# How does FADEC help with EDF consortium building?

> What FADEC does at each stage of a European Defence Fund proposal: topic choice, partner search, eligibility checks, coordinator support and legal templates.

- URL: https://fadec.aero/blogs/eu-programmes/how-fadec-helps-with-edf-consortium-building
- Author: Eric Dauchy, Co-Founder and CEO, EuroGrowth
- Published: 2026-10-06
- Publisher: FADEC — Flanders Aerospace & Defence Cluster (https://fadec.aero/)

**TL;DR:** FADEC builds consortia for EDF, EDIP, SAFE, Horizon Europe and ESA calls and starts the partner search before a call opens. Members get topic intelligence, introductions to European partners and primes, eligibility and export-control checks, shared legal templates and optional coordinator support. Depth of support depends on the tier.

Most failed European Defence Fund proposals do not fail on technology; they fail on a consortium assembled too late, with gaps nobody checked.

FADEC helps with EDF consortium building by doing the work that decides most European Defence Fund proposals before a word is written: it follows the call topics, matches them to members' capabilities, finds partners across Europe and among primes, checks eligibility and export-control questions, and provides shared legal and compliance templates. The partner search starts before a call opens. Members who lead a consortium can add support for the coordinator role, and the depth of support grows with the membership tier. The same approach covers EDIP, SAFE, Horizon Europe and ESA calls.

## Why do EDF proposals need consortium building?

The [European Defence Fund](https://defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu/eu-defence-industry/european-defence-fund-edf_en) only funds collaboration: a consortium of at least three entities from three Member States or associated countries, or two from two countries for disruptive technology calls. Each partner must be established and managed in an eligible country and not be controlled by a non-associated third country without accepted guarantees.

Calls also set their own composition rules. The 2026 call for SME development actions ([EDF-2026-LS-DA-SME](https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/edf/wp-call/2026/call-fiche_edf-2026-ls-da-sme_en.pdf)) required at least three independent applicants from three countries, every partner to be an SME and an SME as coordinator, and ran from 11 February to 29 September 2026. A Flemish company without European partners lined up before the call opens is already behind.

## What does FADEC do at each stage?

FADEC describes its approach as consortium construction, coordinator support and a template legal pack instead of grant signposting, with the aim of fewer failed submissions and faster consortium closure.

| Stage | What FADEC does | What the member brings |
|---|---|---|
| Before the work programme | Programme intelligence on topics, platforms and timing in member briefings | Capability dossier, priorities, available resources |
| Topic selection | Matches open and upcoming topics to member capabilities | Decision on which topics to pursue |
| Partner search | Introductions to European partners, research organisations and primes, starting before the call opens | Technical lead time for partner meetings |
| Eligibility and compliance | Export-control baseline and screening questions on ownership and control | Ownership structure, product classification |
| Consortium agreement | Shared legal and compliance templates | Its own legal review and IP position |
| Coordination | Coordinator Support module for EDF, EDIP or Horizon submissions | The coordinator's team and time |
| Submission and after | Pipeline reviews and follow-up through the account manager | The proposal and project delivery |

### Intelligence before the call

Members receive intelligence briefings (quarterly to monthly depending on tier) that cover programmes with named platforms, tiers and timing. For EDF work that means knowing which topics fit before the work programme is final, so partners can be approached early.

### Partner search across Europe and with primes

The Industrial Partnership Office brokers introductions and bid teaming with primes and Tier 1 companies. For EDF calls, that matters in both directions: SMEs bring niche capability, and the EDF bonus system rewards the participation of SMEs and mid-caps, which makes capable SMEs attractive partners for larger companies. European partners are found through the cluster's network and the EU's own channels, such as the [Funding & Tenders Portal](https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/home) and the National Focal Points. The method is explained in [how to find partners for an EDF consortium](/blogs/consortia-partnerships/how-to-find-partners-for-an-edf-consortium).

### Eligibility, export control and IP

During onboarding each member gets a compliance and export-control baseline, and members accept the cluster's competition-compliance and export-control charter. Advisory Committees cover dual-use rules and security of supply. On intellectual property, the template legal pack gives consortia a starting point; read [DESCA consortium agreements: background vs foreground IP](/blogs/eu-programmes/desca-background-vs-foreground-ip) for what an EDF consortium agreement has to cover.

### Coordinator support

Coordinating an EDF proposal is the heaviest role: the coordinator manages the partners, the budget, the submission on the Funding & Tenders Portal and the relationship with the granting authority. FADEC offers a Consortium Coordinator Support module for EDF, EDIP or Horizon submissions on top of the membership.

## How do evaluators score an EDF proposal?

Consortium building is not only about eligibility; it decides a large part of the score. The 2026 SME development call shows how. Its call document sets eight award criteria, each scored from 0 to 5 in half points, with weights that double the importance of three of them.

| Award criterion | Weight | What the consortium contributes |
|---|---|---|
| Excellence and potential of disruption | 2 | The right technical partners for the topic |
| Innovation and technological development | 1 | Prior R&D each partner brings, without duplication |
| Competitiveness | 1 | Market analysis and a credible IP strategy |
| EDTIB autonomy | 2 | European supply chains, less dependence on third countries |
| Creation of new cross-border cooperation | 2 | New partnerships between SMEs and mid-caps across countries |
| Lifecycle efficiency | 1 | Lower production, maintenance or disposal costs |
| Member State cooperation | 1 | Member States that will use, own or maintain the result together |
| Implementation | 1 | A clear work plan and complementary roles |

The overall weighted score runs to 55, and a proposal needs 37 to pass. When proposals tie, the call ranks them by excellence first, then innovation, then competitiveness, then new cross-border cooperation, and finally by the number of eligible countries in which the applicants are established.

Read the table from the consortium's side and the logic of early partner search is clear. Three of the double-weighted criteria depend directly on who is in the consortium: whether the partners can deliver a disruptive solution, whether the supply chain stays European, and whether the cooperation is genuinely new and cross-border. A consortium of companies that have worked together for years scores lower on new cooperation than one that brings in new SMEs from other countries. FADEC's partner search is built to find those new combinations early enough that they are real by the time the proposal is written.

## What does the money look like?

The same call explains how development actions are funded. Lump sum grants reimburse development activities at a baseline rate of 65%, with bonuses on top: 10 percentage points for a project in the context of a PESCO project, an SME bonus that adds the share of eligible costs allocated to SMEs from the same country (up to 5 points) or twice the share allocated to cross-border SMEs, and 10 points when at least 15% of eligible costs go to mid-caps. With bonuses the rate can reach 100%. Only entities registered on the Funding & Tenders Portal with a positive SME or mid-cap self-assessment for the current and two previous years count for those bonuses, so registration is part of consortium building too.

The SME call had an estimated budget of €30 million, with requested grants of no more than €6 million per project, and limited the technical part of the proposal to 100 pages.

## What does the timeline look like in practice?

The EDF runs on a yearly cycle, and the 2026 calendar shows how much of the work happens before the deadline. The Commission adopted the 2026 work programme on 17 December 2025; the SME development call opened on 11 February 2026 and closed on 29 September 2026; evaluation runs to March 2027 and grant agreements are signed by 31 December 2027. A member who joins FADEC fits into that cycle like this:

| When | Member's onboarding with FADEC | EDF cycle |
|---|---|---|
| Days 1 to 15 | Onboarding call, capability dossier drafted, compliance and export-control baseline, named cluster owner | Draft topics followed through intelligence briefings |
| Days 16 to 45 | Dossier validated and circulated, target lists agreed, EU-programme track opened | Work programme adopted, topics shortlisted |
| Days 46 to 75 | First brokered introductions and qualification conversations | Partner meetings, roles and coordinator agreed once the call opens |
| Days 76 to 90 | Activation review and a written 12-month plan | Consortium agreement negotiated, proposal writing starts |
| Months 4 to 9 | Pipeline reviews with the account manager | Proposal finalised and submitted before the deadline |

The earlier a member joins relative to the work programme, the more of this preparation can happen before a call is open.

## What happens after the proposal is submitted?

An evaluation committee, assisted by independent outside experts, checks admissibility and eligibility, then scores and ranks the proposals. Every applicant receives an evaluation result letter. Successful proposals are invited to grant preparation, others go to a reserve list or are rejected, and eligible proposals that pass the thresholds receive a STEP Seal, which other funders can use to support projects the EDF could not fund.

An invitation to grant preparation is not yet a commitment. The Commission still validates legal entities, checks financial capacity and runs exclusion checks, and the call document lists the financial documents it may ask for, such as profit and loss accounts and balance sheets. Financial capacity checks are normally skipped for public bodies and for requested amounts of €60,000 or less. Successful SME beneficiaries are also offered business coaching to help them reach the defence market.

For a consortium, this phase is where earlier preparation pays off. Ownership control declarations, SME self-assessments and financial documents that were collected during partner search do not become last-minute blockers.

## Which documents should partners collect early?

A consortium saves weeks by gathering these during partner search rather than after the evaluation letter arrives:

| Document | Why the EDF needs it |
|---|---|
| Participant Identification Code (PIC) on the Funding & Tenders Portal | Every applicant must be registered |
| SME or mid-cap self-assessment for the current and two previous years | Counts towards the funding bonuses |
| Ownership control declaration | Proves the entity is not controlled from a non-associated third country |
| Recent accounts | Used for the financial capacity check in grant preparation |
| Background list with owners and restrictions | Required by the grant agreement before the action starts |
| Security clearance status | Needed when the topic involves classified information |

## What should a member prepare?

Consortium building goes faster when a member arrives with:

- **A capability dossier** that a stranger can understand in two minutes: what you make or do, at which technology readiness level, for which platforms.
- **Your ownership and control facts**, so eligibility questions are answered once.
- **Export-control classification** of the products and technology you would bring.
- **Your background IP list**, including anything you will not share.
- **Your role preference**: coordinator, work package leader or technology partner, and the internal time you can commit.
- **Security clearance status**, if the topics you target involve classified information.

## How much consortium support does each tier include?

| Tier | Consortium support |
|---|---|
| Launch (start-ups) | Signposting |
| Core (SMEs) | Standard |
| Advance (mid-caps) | Priority |
| Prime (large corporates) | Priority |
| Knowledge (universities, research, test houses) | Priority |
| Public (agencies, authorities) | Advisory |
| Ecosystem Partner | Collaboration |
| Capital (investors) | Not included |

Details of every tier are on the [membership page](/membership) and in [FADEC membership: costs and benefits](/blogs/consortia-partnerships/fadec-membership-costs-and-benefits).

## What results does FADEC aim for?

The cluster publishes its own planning targets, reviewed annually by its Strategic Council: one to two consortium positions per active member, and EU or ESA consortia with a Flemish lead or co-lead growing to 12 by 2028 and 30 by 2030. These are targets for the founding phase, not results already achieved.

## Is there a way in for smaller companies without a full consortium seat?

Yes. Since 2026 every EDF project can pass funds to smaller entities through financial support to third parties, and the [EU Defence Innovation Scheme](https://eudis.europa.eu/index_en) runs hackathons, technology challenges, business coaching of up to 15 days for SMEs in EDF projects and dedicated SME calls. FADEC signposts these routes for Launch members and helps them decide when a full consortium role makes sense.

## How do you start?

1. Tell the cluster team which capabilities and topics you want to pursue, through the [contact page](/contact).
2. Complete your capability dossier during onboarding, so introductions can start.
3. Agree target topics and partner profiles with your account manager before the next work programme.

## Quick answers

**Does FADEC write EDF proposals for its members?** FADEC builds the consortium and supports the process: topic intelligence, partner search, eligibility checks, legal templates and, through the Consortium Coordinator Support module, help with the coordinator role. The proposal remains the consortium's own work.

**When does FADEC start looking for EDF partners?** Before the call opens. The cluster's public funding service starts the partner search ahead of each call, because a complete consortium needs months to agree roles, budget and intellectual property.

**Which FADEC members get consortium support?** All tiers except Capital include some level: signposting for Launch, standard support for Core, priority support for Advance, Prime and Knowledge members, advisory support for Public members and collaboration for Ecosystem Partners.

**Can FADEC help a Flemish SME join an EDF project led by a prime?** Yes. The Industrial Partnership Office brokers introductions and bid teaming with primes and Tier 1 companies, and the EDF bonus system rewards SME participation, which makes capable SMEs attractive partners.

## Sources

1. [The European Defence Fund at a glance (European Commission)](https://defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu/eu-defence-industry/european-defence-fund-edf_en)
2. [Call document EDF-2026-LS-DA-SME, version 1.2 (European Commission)](https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/edf/wp-call/2026/call-fiche_edf-2026-ls-da-sme_en.pdf)
3. [EU Defence Innovation Scheme (EUDIS)](https://eudis.europa.eu/index_en)
4. [EU Funding & Tenders Portal](https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/home)