Evaluation of the relevance of Swedish reform cooperation for EU accession
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The Expert Group for Aid Studies (EBA) hereby invites proposals for an evaluation of Swedish reform cooperation in Eastern Europe. The purpose is to assess the relevance of Swedish aid in assisting partner countries to meet the requirements and frameworks set up by the EU to be accepted as members.
Aim and Evaluation Questions:
The purpose of this evaluation is to assess the relevance of Swedish aid for EU rapprochement and accession in relation to the requirements and frameworks set up by the EU for new countries to be accepted as members.
The evaluation will focus on countries where Swedish reform cooperation has been conducted to assist the country in becoming a member of, or approaching membership of, the EU.
The following question shall guide the evaluation: What is the relevance of Sweden’s reform cooperation in enabling countries to approach EU membership?
Procurement procedure
The procedure will be a restricted procedure in two stages. At both stages, tenderers are expected to disclose potential conflicts of interest pertaining to members in the evaluation team, as this may be a ground for exclusion of a proposal. We expect tenderers to argue for why a certain condition will not constitute a conflict of interest.
First stage: Application to submit tenders
All suppliers have the right to apply to submit tenders (expression of interest). EBA will invite five (5) suppliers to submit tenders.
Applications to submit tenders shall be registered at the tender portal Kommers Annons eLite www.kommersannons.se/elite, no later than 28 October 2024.
The application shall contain:
1. CV of the principal investigator
2. A list of the principal investigator’s most relevant publications (at most 5 studies from the last 10 years are to be listed) (academic or grey)
3. Preliminary team (if more than one author. Described using at most 300 words.)
4. Three full sample studies conducted by members of the proposed team. At least one shall have been authored by the principal investigator. Note that the studies should be sent in as files, not as links in a document.
5. A short account for how, according to the authors, respective study has contributed to new, reliable knowledge of relevance for this evaluation (at most 300 words, i.e. 100 words per study).
Second stage: Submission of tenders
Selected suppliers are invited to submit a full proposal. The proposal shall be written in English and no longer than 10 pages. The proposal shall include a detailed presentation of evaluation design, methods used and delimitations. Choices made shall be clearly justified. It is up to the tenderers themselves to choose the design and method of the evaluation.
The maximum cost for this evaluation is SEK 2 000 000 excl. VAT. The budget shall be denominated in SEK. The budget shall enable four meetings with the evaluation’s reference group (to be appointed by EBA) and participation at the launching event. The reference group will meet in Stockholm, but one or two meetings may be conducted online.
About EBA:
The Expert Group for Aid Studies (EBA, www.eba.se) is a government committee under the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs mandated to evaluate and analyse issues related to Sweden’s official development assistance. EBA consists of an expert group of eight members and a secretariat placed in Stockholm. EBA works with ‘dual independence’. This means that EBA independently defines what issues to explore and which studies to commission while conclusions and potential recommendations are the responsibility of the author(s).