Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) and the European Commission launched the fourth Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Telecom call for 2018, making €12.4 million available to stimulate and sustain the deployment of European Digital Service Infrastructures (DSIs). Interested applicants from all EU Member States plus Iceland and Norway may submit their proposals through the call open in the areas of eHealth, eProcurement, European e-Justice Portal and Online Dispute Resolution.

CEF Telecom funding supports projects of common interest that contribute to increasing the interoperability, connectivity and deployment of trans-European digital infrastructures across the EU, improving the daily life of citizens, businesses and public administrations, and thereby contributing to the development of a Digital Single Market.

To receive co-funding under the calls, actions must be ready for deployment, contribute to EU Digital Single Market policies and have a long-term sustainability strategy. The funding will be allocated to those eligible proposals which best meet the award criteria as specified in the 2018 CEF Telecom Work Programme and call texts in the areas relevant to this call.

This call is the fourth under the 2018 CEF Telecom Work Programme. In 2018, CEF Telecom will provide up to a total of €84.4 million in funding through grants for European Digital Service Infrastructures.

Interested applicants are invited to submit proposals by the deadline indicated below for actions supporting the deployment of European Digital Service Infrastructures, each with an indicative maximum budget as described below:

2018-4 CEF Telecom call for proposals (deadline for submission 22 November 2018)

  • eHealth – improve cross-border healthcare access and services using ICT tools – €5 million
  • eProcurement – for services enabling EU companies to respond to public procurement procedures from contracting entities in any Member State – €3 million
  • European e-Justice Portal – to ensure that citizens and businesses can rapidly reap the practical benefits of e-Justice tools – €4 million
  • Online Dispute Resolution – solving disputes between consumers and traders arising from online cross-border and domestic purchases – €0.4 million

A Virtual Info Day on the call and application process will take place on 13 September 2018.

How to apply?

Applicants should submit their proposal through the dedicated proposal submission system, accessible from the individual call webpages on the 2018 CEF Telecom Calls web page. All call documents and additional background information are also available on the individual call webpages. Please remember that the deadline is 22 November 2018.

When will the grants be awarded?

The evaluation of the proposals to call CEF-TC-2018-4 is expected to start in December 2018. The results of the evaluation and the decision on the allocation of grants should be announced as of May 2019.

Who is the contact point for this call?

The Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) manages the call for proposals and follows up the technical and financial implementation of the projects with the beneficiaries, providing technical expertise and high quality programme implementation.

Follow INEA on Twitter @inea_eu & LinkedIn to stay informed about the latest call developments.

A helpdesk is also available to answer your questions on the call for proposals.

About Digital Service Infrastructures (DSIs)

CEF Telecom funding supports projects of common interest for the deployment of Digital Service Infrastructures (DSIs) across the EU. These are based on mature technical and organisational solutions to support exchanges and collaboration between citizens, businesses and public authorities. The vision is to create European networks of digital services that will make the Digital Single Market work in practice.

CEF supports basic and re-usable digital services, known as building blocks, as well as more complex digital services. The building blocks can be combined with each other and integrated with the more complex services.

Building blocks supported so far include: eIdentification, eSignature, eInvoicing, eDelivery, and Automated Translation. Consult the full catalogue of reusable digital services.

More complex digital services being supported include areas such as Safer Internet, access to reusable public sector information, Cyber Security, eHealth, and Online Dispute Resolution.

The list of digital services supported by CEF is available in the Annex of the Telecom Regulation.

For more information, click here.

Source: INEA