What is the difference between GA and CA?

Most projects have to contracts:

  • One with the funding body
  • One between the partners

The contract with the funding body is called the Grant Agreement (GA) in Horizon 2020 projects. In other projects most often just the Contract.

The contract between the partners is called the Consortium Agreement (CA).

The GA will take primacy over the CA. This means:

  • The Consortium Agreement must not contradict what is said in Contract
  • Rights, obligations and roles written in the project plan (which is often part of the Contract) will rule over what you later put into the CA
  • You should be aware of this in the so called contract preparation phase and do adjustments then if possible
  • The CA and GA should as far as possible be harmonised i.e. IPR, roles and obligations should be similar and not conflict

The Grant Agreement has the form of a model contract that is modified to fit the different instruments in the Horizon 2020 program. It is huge document of several hundred pages. There is also an annotated GA that explains the articles.

See also: How do I read and modify contracts?

The Consortium Agreement is a document that regulates the internal work of the Consortium. Its mandatory for the majority of projects. You will need a CA signed by all partners to start a project. You must therefore prepare this document in due time and at the latest have it finished when the EC contract GA is to be signed.

Remember this takes time:

  • All partners must agree (you will circulate several versions in this process)
  • All partners must provide input to their Background (included/excluded)
  • An administrative person with the power to sign must sign the contract

Large organisations have legal departments and they need time to read and comment.  

The best advice is to use the DESCA (Development of a Simplified Consortium Agreement) model and do as little modifications as possible to the original:

  • The original text is sufficient in most instances
  • Modifications may distort the logic and structure leading to inconsistencies
  • Most request for additions is already covered in the GA or CA

So if a partner will add e definition or other carefully check if it is really needed.

What you may need to adapt is:

  • Management structure
  • Background
  • Ownership to results, licensing or any other IPR text
  • Joint ownership

 

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