Southern Africa Development Community Secretariat – Procurement and Grants Policy (3) Contributions in kind shall not exceed either the cost actually incurred by third parties and duly supported by accounting documents or, in the absence of such documents, the cost that correspond to those generally accepted on the market in question. Article 56. Transparency (1) Grants shall be subject to a work program which will be published prior to its implementation. That program shall be implemented through the publication of calls for proposals, except in duly justified exceptional cases of urgency (i.e. humanitarian aid) or where the characteristics of the beneficiary or the action leave no other choice or where the beneficiary is identified in a Council decision, a contribution agreement, a convention or any other similar legal text. (2) Calls for proposals shall specify the planned date by which all applicants shall have been informed of the outcome of the evaluation of their application and the indicative date for the signature of grant agreements or notification of grant decisions. The dates shall be fixed on the basis of the following: (a) for informing all applicants of the outcome of the evaluation of their application, a maximum of six months from the final date for submission of complete proposals; and (b) for signing grant agreements with applicants or notifying grant decisions to them, a maximum of three months from the date of informing applicants they have been successful. (3) All grants awarded in the course of a financial year shall be published annually. Article 57. Programming (1) SADC Secretariat will make an annual or multiannual work program for grants. The annual program shall be adopted and published adequately no later than 1st of the financial year of implementation. (2) The work program shall specify the period it covers, the legal background, the financial source, the objectives pursued, the expected results, the indicative timetable for call for proposals with the indicative amount and the maximum rate of co-financing. (3) Any substantial change in the work program shall also be published. Article 58. Calls for proposals (1) For Grants awarded through call for proposals the process should be as competitive as possible. (2) Call for proposals shall specify: (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) objectives pursued; eligibility, exclusion, selection and award criteria; financing source; the arrangements and final date for the submission of proposals; and the planned date by which all applicants are to be informed of the outcome of the evaluation of their application and the indicative date for the signature of grant agreements or notification of grant decisions. 40