ex ante Evaluation of the CSF Funds Partnership Agreement
2014-20
Call for Expressions of Interest
Background
The Common Strategic Framework Funds cover four separate EU Funds:
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European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) - To strengthen economic,
social and territorial cohesion in the European Union by reducing disparities
between regions.
European Social Fund (ESF) - To improve the employment opportunities of
European citizens through active labour market policies and better skills and
training.
European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) - To
improve the competitiveness of agriculture, the sustainable management of
natural resources and climate action, and a balanced territorial development
of rural areas.
European Marine and Fisheries Fund - To achieve the objectives of a
reformed Common Fisheries Policy and Integrated Maritime Policy, including
promoting sustainable and competitive fisheries and aquaculture, fostering
innovation, knowledge, sustainable development, and promoting a balanced
and inclusive territorial development of fisheries areas.
For the period 2014-20, these separate Funds have been drawn together under
one framework to ensure investments made using them are aligned around
common goals. The Partnership Agreement is required to set out the business
plan for how these Funds will be used in the UK in 2014-20 and in doing so set out
the overarching strategy for the individual Programmes that sit under it.
The UK Partnership Agreement will be divided into an opening chapter that will set
the context for how the CSF Funds will be used across the UK. This will be
followed by individual chapters setting out how the Funds will be used to address
the specific challenges of each of the UK’s nations; England, Wales, Scotland and
Northern Ireland. There will also be a separate chapter covering Gibraltar who will
also receive Funding.
Key Objectives
Provide an ongoing assessment of the decision making process and conclusions
being drawn on the high-level UK level elements of the Partnership Agreement and
the England only chapter.
Aims
To ensure the policy development sitting behind the UK Partnership Agreement
and the England chapter is executed in a manner that is consistent with the EU
Regulations governing its content. The current version of these Regulations is
attached at Annex C. These Regulations are likely to be subject to further change
as discussions on their content between the European Council, European
Parliament and European Commission are still ongoing.
Objectives
The researcher will act as an independent assessor in the development of the UK
and England chapters of the Partnership Agreement. Issues to be covered under
the UK chapter are set out in Annex A and those relating to the England chapter
are set out in Annex B.
The Regulations governing the CSF Funds require ex ante Evaluations to be
carried out against the Programmes which will sit under the Partnership
Agreement. The ex ante Evaluation of the Partnership Agreement should not
duplicate or cut across that activity.
Provisional Timescales
Closing date for expressions of interest
Invitation to tender issued
Closing date for tenders
Notification of outcome of tender review
29 January 2013
1 February 2013
15 February 2013
20 February 2013
Requirements
We would welcome expressions of interest from individuals, organisations or
consortia, outlining their suitability for the project in no more than 750 words by
29 January 2013.
Expressions of interest will be assessed using the following criteria, using a scale
of 1 (Excellent level of evidence) to 5 (Little or no evidence):
1.
2.
3.
4.
Relevant experience and expertise in relation to (a) the CSF Funds, (b) the
work of the EU Commission; and (c) the policy development process.
Relevant experience and expertise of undertaking research of this nature.
Appropriateness and quality of the proposed methodology.
Quality assurance processes.
A different set of criteria may be used to assess the eventual tenders.
Your expression of interest should be emailed as an attachment in MS Word
format to [email protected].
Should you have any queries, please contact:
Simon Jones - Email: [email protected] / Telephone: 020 7215 2686
Annex A - Partnership Agreement UK chapter content
Alignment with Europe 2020
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Summary of UK macro-economy and overall economic and labour market
conditions (eg, lift from NRP and only cover relevant CSRs)
Overarching summary of ex ante evaluations of UK nations’ operational
programmes, covering headlines and linking to key UK macro-economic
features (plus signposts to national chapters)
UK-wide table of thematic objectives with core indicators and expected,
aggregated results. UK-wide table could be followed by breakdowns for each
nation (although these will also be in national chapters)*
UK-wide table of allocations against thematic objectives as well as the total
indicative amount of support foreseen for climate change objectives. UK-wide
table could be followed by breakdowns for each nation (although these will
also be in national chapters)*
List of all UK programmes and annual allocations for each (sub-totals for each
nation)*
Description of development process for Partnership Agreement, including
summary of actions taken to involve economic, environmental and social
partners
Implementation Arrangements
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Signpost to national sections as implementation is devolved
Ex ante verification of additionality compliance of UK-wide programmes*
Summary of assessment of fulfilment of any ex ante conditionalities
applicable at member state level*
Description of any UK-wide coordination mechanisms of nations’ performance
frameworks*
Integrated Approach to Territorial Development
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Signpost to national sections (approaches to territorial development and fund
coordination depend on implementation arrangements, which are devolved)
Effectiveness of Implementation
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*
Signpost to national sections as implementation is devolved
Elements subject to Commission approval.
Annex B - Partnership Agreement England chapter content
Alignment with Europe 2020
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Analysis of disparities, development needs, growth potentials with reference
to the thematic objectives and taking into account the NRP, where
appropriate, and relevant country-specific recommendations*
Summary of ex ante evaluations of programmes (including results expected
for each CSF fund for each selected thematic objective and indicative
allocations across thematic objectives)*
Application of horizontal principles across CSF funds*
Implementation Arrangements
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Ex ante verification of additionality compliance of national programmes*
Summary of assessment of fulfilment of all ex ante conditionalities applicable
to nations’ programmes*
Methodology and mechanism to ensure consistency in performance
frameworks across national programmes (and links with any UK-wide
coordination mechanisms)*
Integrated Approach to Territorial Development
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Arrangements for coordination between the CSF funds, other EU funds / the
EIB and national funding instruments
Arrangements to ensure an integrated approach to the use of the CSF Funds
for the territorial development of specific sub-regional areas (including
principles for identifying the urban areas where integrated actions for
sustainable urban development are to be implemented) – use of CLLD, ITIs,
etc
Priority areas for co-operation, including any involvement in macro-regional
strategies
Identification of areas affected by poverty and actions planned to alleviate
poverty (NB – the Regulation as amended by the Council qualifies this item
with 'where appropriate' so, for consistency, we may need a UK-wide decision
on whether to include it)
Effectiveness of Implementation
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*
Assessment of, and measures necessary to reinforce, administrative capacity
Summary of actions to reduce administrative burdens
Electronic data exchange assessment and planned action
Elements subject to Commission approval
Annex C – Current draft of the Regulations covering the Partnership Agreement
Article 14
Content of the Partnership Agreement
1.
The Partnership Agreement shall set out:
(a)
arrangements to ensure alignment with the Union strategy for smart,
sustainable and inclusive growth, including:
(i)
an analysis of disparities, development needs, and growth
potentials with reference to the thematic objectives and the
territorial challenges and [key actions defined in the Common
Strategic Framework] taking account of the national reform
programme, where appropriate, and the relevant country-specific
recommendations under Article 121(2) of the Treaty and the
relevant Council recommendations adopted under Article 148(4)
of the Treaty;
(ii)
key findings of the ex ante evaluations of the Partnership
Agreement and/or of the programmes justifying the selection of
the thematic objectives and the indicative allocations of the CSF
Funds;
(iii) selected thematic objectives, and for each of thematic objective a
summary of the main results expected for each of the CSF Funds;
(b)
(iv)
the indicative allocation of support by the Union by thematic
objective at national level for each of the CSF Funds, as well as
the total indicative amount of support foreseen for climate change
objectives;
(v)
planned application of horizontal principles and policy objectives
for the implementation of the CSF Funds;
(vi)
the list of the programmes under the ERDF, the ESF and the CF
and of the programmes of the EAFRD and the EMFF, with the
respective indicative allocations by CSF Fund and by year;
arrangements to ensure effective implementation, including:
(i)
the information required for ex ante verification of compliance with
the rules on additionality as they are defined in Part Three of this
Regulation;
(ii)
a summary of the assessment of the fulfilment of ex ante
conditionalities relevant at national level and of the actions to be
taken, the responsible bodies and the timetable for their
implementation, where ex ante conditionalities are not fulfilled;
(iii)
the methodology and mechanism to ensure consistency in the
functioning of the performance framework across programmes
and CSF Funds;
These elements shall be subject to approval by Commission decision as set out in
Article 15.
2.
The Partnership Contract shall also indicate:
(a)
(b)
an integrated approach to territorial development supported by the CSF
Funds or a summary of the integrated approaches to territorial
development based on the content of the operational programmes,
setting out:
(i)
the arrangements at national and regional level that ensure
coordination between the CSF Funds and other Union and
national funding instruments and with the EIB;
(ii)
the arrangements to ensure an integrated approach to the use of
the CSF Funds for the territorial development of different types of
territories, including urban, rural, coastal and fisheries areas and
areas with particular territorial features, in particular the
implementation arrangements for Articles 28, 29 and 99
accompanied, where appropriate, by a list of the cities to
participate in the urban development platform referred to in Article
7 of the ERDF Regulation;
(iii)
the main priority areas for cooperation, taking account where
appropriate of macro-regional strategies;
(iv)
an integrated approach to address the specific needs of
geographical areas most affected by poverty or of target groups at
highest risk of discrimination or exclusion, with special regard to
marginalised communitis, where appropriate;
(v)
a summary of the actions taken to involve the partners referred to
in Article 5 and their role in the preparation of the Partnership
Agreement and the progress report as defined in Article 46 of this
Regulation;
arrangements to ensure efficient implementation of the CSF Funds at
OP level, including:
(i)
an assessment of whether there is a need to reinforce the
administrative capacity of the authorities and, where appropriate,
beneficiaries, and a summary of actions to be taken for this
purpose,
(ii)
a summary of the actions planned in the programmes to achieve
a reduction in the administrative burden for beneficiaries;
(iii)
an assessment of the existing systems for electronic data
exchange, and the actions planned to gradually permit all
exchanges of information between beneficiaries and authorities
responsible for management and control of programmes to be
carried out by electronic data exchange.