There are different ways that an organisation can take part in an FP7 Project. The majority of organisations participate in projects as Consortium partners, or Beneficiaries as they are now known.
Another way an organisation can take part in FP7 Projects is as a Third Party. Subcontracting is a type of Third Party participation; however it is subject to specific rules.

The Finance Helpdesk has published a leaflet to explain these specific rules. The leafletcan be downloaded from there site, members login required.

The EC "Participant Portal" is intended to become your single entry point of interaction with the Research Directorates-General of the European Commission. It will host a full range of services that facilitate the monitoring and the management of your proposals and projects throughout their lifecycle.

Today it offers:

- Registration of your organisation's data in the Unique Registration Facility (URF), avoiding redundant requests for information;
- After registration you will receive a Participant Identification Code (PIC) that uniquely identifies your organisation.You can use it to maintain your organisation's details and monitor its status in the processes of electronic proposal submission and negotiation;
- You can also check whether your organisation has already registered and if so, retrieve the PIC that has already been assigned;
- The appointed representative of your organisation, called the LEAR (Legal Entity Appointed Representative) can provide and update relevant legal & financial data via the portal.

New functionalities are currently implemented as pilot services:

- All visitors may search for FP7-related support documents;
- LEARs may access the list of projects associated with their organisation, including project details and the status of amendments.

Since the Participant Portal is still in its early days, technical problems may occur especially for the pilot services.

Here the link to the FP7 Participant Portal.