Renewable energy policy database and support

• The Ministry responsible opens the invitation for tender. Calls for tenders are to be opened according to the sched-ule of the respective Government Decision (e.g. Decision No. 1084/2016 on the budget for the Environmental and Energy Efficiency Operational Programme). However, the deadlines for tender initiation are often not met.
• Online registration for the application. Applicants must check whether they meet eligibility criteria in the frame-work of a certain call for tender. Information is provided by the government on the respective online platform, where the applicant can find tender documentation. The applicant may then initiate the online application process. The applica-tion can only be submitted if the mandatory documents are completed.
• Evaluation of the application. (standard procedure) After having submitted the online application, the respective au-thority begins the evaluation process provided that the can-didate is eligible for the allocable funds. The authority in-forms the applicant in case documents are missing and grants a certain timeframe to provide these. Subsequently, the authority evaluates the application according to content criteria. Unless otherwise stated, the applicant can be con-tacted both in written and oral form, if the authority finds (ex post) that the call for tender had contradictory ele-ments.
• Decision on the application (standard procedure). A deci-sion preparation committee is nominated by the application coordination authority in order to decide the success of a certain application. The coordination authority then deter-mines whether the recommendation of the decision prepa-ration committee will be accepted or rejected. If the appli-cation is considered successful, the applicant has to be in-formed up tp ten days after the decision is taken.

Exceptions and further criteria

The process flow described above is the standard application proce-dure. Some calls for tenders are initiated in the framework of a sim-plified process (no decision preparation committee involved) or an ‘exceptional’ invitation. Regarding the latter, the authority might decide that the project can be supported if the applicant does not fulfil certain criteria (ex ante) laid out in the tender documentation. In this case, those criteria are negotiated ex post between the au-thority and the applicant. Furthermore, additional criteria which have to be taken into account are laid out within the call for tender.

More information (in Hungarian):

https://www.palyazat.gov.hu/download.php?objectId=53779