SPECIFIC TERMS OF REFERENCE

Support to the Government of Romania on issues related to EU and International Development Policy

FWC SIEA 2018- LOT 3: Human Rights, democracy and peace

DEVCOM/2018/399607/1

  1. BACKGROUND

The Republic of Romania will hold the rotating EU Council Presidency in the first half of 2019, from 1stJanuary to 30st June 2019.

During the six-month period a number of important EU and Global development cooperation policy initiatives, negotiation and events are expected to take place.

Based on draft Commission proposals the issues that the Presidency is likely to have to cover include the following:

  • Post-Cotonou, ACP-EU relations
  • Commission proposal for a Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI)
  • Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA)
  • Replenishment of the African Peace Facility
  • Migration-Development nexus
  • The Humanitarian-development nexus
  • Security and development nexus (including resilience; capacity building for security and development and links with humanitarian aid)
  • European Consensus on Development and the following steps
  • Implementation of development related issues under the Global Strategy, Agenda 2030 and the 17 SDGs
  • Financing for development and aid effectiveness
  • Policy coherence for development
  • External Investment Plan

This list is not exhaustive and may be extended to cover other areas as necessary. Priority themes like youth empowerment or disaster risk reduction may also have to be considered.

  1. DESCRIPTION OF THE ASSIGNMENT

2.1 Global objective

The global objective of the assignment is to support the EU Presidency, take forward the EU and global development agendas, and to deliver effective and sustainable development cooperation to partner countries. In this context, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania will advance these development agenda points, as well as potential additional ones during its Presidency of the EU Council.

2.2 Specific objective(s)[1]

Provide support to the Permanent Representation of Romania to the European Union in Brussels with independent expertise in development policy, in view of handling the EU and Global Development Agenda (with particular thematic focus on the post-Cotonou relations 2020, the 2030 Agenda, including the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, and implementation of the new European Consensus on Development). It is expected that the experts' work will support the Commission’s provision of key policy guidance on development cooperation to partner countries.

As this is a capacity support contract, the experts are not supposed to replace or carry out tasks normally done by national staff allocated to the Presidency.

2.3 Requested services, including suggested methodology[2]

The experts will, under very tight deadlines, have to deliver the following:

- provide policy analysis and preparation of files on all policies and programmes related to the work of the relevant Council Working Groups, primarily CODEV (Council working group on Development Cooperation) and the ACP Working Party (Council working group for Africa, Caribbean, Pacific);

- provide similar inputs into other related Council Working Groups, such as COHAFA (Working Party on Humanitarian Aid and Food Aid) and AhWP MFF NDICI (Ad Hoc Working Party on the MFF Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument);

- support preparatory work for key meetings and events according to the Presidency's priorities and work plan in the field of EU development policy and, in particular, preparatory work of the relevant Council working groups and of the meetings of development ministers;

- upon the Presidency’s request, deliver tailored advice on negotiation strategy and approaches;

- draft issue papers, non-papers, draft Council Conclusions, meeting reports, summaries, speaking and briefing notes or other relevant documents; and

- upon the Presidency’s request, cooperate and maintain contact with the relevant departments of the Commission (mainly DG DEVCO), the European External Action Service (EEAS), the Council Secretariat and the European Parliament, in order to gather relevant information to assist the Presidency team in the preparation of different dossiers.

2.4 Required outputs

The tasks and priorities of the experts will need to be adapted to the developments related to development cooperation to be handled during the EU Council Presidency, in cooperation with the European Commission. The experts are expected to actively seek solutions within the scope of the contract to provide services related to new thematic areas that might emerge.

2.5 Language of the Specific Contract

The language of the contract shall be English.

  1. EXPERTS PROFILE

3.1 Number of requested experts[3] per category and number of days per expert or per category

One (1) Category II for 135 working days

One (1) Category III for 120 working days.

The Category III expert will work under the supervision of the Category II (Team Leader).

3.2 Profile per expert or expertise required

The required skills for both of the experts are: excellent skills in drafting /editing reports, papers, clear communication (both oral and written in English) and strong organisational skills; excellent inter-personal skills and ability to work under pressure and with short deadlines; experience in negotiation and consensus building - preferably in EU institutional settings; strong knowledge of EU inter-institutional relations and decision-making procedures. Both experts must work well under pressure and be able to manage conflicting priorities.

3.2.1Category II Expert (Team Leader)

Qualifications and skills

Education at least Master’s Degree Academic levelor equivalent academic background in the area of development, political science, international relations, public policy or a related field, or in its absence, at least a Bachelor's Degree Academic level in a related field and at least 3 years of relevant professional experience in addition to that specified below.

General professional experience

A minimum of 6 years' professional experience in development policy and/or international relations is required.

Specific Professional experience

  • The expert shall have extensive experience on EU-ACP cooperation (Cotonou Partnership Agreement).
  • In addition, proven experience is required in at least one of the following areas: migration and forced displacement, the nexus between humanitarian and development aid, the security and development nexus, the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda for Financing for Development, international commitments on development and aid effectiveness, European Union development policy, including the external financial instruments and in particular the European Consensus for Development, including the EU Agenda for Change.
  • Proven experience in drafting Council Conclusions and discussion papers, experience with prior EU Council Presidencies, including the preparation of EU Foreign Affairs Development Segment Council, work experience in EU institutions working with the CODEV and ACP Working Party of the Council, as well as knowledge of EU development policy and development cooperation instruments, are considered an asset.

Soft skills

The Category II expert, will be required to work closely on many of the dossiers and will also need to be involved in quality control and oversight of the core issues, and involved in their preparatory discussions about all of the products envisaged throughout the contract. Therefore, good facilitation and communication both oral and written will be an advantage. The Category II expert will be the team leader.

Language Skills

An excellent level of spoken and written English (C2) and good level of spoken and written French (B2) is requested. Knowledge of other EU languages is considered an asset.

3.2.2Category III Expert

Qualifications and skills

Education at least Master’s Degree Academic level or equivalent academic background in the area of development, political science, international relations, public policy or a related field, or in its absence, at least a Bachelor's Degree Academic level in a related field and at least 3 years of relevant professional experience in addition to that specified below.

General professional experience

A minimum of 3-years' professional experience in development policy and/or international relations is required.

Specific Professional experience

  • Proven experience is required in at least one of the following areas: the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda for Financing for Development, international commitments on development and aid effectiveness, European Union development policy, including the external financial instruments and in particular the European Consensus for Development, including the EU Agenda for Change, the nexus between humanitarian and development aid, the Cotonou Partnership Agreement, migration and forced displacement and the security and development nexus.

Language Skills

An excellent level of spoken and written English (C2) and good level of spoken and written French (B2) is requested. Knowledge of other EU languages would be an asset.

  1. LOCATION AND DURATION

4.1 Starting period and foreseen finishing period or duration

The contract will run over a period of 9 months: from 1 November 2018 until 31stJuly 2019 with the work split in to three phases. The precise dates of work will be determined by the work demand of the Presidency within the constraints of this ToR:

1. Start-up period 1.11.2018-31.12.2018 when at least one of the experts shall work full time.

2. During the Romanian Presidency, work of both experts from 1stJanuary to 30thJune 2019.

3. A two-day period to consolidate the final report in July 2019 for the Category II expert.

The two experts will attend a briefing meeting at the start of the contract (start of the phasing in period) with relevant DEVCO units and a second briefing meeting the same day with the Permanent Representation of the Council Presidency.

A debriefing meeting between the Category II expert and representatives of the DEVCO unit in charge will be organized by telephone or in DEVCO's premises at the end of the assignment (in July/August 2019).

4.2 Location(s) of assignment

Both experts will be based in the Permanent Representation of Romania in Brussels and may be requested to do 2 missions each with 5 mission days related to their assignment (days already accounted for in the total days under 4.1); Romania should be used as the destination for the purpose of this offer.

In addition, one mission to Africa is envisaged; for the purpose of the offer Cape Town, South Africa to be used as destination (5 working days).

Travel cost for taking-up duty in Brussels and for the de-mobilisation is eligible for reimbursement for those experts who are required to have an overnight stay during their posting to Brussels.

In case of more than 1 location of assignment, identify the main location and for each location the working days per expert needed.

  1. REPORTING

5.1 Format/schedule of reporting

Monthly report:

The team leader will send electronically short monthly activity reports to the Project Manager in DEVCO's unit in charge "A2 Development Financing and Effectiveness, Relations with Member States". The reports should report against the services and outputs, and identify any issues that are constraining or are anticipated to constrain the Framework Contractor's delivery of agreed services and outputs. These monthly reports to be submitted within 10 working days of the close of each calendar month will inform the final report.

Final report:

There must be a final progress report prior to the end of the period of implementation of the tasks. The final report will include the following:

  • Outline of the major development policy issues related to their mission
  • Lessons learnt, and recommendations from their assignment with a view to assisting the European Commission in its future support EU Council Presidencies.

The draft final report must be submitted at least one month prior to the end of the period of implementation of the tasks. The Contracting Authority will then inform the Framework Contractor of its acceptance, or will pass on its observations within 30 calendar days. Three hard copies and an electronic version of the final report are to be submitted by the Framework Contractor.

Within 30 calendar days of receiving the Contracting Authority’s observations or acceptance, the contractor will submit the final report in definitive form, either taking account of these observations or setting out different arguments. The final progress report shall be forwarded to the Romanian EU Council Presidency and to the Project Manager not later than 60 days after the end of the implementation of the tasks. Such report shall not bind the Contracting Authority.

5.2 Number of final report copies

Two hard copies and an electronic version of the final report are to be submitted by the Framework Contractor.

All reports shall clearly indicate the number of the contract and carry the following disclaimer: "This report has been prepared with the financial assistance of the European Union. The views expressed herein are those of the consultants and therefore in no way reflect the official opinion of the European Union".

6. INCIDENTAL EXPENDITURE

The following incidental expenditures are foreseen:

I.International travel to Romania (four tickets for each Presidency) and to Cape Town, South Africa (two tickets).

II.Per Diems within the applicable rates as published on:

As this is a long term mission the per diem shall reduce to 50% after 28 days.

7. MONITORING AND EVALUATION

The performance of the two experts will be evaluated against the objectives set in Chapter 2 “Description of the Assignment”.

To help with this monitoring and evaluation, the below qualitative indicators will be used among other criteria:

- Satisfaction rates of Government of Romania and its Permanent Representations to the EU (formal and informal feedback).

- Appropriateness of expert qualifications to the given tasks.

- Degree of team cooperation between the experts.

8. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS - CONFIDENTIALITY

The offer shall include the CVs of the category II and III experts proposed.

The evaluation committee for the Contracting Authority may interview both experts in advance of awarding the contract. The category II and III experts will need to be available for telephone interview as of two working days after the closing date for submitting offers for a maximum of seven working days.

The experts are bound by confidentiality. They will not disclose, share, reproduce or use information that is deemed confidential.

The experts shall be independent of any influence and from all beneficiaries of this contract, and execute responsibilities their impartially and objectively. The experts cannot perform public authority service tasks and do not have an official function of representing the European Commission.

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[1]The global and specific objectives shall clarify that all EU funded actions must promote the cross-cutting objectives of the EC: environment and climate change, rights based approach, persons with disability, indigenous peoples and gender equality.

[2]Contractors should describe how the action will contribute to the all cross cutting issues mentioned above and notably to the gender equality and the empowerment of women. This will include the communication action messages, materials and management structures.

[3]The European Union pursues an equal opportunities policy. Gender balance in the proposed team, at both administrative/secretarial and decision-making levels, is highlyrecommended.