A certified partner may entrust tasks forming part of the action on a non-profit basis to one or several implementing partners.

Organisations referred to as implementing partners in these guidelines are non-certified organisations.

The certified partner is to ensure that the conditions applicable under the grant agreement are also applicable to implementing partners. It concerns in particular the rules related to conflict of interest, visibility, communication and information, eligibility of costs, procurement, right of access, evaluation of the action, audits and other controls and sanctions.

Sometimes, it can be difficult to draw the line differentiating a contractor from an implementing partner. The following table indicates the main differences between these two actors.

The decision to entrust tasks to implementing partners should be mentioned in section 10.6 of the Single Form (SF).

The partner must indicate all implementing partners in the Single Form. The partner will need to indicate the part of the action budget to be allocated to the implementing partner.

In case this budget exceeds EUR 60 000, the partner will need to provide a justification for this transfer: standard justifications are provided in the HIP technical annexes as well as in the SF guidance as follows:

According to Article 204 of the Financial Regulation, financial support can only exceed EUR 60 000 if the objectives of the action would otherwise be impossible or excessively difficult to achieve.

Such situations can occur in cases where:

• only a limited number of non-profit non-governmental organisations have the capacity, skills or expertise to contribute to the implementation of the action;
• only a limited number of non-profit non-governmental organisations are established in the country of operation or in the region(s) where the action takes place;
• the partner works in a network setting e.g. through families or confederations and rely on other partners of the network with a view to minimising costs and avoiding duplications.

The partner is able to add or remove implementing partners unilaterally in the Single Form (at RQ, MR stages only), as this is considered a non-essential operational change. However, if the partner considers that there would be significant operational consequences from removing an IP, or if the partner is aware that adding an IP may raise problems in terms of compliance with the humanitarian principles, it is obliged to contact DG ECHO in line with its obligations under the Model Grant Agreement.

It is also important to remember that the partner remains fully responsible for all activities implemented by its implementing partners and must ensure and guarantee an effective management and control of the whole action.