New COSME call Training for SME-friendly policies in central purchasing bodies

The European Commission has published a new call under the EU programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (COSME). The call Training for SME-friendly policies in central purchasing bodies - COS-TSMFRIEND-2017-2-01 has a budget of € 350,000. Deadline for submission is October 3, 2017.

The action aims at ensuring participation in a specialised university programme on public procurement to have personnel better trained on Public Procurement within CPBs. Funding will be given to one or two universities in the EU, possibly located in a city well connected with priority countries. Funding to the university will cover tuition fees for the training programme, travelling cost, and accommodation. The university (ies) beneficiary of the grant will take care of managing travelling and accommodation of participants. The university (ies) will organise a conference at the end of the course, where the cohort would meet with best practitioners in public procurement in the EU. 

Target participants of the programme would be, in particular, staff from newly established CPBs. The expected results of the university/academy programme will include:

• Approximately 30 staff from across Member States to have completed the programme and increased their knowledge and understanding of procurement;
• The establishment of a pan-European network of highly skilled public procurement officials that have taken part in the programme;
• The development of knowledge-sharing initiatives in their own Member State in order to further professionalise CPB personnel;
• The potential for the university (ies) involved in the process may wish to expand the course outside of this funded programme, providing further education in public procurement to officials.

For more detailed information and documents please click here.

The COSME programme aims to make it easier for SMEs to access finance in all phases of their lifecycle - creation, expansion, or business transfer.