EU Funding

The indicative software budget in a European project

The indicative budget translates a supplier's offer into the funder's budgetary language: every cost lands in the eligible cost category it belongs to under the guide.

Northdan Soft is a software supplier, not a funding consultancy, and is not affiliated with any managing authority or development agency. Programme information is indicative — always check the conditions in the programme's official applicant guide.

The indicative budget is where it is effectively decided how much of your project can be funded, and on POCIDIF Action 2.1 it is scored rather than merely checked: under 10% of costs declared ineligible at evaluation earns 10 points, 10% to 15% earns 5, above 15% earns 0. The golden rule: a budget is not organised around the supplier's logic but around the eligible cost categories defined in the applicant guide. The same purchase — say an ERP with training included — is classified differently from one call to another: sometimes training services have their own line with their own ceiling, sometimes they sit inside the cost of the solution. A budget that blends the two forces the evaluator to guess the classification, and evaluators do not guess: they cut. As a software supplier, Northdan delivers the budget breakdown together with the technical offer, aligned to the cost nomenclature of your call, so that the consultant writing the financing application can take the figures over without reclassifying anything. This page explains the working method and the categories we meet most often in practice.

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Classification on the guide's lines, not invented chapters

We take the exact category names from the call's guide and distribute costs across them, so the eligibility check becomes mechanical.

Every amount traceable to the technical offer

No budget line appears out of nowhere: all values come from the offer's items, so they can be justified at evaluation and later at reimbursement.

Ceilings and restrictions flagged early

If a category has a maximum share of the budget or special conditions under the guide, we adjust the shape of the solution before submission, not after rejection.

Why the budget has to mirror the guide

The evaluation committee checks the budget line by line against the call's eligible cost list. When your names and classifications match the guide, the check takes minutes; when they do not, the evaluator has to interpret — and any interpretation can go against you, from clarification requests to costs being declared ineligible.

There is a long-term effect too: the approved budget becomes the reference for the whole implementation. Invoices, acceptances and reimbursement requests are measured against it for years. A budget classified correctly from the start spares you discussions with the project officer at every claim.

Cost categories met frequently

Digitalization calls usually feature, per their guides: purchase of software applications and licences, development or customisation services, the hardware the solution runs on, configuration and data migration, user training and sometimes technical audit or cybersecurity services. On POCIDIF Action 2.1 the technical auditor must hold a CISA, CISM or CISSP certification, or another internationally recognised professional-level certification issued by an accredited body.

The names and ceilings differ from programme to programme, though — what is a distinct line in one call is a subcategory in another. That is why we do not use a universal budget template: we rebuild the breakdown for each guide and explicitly mark the items that need attention.

For orientation: on the calls open at this moment, Action 2.1 of POCIDIF, the operational programme for smart growth, digitalisation and financial instruments (until 30.09.2026) and SME Eco-Tech (until 24.09.2026), the category structure comes from those official guides, and we prepare the breakdown in each one's format.

Our working method on budgets

We start from the company's real need, size the solution, then place the costs on the call's categories — in that order. Budgets built the other way round, from a target figure towards justifications, are recognised immediately at evaluation and collapse at the question why this much.

One important note: we prepare the supplier's part; the financing application remains your consultant's job.

Frequently asked questions

Who prepares the indicative budget: the supplier or the consultant?

The breakdown of the solution's costs comes from the supplier, because only the supplier can justify each amount technically; the consultant then integrates it into the overall budget of the application. We hand over the breakdown already aligned to the call's categories, so integration is a simple transfer.

What happens if a cost is classified under the wrong category?

At best you receive a clarification request and redo the budget; at worst the cost is declared ineligible and you pay it entirely from your own resources. Correct classification at submission is far cheaper than a later correction.

Can the budget be changed after the financing contract is signed?

Reallocations between lines are possible only within the limits and procedures set by the financing contract and the guide — usually through a notification or an addendum. That is exactly why it is worth sizing correctly from the start rather than repairing it during implementation.

Do you use the same prices in the budget and in the technical offer?

Always. Our budget is generated from the offer's items, so the values match to the leu. Differences between annexes are among the most banal causes of clarifications at the administrative check, and we eliminate them by construction.