The purpose of this contract is to support the European Commission represented by DEVCO 06 in its tasks and provide methodological and analytical support with a view to contributing to the improvement of the quality of and the accountability for the external assistance provided by the EC.
Assistance is provided in the following:
1.1     ROM Reviews
·         assisting DEVCO 06 in and for meetings with Results-Oriented Monitoring (ROM) coordinators and ROM contractors, including through preparation of supporting documents and drafting of the minutes of the meetings; at least four coordination meetings are expected every year;
·         contributing to the analysis of the workplan for ROM reviews, including by processing data concerning the volume of work of the ROM reviews and related cost estimations;
·         assisting DEVCO 06 in and for meetings concerning ROM reviews of particular types of projects and programmes, such as budget support, blending or EU Trust Funds, including through preparation of supporting documents and drafting of the minutes of the meetings;
·         contributing to the definition or revision of a specific ROM methodology, where needed, for these cases;
·         participating in the reflection on and preparation of amendments to the ROM Handbook, including for improved templates;
·         contributing to the functioning and use of the ROM module by managing accesses for ROM contractors and experts, and processing data for statistical and reporting purposes;
·         assisting in the selection of ROM review reports to be quality-checked by the Quality Assurance contractor.
1.2 ROM Results Reporting
·         provide assistance in the coordination of the results reporting support provided by the ROM contractors to the EUD and HQ operational Units in DGs DEVCO and NEAR (for the Neighbourhood regions);
·         assist DEVCO 06 in the definition of the workplan for ROM Results Reporting exercises;
·         assist DEVCO 06 in quality controlling results data collected through the ROM results reporting exercises, and in processing them into aggregated results data and providing analytical conclusions and reports, including for the preparation of DEVCO 06 contribution to the DEVCO annual report amongst others;
·         where necessary, participate in the discussion and preparation of possible improvements in the data collection and reporting methodology and in the choice of indicators. To that extent it may be requested to present and test options and draft methodological notes;
·         provide assistance in the improvement of results reporting templates; this will include assistance in the management of the transition between an Excel template and the new operational system concerning data management and processing.
·         maintain a database with all the data collected in order to keep record of past data, allow processing of the data, provide comparison between years and produce reports;
·         draft analytical reports and synthesis notes on results data – including the drafting of country results pages using data collected through the ROM results reporting exercises;
·         assist in assessing the workload of results reporting per lot, the cost thereof and its impact on contract management. Extract project-related information from the Commission’s operational information management system (CRIS and later OPSYS) and provide summary notes on the work ahead; assist in organising coordination meetings with ROM coordinators and ROM contractors .
2. Quality Support Groups and Project Cycle Management
·         provide the relevant quantitative and qualitative reports on the QSG process; this screening will cover methodological respect of instructions, quality of results indicators or adequate integration of M&E activities;
·         assist DEVCO 06 in screening the new Action Documents and provide opinions and recommendations on the quality of the results indicators;
·         monitor the QSG process including the effective use of related instructions and templates;
·         undertake on request studies and organize workshops in other fields related to quality management of projects and programmes.
3. Internal monitoring
·       assist DEVCO 06 in the revision/development of guidance and templates for monitoring of project implementation;
·        contribute to the definition of business requirements for monitoring activities through OPSYS;
·       screen, analyse and produce analytical and summary reports on monitoring activities on the basis of internal monitoring reports;
·        maintain and manage the IT EVAL module (ORACLE/JAVA), including debugging, managing accesses, monitor processes, preparing reports and maintaining interconnection between the IT ROM module and other IR processes, such as CRIS and OPSYS;
·     verify coherence between templates/tools over the various segments of the project/programme management cycle.
4. Planning of monitoring activities
·       assist in analysing the MEP in terms of adequacy of the planning of M&E activities by EUD and DEVCO HQ operational Units, in order to verify to what extent the MEP should be improved to serve its objectives;
·         assist in upgrading the MEP in Excel format. To that purpose, the contractor must be able to provide the relevant IT services (e.g. VBA for Excel) through long or short term expertise;
·         perform statistical analyses on the planning of M&E activities and its relations with key performance indicators used by DEVCO for M&E activities;
·         assist in the definition of the business requirements for the integration of the MEP in OPSYS, including for its useful interaction with other data in OPSYS (e.g. operational or financial data).
5. Workshops and seminars and ad-hoc studies
·        The contractor will provide logistical support for the organisation of workshops /meetings/seminars on the above deliverables. The contractor will also prepare documentation and draft the report/minutes of the meetings.