[Following signature of the specific contract by the last party and its receipt by the contracting authority, the contractor (or leader in the case of a joint tender) may claim a pre-financing payment up to 30 % of the price referred to in the relevant specific contract. The contractor (or leader in the case of a joint tender) must send the contracting authority an invoice via e -PRIOR$^{3}$ for the pre-financing payment. 

[The contractor (or leader in the case of a joint tender) must also provide a first-call financial guarantee equal to 100  % of the amount of the pre-financing when it exceeds 250,000 EUR.]$^{4}$, 

The contracting authority must pay the pre-financing within 30 days of receiving the invoice. The pre-financing will be recuperated by the contracting authority gradually throughout the interim payment(s) and the guarantee will be released accordingly at the end of the full recuperation of the pre-financing amount.] 

## I.6.2 Interim payments 

1. The contractor (or leader in the case of a joint tender) may claim interim payments up to 50% (accumulative) of the contractual amount as stipulated in the relevant specific contract in accordance with Article II.21.6. 

The contractor (or leader in the case of a joint tender) must send an invoice via e-PRIOR  for the interim payment as provided for in the tender specifications, accompanied by the following: 

• for the deliverables covered by the interim payment, a list of all pre-existing rights  to the results  or parts of the results  or a declaration stating that there are no such , as provided for in Article II.13.4; 

• the deliverables and other documents specified in the specific contract or order form; 

2. The contracting authority must approve any submitted documents or deliverables and pay within 60 days from receipt of the invoice. [The contracting authority shall pay the contractual amount as stipulated in the relevant specific contract minus the pre-financing payment if applicable]. 

3. If the contracting authority has observations to make, it must send them to the contractor (or leader in the case of a joint tender) and suspend the time limit for payment in accordance with Article II.21.7. The contractor (or leader in case of a joint tender) has 10 days to submit additional information or corrections or a new version of the documents if the contracting authority requires it. 

4. The contracting authority must give its approval and pay within the remainder of the time- limit indicated in point (2.) unless it rejects partially or fully the submitted documents or deliverables. 

