FCT available to establish prior program contracts under the transitional rule of DL 57/2016

In response to requests made by various institutions and with the aim of encouraging the opening of Calls provided for in the transitional rule of Decree-Law No. 57/2016 amended by Law No. 57/2017, the FCT is available to establish prior program contracts, entered into before the signing of work contracts between the institutions and the doctorates selected in the Calls , after validation of the lists of scholarship holders identified by the institutions as giving rise to positions to be financed by the FCT. The signing of these program contracts does not exempt the FCT from verifying effective compliance with the requirements of the Call and hiring, at the end of the process, when any budgetary adjustments will be made.

Prior program contracts will only be concluded if the contracting institution so wishes. These program contracts are not required for opening the Calls , which are the exclusive responsibility of the institutions, nor can they be invoked as a cause for possible delays in bidding procedures.

The FCT begins by offering this possibility to all institutions that have already submitted lists of scholarship holders under the transitional rule. Other institutions wishing to establish prior program contracts with the FCT must submit lists of eligible scholarship holders by May 31, 2018. It is up to the institutions to verify the eligibility of scholarship holders. The FCT will only be able to validate the eligibility of scholarship holders for whom the institutions provide evidence of such eligibility, such as references from Studentships , project and unit references (provided that the contracting process has been previously sent to the FCT), or contracts for Studentships .

In cases where it is not possible to pre-validate the eligibility of some scholarship holders, they will not be included in the prior program contract but may be added after verification of the hiring process of the selected researcher in the Call , including the validation of documents proving the eligibility of the scholarship holder that gave rise to the open position.

With this measure, the FCT intends to contribute to accelerating compliance with the transition rule by institutions, assisting them in their decision to open their Calls , in order to meet the legal deadline of August 31 stipulated in Law 57/2017.

Detailed information on the procedures is available in the draft preliminary program contract and in the guidance document . See also the Transitional Standard page.