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A LEAR (Legal Entity Appointment Representative) is an Organisational role in the system, which is responsible for keeping the data of the Organisation updated, and assigning a pool of legal signatories (Procurement LSIGN) for the Organisation – see more details below.

Following the registration of your Organisation and the creation of the PIC, and in parallel to the validation of your Organisation (i.e. PIC validation), the Central Validation Service (REA CVS) will request the appointment of a Legal Entity Appointed Representative (LEAR) for your Organisation.

Similarly to the validation of the PIC, the Organisation will receive a request (via the messaging tool of the Organisation’s account on the Funding and Tenders Portal) to submit the following documents:

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• Overview of User Roles and Permissions for the Funding and Tenders Portal
• Organisation Roles
• How to modify or update Authorised Users/LEAR of an Organisation
• How to assign or update Organisation Roles(e.g. Procurement LSIGN)

4. PIC Validation

The PIC validation is required for both the electronic and paper workflows and signature of Contribution Agreements in OPSYS.

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• DG INTPA – INTPA-PIC-MANAGEMENT@ec.europa.eu
• DG NEAR – NEAR-PIC-MANAGEMENT@ec.europa.eu
• FPI – FPI-PIC-MANAGEMENT@ec.europa.eu

5. Nominate Procurement LSIGN role

The nomination of Procurement LSIGN role is optional for the paper workflow and signature of Contribution Agreements in OPSYS.

Users with the Procurement Legal signatories Signatory (Procurement LSIGN) are organisation-level roles, and are nominated for an organisation by the LEAR or an Account Administrator.LSIGNs are able role have the permissions to sign contracts (and amendementsamendments – if relevant) managed through the Funding and Tenders Portal on behalf of organisations, but if an orgaisation would need to restrict the signatory role for contracts and amendments, the LSIGN can nominate a CLSIGN to the contract (project-level)the organisation, so their role is relevent at organisation and project-level.

Users are nominated for the Procurement LSIGN role by the LEAR or an Account Administrator of the organisation.

An organisation can have an unlimited number of Procurement LSIGNs.

To view or edit organisation-level roles, please view View or Edit Organisation Roles.

Additional resources:

• Overview of User Roles and Permissions for the Funding and Tenders Portal
• Organisation Roles
• How to assign or update Organisation Roles LSIGN

6. Communicate the PCoCo role

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Important to note:

• If the orgaisation would need to restrict the signatory role for contracts and amendments, the Procurement LSIGN can nominate a CLSIGN to the contract (project-level) – also see assign the CLSIGN role below. The LEAR or Account Administrator of the organisation would therefore first need to nominate the Procurement LSIGN role to a user of the organisation beforehand (organisation-level).
• If a CLSIGN is nominated for a contract, the Procurement LSIGN(s) will no longer be able to sign the contract (and amendements – if relevant).
• If no CLSIGN is nominated for a contract, then all Procurement LSIGNs for the organisation will receive notifications for the contract (and amendements – if relevant).
• Only and any Procurement LSIGN of an organisation can nominate or revoke the CLSIGN user role.

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Additional resources:

• Overview of User Roles and Permissions for the Funding and Tenders Portal
• Organisation Roles
• How to assign or update Organisation Roles Procurement LSIGN

6. Communicate the PCoCo role

The communication of the PCoCo role is required for both the electronic and paper workflows and signature of Contribution Agreements in OPSYS.

The PCoCo (Primary Coordinator Contact) is a project-level role, and is the main person responsible for a project/contract on the side of the Organisation. As such, they can submit requests, deliverables/reports, and notifications concerning the project/contract to the Commission on behalf of the Organisation. For Contribution Agreements, and during the negotiation stage (i.e. therefore before contract preparation), the PCoCo must be communicated by the representative of the Organisation to the The PCoCo (Primary Coordinator Contact) is a project-level role, and is the main person responsible for a project/contract on the side of the Organisation. As such, they can submit requests, deliverables/reports, and notifications concerning the project/contract to the Commission on behalf of the Organisation. For Contribution Agreements, and during the negotiation stage (i.e. therefore before contract preparation), the PCoCo must be communicated by the representative of the Organisation to the Contracting Authority.

Consequently, the PCoCo must have an active EU Login account, and it is the details (full name and e-mail) of the PCoCo linked to this EU Login account that must be provided by the Organisation. With this information, the EC Operational Manager will assign the PCoCo to the contract during contract preparation process.

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Additional resources:

• Overview of User Roles and Permissions for the Funding and Tenders Portal
• Project or Contract Roles

7. Assign CLSIGN role

The nomination of CLSIGN roles is optional for the paper workflow and signature of Contribution Agreements in OPSYS.

A CLSIGN (Contract Legal Signatory) is a project-level role, and is a person who has the right to sign contracts and amendments on behalf of the Organisation. An Organisation can have one or more CLSIGNs per project or contract.

CLSIGNs are nominated for a particular project or contract by a LSIGN of the organisation.

Additional resources:

• Overview of User Roles and Permissions for the Funding and Tenders Portal
• Project or Contract Roles

7. Assign CLSIGN role

The nomination of Contract Legal Signatory (CLSIGN) role is optional for the paper workflow and signature of Contribution Agreements in OPSYS.

Users with the Contract Legal Signatory (CLSIGN) role have the permissions to sign contracts (and amendments – if relevant) managed through the Funding and Tenders Portal on behalf of the organisation, so their role is relevent at project-level.

Users are nominated for the CLSIGN role by a Procurement LSIGN of the organisation.

An organisation can have one or more CLSIGNs per project/contract.

Important notes:

• The CLSIGN should be assigned to a user only if the orgaisation would need to restrict the signatory role for contracts and amendments. Otherwise, the Procurement LSIGN already has the required permissions to sign contracts (and amendments – if relevant).
• If a CLSIGN is needed, the LEAR or Account Administrator of the organisation would therefore first need to appoint the Procurement LSIGN role to a user of the organisation beforehand (organisation-level).
• If a CLSIGN is nominated for a contract, the Procurement LSIGN(s) will no longer be able to sign the contract (and amendements – if relevant).
• If no CLSIGN is nominated for a contract, then all Procurement LSIGNs for the organisation will receive notifications for the contract (and amendements – if relevant).
• Only and any Procurement LSIGN of an organisation can nominate or revoke the CLSIGN user role.

Additional resources:

• Overview of User Roles and Permissions for the Funding and Tenders Portal
• Project or Contract Roles
• How to assign or update Project or Contract Roles CoCo/PLSIGN/PFSIGNCLSIGN

8. Contract Signature

The signature of the contract is applicable for both the electronic and paper workflows and signature of Contribution Agreements in OPSYS, but the process will differ between the two workflows.

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For the electronic workflow and signature of Contribution Agreements, the contract is made available to the Contractor for e-signature via the Funding and Tenders Portal as soon as the contract has been prepared and authorised by the Contracting Authority. For the e-signature, the Contractor signs the contract first. Only a user that has either the Procurement LSIGN role, or has been assigned as CLSIGN (if needed) CLSIGN role for the contract, can sign the contract.

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For the Contractor, any user with either the CoCo or PCoCo role for the contract can initiate (launch) the Amendment process. The Amendment process initiated by the Contractor is performed from the respective contract in the Funding and Tenders Portal. For the Contractor signature of the Amendment (only for the electronic workflow and signature), the Procurement LSIGN or CLSIGN (if needed) for the contract is required to electronically sign the Contract Amendment in the system – also see Nominate Procurement LSIGN and Assign CLSIGN.

There is only one type of Amendment for Contribution agreements, an “Addendum”, and the Contractor will need to select the System Code corresponding to the Subject of Amendment (see table below), which represent the allowed modifications to the contract. Once the required Amendment system code is selected, the Contractor will be able to apply the requested modifications directly in the system and save.

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