The participant portal has been designed as the principle gateway and single entry point for all interactions of participants within both the 7^th Research Framework Programme and the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) of the European Commission. It's main goal is to provide a consistent and coherent set of online services in order to simplify and improve procedures for proposal submission as well as for project and proposal management throughout their whole lifecycle.

With the exception of only a few services such as FP7 call information access to the participant portal requires a registration through ECAS (European Commission’s Authentication Service) by each individual participant. The unique identifier for a physical person is the e-mail address used for the creation of the ECAS account Registered participants can take over different functions (roles) within the participant portal for which they will receive the necessary access rights to project- and organisation data.

The participant portal encompasses the following services:

• Provision of relevant FP7 documents, including call documents, legal documents and guidance notes and a comprehensive archive
• URF-PDM – participant registration: Registration of an organisation’s basic data in the Unique Registration Facility (URF) and receipt of the Participant Identification Code (PIC) as well as the Financial Viability Check
• Search functions: organisations registered in URF and their PIC; Commission contacts for project coordinators
• Access to EPSS/SEP for proposal submission: The long standing EPSS system for proposal submission is soon to be replaced by a new one - SEP  
• Access to contract negotiation within the Negotiation Facility NEF
• Technical (deliverables) and financial (Form C) reporting (SESAM, FORCE, NEF), as well as project reviews
• Amendments of the Grant Agreement through NEF
• Electronic signature of Form C (replacing financial reporting by traditional mail)

Roles and access rights

Organisation Members (acting on behalf of a legal entity)

• LEAR (Legal Entity Appointed Representative): The LEAR represents his/her organisation and provides the Commission with up-to-date legal and financial data in the portal. He has to apply to receive his access rights from the Commission and can delegate them to other persons (Account Administrators). The LEAR can view the project members, roles, project information and amendments.
• Account Administrator: is nominated by the LEAR and supports him in the administration of data
• Form C Signatory: is appointed by the LEAR and authorised to sign Form Cs either within the whole organisation or for individual projects. More than one Form C Signatory may be appointed within one organisation.

Project Participants (Members of an organisation who participate in a project or a proposal)

• Primary Coordinator Contact: coordinates a project or proposal and acts as the primary contact person for the Commission, which also grants the necessary access rights. Coordinator Contacts can grant and revoke access rights of other Coordinator and Participant Contacts. More Coordinator Contacts can be nominated at the coordinating beneficiary by the Primary Coordinator Contact.

  They have full, read/write access to their own and the common eforms,and can submit to the Commission/Agency via the Participant Portal.

• Participant Contacts: represent the participating organisations within a consortium. They receive access rights to the portal through the Coordinator Contact. Participant Contacts can nominate further Participant Contacts within their own organisation as well as Task Managers and Team Members. All Participant Contacts have read/write access to their own forms and can submit e-forms to the Coordinator Contacts via the Participant Portal.

• Task Managers: are nominated by their organisation's Participant Contacts and can read, modify and save their own entity's forms

• Team Member have read-only rights.