EU Funding

Software licences: how they are budgeted in funded projects

The same need can be met with a purchased licence or with software built for you — but in the budget the two follow completely different rules and risks.

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.

Software licences have their own line in digitalization project budgets — the C9 call under PNRR, Romania’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, listed them separately, next to ERP and cloud — and at first glance they look like the simplest cost of all: pick the product, take the invoice, claim it back. The reality is more nuanced, and the licence-versus-development decision deserves to be made before the budget is written. An off-the-shelf licence is fast and carries a verifiable market price, but it comes with recurring costs and with someone else's processes; in-house development moulds itself to your company and becomes your own asset, but it demands a specification and build time. In many projects the right answer is the combination: a licensed platform where the need is standard, development where the process is specific. Northdan Soft, as a vendor that does both, puts the honest comparison on the table for each component, then translates the choice into the technical offer and the budget on typically eligible costs, per the guide, with a draft contract and payment documents at delivery.

Let’s talk about your project

Message us on WhatsApp or send an email — you talk directly to a developer.

Message us on WhatsApp Send an email

office@northdan.com · +40 752 070 247

How we help

A licence-versus-custom comparison per component

Three-year cost, dependencies and payment-claim risks for both options — the decision gets made on figures rather than preferences.

Licences budgeted for the correct period

Perpetual or term-based, with maintenance shown separately — so the payment officer does not find recurring costs that cannot be claimed.

Activation and evidence for the payment file

Licensing certificates, accounts and proof of commissioning are handed over in an organised set, ready to attach to the payment claim.

Licence or in-house development: the criteria that decide

Choose the licence when the need is standard (accounting, office tools, antivirus) and your processes can bend to the product. Choose development when the process is the business differentiator — an atypical production flow forced into off-the-shelf software generates hidden costs for years.

In the budget the distinction shows immediately: licences are justified through comparable market price quotes, development through a specification and estimated effort. Mixing them on the same line — “software solution” with no detail — invites clarification requests and erodes the credibility of the whole budget.

Licence traps at the payment claim, and how we avoid them from the start

The most frequent problems: subscriptions running past the implementation period, licences registered in the vendor's name instead of the beneficiary's, and cloud editions with no clear proof of activation. All three are prevented by wording the budget and the purchase contract correctly.

At delivery we hand over the licences registered to your company, with certificates and administrative access — plus the acceptance report tying each licence to its budget line. What we will not do is issue the second comparison quote for a line we ourselves are quoting: the guide rules ineligible any cost suspected of formal offers between the applicant and the issuers.

Frequently asked questions

Are perpetual licences and subscriptions claimed back the same way?

No. A perpetual licence is a one-off purchase, easy to place inside the implementation period. A subscription is a recurring cost — usually only the instalments falling within the project period are accepted, per the guide, and continuation stays on the company's own budget.

Do I need several price quotes for licences?

Yes. The POCIDIF 2.1 guide, approved by Order MIPE no. 965/23.06.2026, asks for at least two dated price quotes or justifications per budgeted cost, and accepts screenshots taken from the official websites of specialist companies provided they show the quote date and the issuing firm. Licences make that easy, since products carry public price lists, but the comparison still has to sit in the file.

In whose name are licences purchased through a project registered?

Always the funding beneficiary's, not the IT vendor installing them. Monitoring checks whether the company owns and uses the investment; licences registered to third parties mean unpleasant findings. We hand everything over to your entity as a matter of principle.