funding agency.
- The other project partners may join the agreement within 30 days using the “Accession Form” (Annex 3).
- All the agreements and documents mentioned above are signed electronically in the Funding & Tender Opportunities Portal.
- The agreement is signed electronically by the “Project Legal Signatory (PLSIGN)”.
Please note:
- Failure to meet the deadlines specified in the invitation to prepare a GA (without extension of the deadline) may cause the project to be rejected!
- “Substantial” deviations of the GA from the proposal are not permitted. All changes must in principle be covered by the invitation to grant preparation. Obvious errors and contradictions may also be rectified.
- Suggestions made by the evaluators in the Evaluation Summary Report (ESR) may but need not be implemented. However, for Lump Sum funded projects, recommended reductions in budget must be implemented.
- Changes in the composition of the consortium are only possible in exceptional cases. They must be agreed with the “Project Officer (PI)” stating the reasons.
- Each project partner and each linked third party need a validated PIC (= Participant Identification Code) prior to signing the GA. Each project participant must additionally have a validated LEAR for Horizon Europe.
To contact the validation service of the European Commission please follow these instructions:
- Log in to the Funding & Tenders Opportunities Portal,
- Click on “My Organisation(s)” in the left menu bar,
- Click on “Actions” and on “Modify Organisation” on the right next to your organisation,
- Click on “Messages” and on “Create a new message” in the left menu bar.
The Commission’s F&T portal has a very useful explanation covering “From evaluation to grant signature” which contains all the information and guidance you require.
The Consortium Agreement is also prepared during the grant preparation phase. The European Commission/funding agency is not involved in this agreement, which is concluded between the project participants.
Project set-up for European Partnerships
Depending on the type of partnership, the process to set up your grant funding may differ from the standard process outlined above. The specific partnership website will provide all necessary details.
Contact the NCP for Legal and finance to advise further on this.
What is included in the Consortium agreement
The Consortium Agreement (CA) governs the rights and obligations of the project partners among themselves. It complements the Grant Agreement (GA) (PDF) and further specifies, in particular, the internal organisation of the consortium, financial arrangements, and the management of intellectual property.
Negotiation and conclusion of the agreement
For most Horizon Europe projects, the conclusion of a Consortium Agreement is mandatory (unless explicitly waived in the work programme). The CA should be signed before or at the same time as the Grant Agreement.
The Consortium Agreement is a private contract between the project partners. The European Commission is not a party to it and does not review or approve its content.
In practice, consortia usually rely on established model agreements (e.g. DESCA, MCARD-HEU, EUCAR), which are then adapted to the specific project.
The DESCA Core Group provides a general model for both actual cost and lump sum projects, and a version with specific provisions for associated partners.
Costs for drafting the Consortium Agreement are not eligible, but costs for revisions during the project may be eligible.
Content of the agreement
The Consortium Agreement must not contradict the Grant Agreement (in case of conflict, the GA prevails). It may complement and further specify GA provisions and – where explicitly allowed – adapt them (e.g. “default rules”).
The Description of the Action (Annex 1 of the GA) is binding and must be reflected in the CA.
Typical content:
- General provisions: definitions, entry into force, duration, applicable law (often Belgian law)
- Obligations of the partners: compliance with deadlines (deliverables, reports), information duties, participation in meetings, consequences of non-compliance
- Governance and decision-making: structure and responsibilities of consortium bodies, meetings, voting rules
- Financial provisions: distribution of funding, payment modalities (e.g. instalments of pre-financing), handling of receipts and financial risks
- Intellectual property provisions: background, access rights, ownership and exploitation of results
- Other provisions: liability, confidentiality, dispute resolution
Cash flow and the consortium agreement
According to the Grant Agreement (GA), the coordinator is obliged to transfer the received payments to the other beneficiaries “without unjustified delay.”
However, this rule only applies if the CA does not provide for different arrangements. In practice, the CA usually contains detailed provisions on how payments are distributed and under which conditions they are made.
Typical provisions in the Consortium Agreement
The Consortium Agreement offers significant flexibility in defining financial arrangements. Financial decisions are usually taken by a consortium body (e.g. the General Assembly). In many cases, the consortium agrees on a payment plan, which may include a specific distribution key, meaning that EU funding is internally allocated differently from the actually reported and accepted costs. Common elements include:
Distribution of pre-financing: The allocation may differ from each beneficiary’s share of the budget. Some partners may receive reduced amounts or no pre-financing at the beginning. Pre-financing is often paid in instalments (e.g. based on timing or achieved progress).
Performance-based payments: Further payments may be withheld if agreed tasks are not carried out as planned.
Limitation to budget shares: Beneficiaries often receive no more than their share according to the current project budget.
Note: This “current budget” may differ from Annex 2 of the GA, as budget transfers do not always require an amendment.
Handling of remaining funds at project end: Unused funds may, under certain conditions, be redistributed to beneficiaries who have incurred higher costs than originally planned.
Last updated: 29 October 2026