After a rather long waiting period, on Friday evening, the Ministry of European Funds published in a public debate the draft Applicant's Guide and the de minimis scheme for the SME Digitization Program. The public consultation period is 10 days, starting with 09.10.2020 until 19.10.2020, at 17.00.
The program is addressed to small and medium-sized companies in all fields, except IT, which can apply for European non-reimbursable funds of 30,000 euros - 100,000 euros, for the purchase of software solutions for digitalization, including:
- Acquisition and implementation of software solutions (ERP, CRM, BI or WMS)
- Acquisition of cloud and SaaS services
- Purchasing consulting services
- Staff training
You can consult here the manual, the de minimis scheme and the applicant’s guide which are now under public debate.
Here is a summary of some of the most important information you need to know.
The total budget available for small and medium-sized companies with a non-IT field of activity will be 105 million euros (from EU funds and from the state budget), of which 100 million euros will go to SMEs. It is also important to note that the beneficiary will also bear at least 10% of the eligible expenses, plus all ineligible expenses from his investment. The 30,000-100,000 euros granted by the European Union cover 90% of the eligible expenses.
SMEs will not be able to apply directly for European funds from the Ministry of European Funds, but first the money will be requested by the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) for each of the 8 development regions of Romania. The funds allocated for the 8 development regions are:
- North East RDA (Bacău, Botoșani, Iași, Neamț, Suceava and Vaslui counties): 15,759,000 euros
- RDA 2 South East (counties Brăila, Buzău, Constanța, Galați, Tulcea, Vrancea): 13,374,000 euros
- RDA 3 Sud-Muntenia (Argeș, Prahova, Dâmbovița, Teleorman, Giurgiu, Ialomița and Călărași): 14,166,000 euros
- RDA 4 South-West Oltenia (Dolj, Gorj, Mehedinți, Olt and Vâlcea): 10,773,000 euros
- RDA 5 West (Timiș, Arad, Caraș-Severin and Hunedoara): 10,593,000 euros
- RDA 6 North-West (Bihor, Bistrița-Năsăud, Cluj, Maramureș, Satu Mare, Sălaj): 12,897,000 euros
- RDA 7 Center (Alba, Brașov, Covasna, Harghita, Mureș and Sibiu): 12,438,000 euros
- RDA 8 Bucharest-Ilfov (Bucharest Municipality and Ilfov County): 10,000,000 euros
Only after the end of the public debate, MFE will publish the Applicant's Guide in the final form. The RDAs will be the ones to submit projects in the MySMIS2014 system, in order to become sub-administrators of the de minimis aid scheme for SMEs, and by the end of 2020, these ADR projects must be approved by the MFE. Once the ADR projects are approved and they sign the financing contracts with OIPSI (Intermediate Body of the Ministry of Communications) the implementation will start.
Regional Development Agencies will identify potential beneficiaries of de minimis aid (SMEs) by organizing regional calls for projects. Micro and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will submit projects to RDAs in regional sessions.
The duration of the selection is a maximum of 6 months from the time the ADR signs the financing contract with OIPSI (Intermediate Body of the Ministry of Communications). Each ADR will select at least 120 SMEs that want financing for the purchase of IT&C equipment and services, necessary for the digitization of the current activity.
SMEs will have a maximum implementation period of 9 months for investment projects, and the de minimis aid scheme will apply until the allocated budget is exhausted, but no later than 31 December 2021. Payment of the aid is made by 31 December 2023, within the budget allocated to the de minimis aid scheme.
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