European Programme on Civil Protection

Call for Proposals

The Call for Proposals “Civil Protection Mechanism Exercises 2014” has been published by the European Commission, Directorate Humanitarian Aid & Civil Protection.

Decision No 1313/2013/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 establishes a Union Civil Protection Mechanism. The general purpose is to provide, on request, support in the event of major emergencies and to facilitate improved coordination of assistance intervention. The Mechanism should facilitate the response to protect primarily people but also the environment and property, including cultural heritage, in the event of natural and man-made disasters, acts of terrorism and technological, radiological or environmental accidents, including accidental marine pollution, occurring inside or outside the European Union, taking into account the special needs of the isolated, outermost and other regions or islands of the European Union.

 

The objectives of the current “Civil Protection Mechanism Exercises 2014” call is to improve civil protection preparedness and response to all kinds of disasters, including marine pollution, chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear disasters, as well as combined disasters and disasters simultaneously affecting a number of countries (inside or outside the participating states of the Mechanism) by providing a testing environment of established and/or new operational concepts and procedures of the Mechanism and a learning opportunity for all actors involved in civil protection assistance interventions under the Civil Protection Mechanism.

 

The “Civil Protection Mechanism Exercises 2014” call aims at:

- Improving the response capacity and providing the necessary practice of the teams meeting the criteria for participation in civil protection assistance interventions;

- Improving and verifying the procedures and establishing a common language for the coordination of civil protection assistance interventions and reducing the response time in major emergencies;

- Enhancing operational cooperation between the civil protection services of the participating States;

- Sharing lessons learned.

 

The expected results of actions under the current “Civil Protection Mechanism Exercises 2014” call are:

- The existing procedures for the various elements of the Civil Protection Mechanism are improved and new procedures, where needed, are established.

- The interoperability of intervention teams is improved as the result of the exercise; in particular this will mean quicker dispatch time, improved cooperation arrangements, better communication between headquarters and field, identification of shortcomings in the existing structures.

- Participating states, enlargement countries not participating in the Mechanism, and European Neighbourhood Policy countries are prepared to receive assistance through the Mechanism.

- Contribution to the EU regional strategies and their action plans.

 

Under the current “Civil Protection Mechanism Exercises 2014” call for proposals, the eligible exercise can be a table-top, command-post or full scale exercises (TTX, CPX or FSX). A combination of two or three of these types of exercises is possible.

- A TTX is designed to put real crisis managers in a situation to use existing plans and procedures to take decisions according to a proposed scenario. A TTX can also be used to develop plans and procedures were there are none. Being a discussion mode exercise, it does not require any deployment but rather gathers the Exercising Participants in one single location under the guidance and control of experienced staff.

- A CPX is designed to put command structures in a real situation, requesting the deployment of a EUCP Team and possibly key staff of operational assets together with command and communication staff and tools. The Exercising Participants work from their offices or command posts.

- A FSX is designed to replicate one or several phases of an emergency with the commitment of all the public bodies and authorities that would be committed in a real situation. All the functions (operation, command, logistics, communication, public information, etc.) of a real operation are replicated and played in a coordinated way.

 

The total budget earmarked for the co-financing of the action is estimated at EUR 6 000 000 maximum. EUR 4 000 000 have been reserved for exercises involving Participating States and EUR 2 000 000 for exercises with the involvement of one or more enlargement countries which are not participating states to the Mechanism or countries under the European Neighbourhood Policy. The EU contribution per action is limited to a maximum of EUR 1 000 000. The maximum EU co-funding rate (percentage applied on the eligible costs according to the budget of the action) in the framework of this Call for Proposals is up to 85% of the total eligible costs per proposal. Given the complementary nature of EU grants, at least 15% of the total project cost must be funded by other sources..

 

The deadline for submitting proposals in the framework of the current “Civil Protection Mechanism Exercises 2014” call for proposals is 25 June 2014.

 

Further information on the current call for proposals is available on the European Commission’s web site at: http://ec.europa.eu/echo/funding/opportunities/calls/2014_call_CP_Mechanism_Exercises_en.htm