I.1.
The aim of this call for proposals is to identify consortia, which might be eligible for financial support from the European Environment Agency. This aid would take the form of co-financing.

I.2.
The European Topic Centres (ETCs) are, according to the EEA founding regulation and in practice, important instruments supporting the EEA through the execution of sizeable, continuous, well-defined tasks with the involvement of member countries. Following developments in 2005, European Topic Centres will be involved in the work of EEA as the data centres for the issues of air, climate change, water, biodiversity and land use. Tasks focus on support to harmonisation of monitoring of the environment in the member countries, in the compilation of the resulting data in international databases, in the processing of information including the use of models to describe and analyse the present and future state of the environment, and in the production of indicators to communicate information to various users.

European Topic Centres are part of the European environmental information and observation network (Eionet) and a support to other Eionet partners. Their activities have an important component on networking with various experts in the member countries on the harmonisation, quality and exchange of data and in building capacities in the member countries through country visits and meetings with national Eionet representatives. Topic Centres assist countries in discussing options for improving national information systems. Networking with the countries also occurs when involving the member countries in data analyses, assessments and the development of indicators. The ETCs are expected to also work together on crosscutting projects.

To perform these tasks European Topic Centres are expected to include the best expertise in Europe to handle data in their topic area, and to analyse the environmental data with regards to developments in society and the economy and with regards to environmental and sectoral policies. The consortia that form European Topic Centres are also expected to have the expertise to cover the full geographical area of EEA member countries.

Three successful consortia - one for each ETC -will be proposed Framework Partnership Agreements covering initially the period from 2007 to 2008 (under current EEA Strategy 2004–2008) which may be renewed for an additional period of 2 years under a new EEA Strategy 2009–2013.

The yearly budgets for execution of these agreements are currently estimated at about EUR 2 200 000, EUR 1 200 000 and EUR 1 200 000 respectively for ETC 'air and climate change', for ETC 'water' and for ETC 'land use and spatial information', including a contribution of at least 10 % co-financing from the consortia.

I.3.
The fields concerned, and the nature and content of the actions (as well as the conditions for granting assistance and the application forms) are set out in the documentation relating to the call for proposals. This documentation may be consulted on the EEA website at:
http://org.eea.eu.int/tenders/openproposal.html

I.4.
Procedure for the submission and examination of proposals:
The call for proposals is open until 11 May 2006. Each proposal shall be related to one specific European Topic Centre. Evaluations of proposals and decisions for each of the ETCs will de done independently from the other ETCs.
The procedure for the appraisal of each proposal with an indicative timetable is as follows:
— receipt, recording and acknowledgement of receipt by the European Environment Agency in mid-May 2006,
— examination by the European Environment Agency and decision by the Management Board of the EEA in the course of summer 2006,
— formulation of the final decision and communication of the result to the applicant for implementation of the contract in November 2006.
Beneficiaries will be selected on the basis of the criteria set out in the documentation relating to this call for proposals and within the limits of the available budget.
The entire procedure is strictly confidential. In the event of approval by the European Environment Agency, a Framework Partnership Agreement will be concluded between the EEA and the consortium submitting the proposal.
The decision of the EEA is final.

Frequently Asked Questions - updated 13 March 2006

Contracts - Marc Clément

Water - Beate Werner

Land use and spatial information - Ronan Uhel

Air and climate change - André Jol

Terms of reference - European Topic Centre on Water

Terms of reference - European Topic Centre on Air and Climate Change

Terms of reference - European Topic Centre on Land use and spatial information

Annex 1 - Framework partnership agreement

Annex 2 - Evaluation procedure

Annes 3 - Identification sheet

Annex 4 - Declaration on exclusion criteria

Annex 5 - Check list