BMAS commissions PASS Consulting Group

PASS can successfully present itself in the EU-wide award procedure and wins the mandate for the funding management software for the administration of the ESF+ programs of the german federal government.

On 16 December 2019, the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS) commissioned the PASS Business Unit Public Sector to develop the funding management software for the program management of the European Social Fund plus (ESF+) of the Federal Government in the EU funding period starting in 2021.

PASS is currently still responsible for operation, hosting, maintenance and further development of the ESF grant management software "DATES II". DATES II contains the systems and complex technical procedures for mapping the sovereign tasks of the managing, certifying and audit authority in the ESF of the Federal Government as well as their subdivisions. All communication with Brussels is handled in accordance with e-cohesion via the web service interface of SFC2014. The contract now announced runs until the end of 2030.

The funding management software DATES II is used, among other things, to process the accounting of ESF subsidies with the European Commission in Brussels and to map the extensive tasks in the controlling and monitoring area of the managing authority. The requirements of the EU audit authority are mapped in a separate and largely independently linked audit module. Various sampling procedures are implemented and integrated into the mapping of the audit process. Personal data (of the participants in ESF projects) are stored physically separated from information on characteristics in order to be able to guarantee the high demands on data protection.

In total, DATES II contains data on around 35 different ESF funding programs representing nearly five billion EURO. These include career entry support, the education bonus, start-up support through EXIST and - with the Micromezzanine Fund - a loan-based so-called financial instrument and the BAMF language program. DATES II is used by around 400 employees in federal agencies. The support of the IT system, e.g. adaptation work to the changing federal and EU regulations, is currently kept within manageable limits. This is probably also due to the PASS process engineering and the associated model-based, technological approach.

The PASS IT-Systems for ESF funding are among the most advanced EU funding management software solutions in Germany. With ESF-Bavaria, a similarly complex application is used in the Free State of Bavaria and continuously developed. ESF-Bavaria focuses the external users (applicants and beneficiaries) even more than DATES II. Against the background of its many years of technical expertise in the area of ​​EU funding and using innovative technologies, PASS continues to focus on the area of European funding management. For this purpose, the PASS Subsidy Management Suite is currently being positioned on the market as a modular software solution for all EU funding contexts such as ESF, EAFRD, ERDF, EAGF, etc.