According to a survey of administrative costs for FP7 projects published in by the European Commission in September 2011, a typical 3-year project with 9 partners requires, on average, 14 person-months of administration by the co-ordinating partner and 3.6 person-months by each partner (total administrative costs 280 kEur on a 3000 kEur project). These administrative costs were significantly lower for organisations which had experience of more than one FP7 project.
The median number of working days spent by coordinators in preparing an FP7 proposal was about 60 working days, again with a significant reduction for those with previous experience.