EU- Förderagentur GmbH

EU-Förderagentur GmbH (EUFA) was established in 2007 and manages a wide variety of EU projects on a trust basis for different departments and organisational units of the City of Vienna.

It handles all tasks in the field of personnel and financial management in order to take part of the workload off the municipal departments and offices and enable them to focus their resources on their core activities. EUFA renders its services exclusively on the basis of trust agreements.

Its team has extensive know-how regarding the EU's funding landscape and specialises in the fields of the EU Structural Funds and co-operation with neighbouring countries.

Activity range

Personnel management focus

One of the work focuses of EUFA is on the recruitment of experts required for handling EU projects or programmes. While project or programme management authority lies with the respective municipal department or office, the administrative tasks (personnel management, acting in the capacity of employer on its behalf) are implemented by EUFA. This enables Vienna's municipal departments and offices to tap the wide range of EU funding possibilities for the benefit of Vienna and to handle projects in optimum fashion through employment relationships concluded between this expert personnel and EUFA.

Financial management focus

Another focus of EUFA is on the administrative support of all tasks arising in the course of project and programme activities. This includes accounting and financial management for the corresponding municipal departments or offices. Moreover, EUFA handles all billing and account settlement for technical secretariats and EU-funded projects in accordance with EU guidelines. It assists the municipal departments and offices in their billing and accounting for EU projects and provides competent advice on all issues related to accounting statements submitted to funding bodies. In addition, EUFA handles the totality of travel arrangements in the context of EU projects and is in charge of all billing procedures for official trips. Taken together, these measures ensure that EU requirements are complied with and have so far resulted in a funding eligibility quota in excess of 98.5 percent.

FPAK focus

On behalf of Municipal Department 27, EUFA supports and administers FPAK ("Förderprojekt-Abrechnungs- und Kontroll-Datenbank") , a database for the accounting and financial monitoring of EU-funded projects, and assists its users by providing:

  • user training
  • operational support
  • management of error messages
  • data maintenance
  • further database development

This web-based tool handles the online logging and submission of accounting, progress and indicator reports by Viennese lead partners as well as expense audits by the first-level control of MA 27. For Viennese lead partners under the IGE/ERDF programme, the electronic processing services rendered also comprise the submission of applications and contract management.

Background

As a rule, the administration of programmes and projects that receive funding from the EU calls for additional personnel. These additional human resources are eligible for EU funding, but their tenure is strictly limited to the duration of the respective programme or project. Hence, it would not be advisable for the City of Vienna to employ these staff members on a permanent basis.

This is why EU-Förderagentur GmbH was set up as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wien Holding GmbH to assist in the implementation of European co-operation programmes and technical secretariats involving the participation of the City of Vienna. Since EUFA is wholly owned and governed by the City of Vienna, it can be safeguarded that all goals implemented by it are without exception objectives pursued by the City Administration. The company does not operate as an independent player in the market and hence does not compete with other enterprises.

Objective

The aim is to support the City of Vienna in financial management questions involving the EU as well as to appoint experts required for the administration of EU-funded programmes and/or projects.

Target group

Departments or offices of the Vienna City Administration participating in EU-funded projects and/or programmes

Importance for Vienna

  • Utilisation of available subsidy sources to implement projects financed under EU Structural Funds and other EU funding programmes
  • Positioning of Vienna as a location for co-operation programmes
  • Internationalisation of the city by involving experts from many EU countries

Contact

Further information

Contact for this page:
City of Vienna | European Affairs (Eva Gsteu-Kirschbaum)
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