OPEN CALL FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST for the establishment of a pool of national experts to support preparation of EU accession negotiations.

OPEN CALL FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

for the establishment of a pool of national experts to support preparation of EU accession negotiations in economic chapter of acquis

1.   Brief background of the programme

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is implementing on behalf of the German Government the project “Support to Accession Negotiations in Economic Chapters of Acquis (SANECA)”. The overall objective of the programme is to improve the framework conditions for conducting EU accession in selected acquis chapters in the economic sector related to free movement of goods and services, industrial and enterprise policy and consumer and health protection (clustered respectively in Chapters 1, 3, 20 and 28 of the acquis).

To achieve this objective the project provides support in three complementary areas:

1) Capacity development and methodologies, through methodological guidance and capacity development measures to enable line institutions and members of the respective working groups gain necessary skills and knowledge for the finalization of the screening process and conduction of other negotiating phases.

2) Preparatory work to fulfil potential benchmarks in the areas concerned, through technical expertise in drawing up the strategic framework documents for the respective policy areas.

3) Involvement of civil society through advice on stakeholder mapping and analysis as well as organisation of consultation sessions to give civil society the opportunity to make recommendations on furthering the negotiation process.

 The Project has a duration from 12/2019 to 11/2022. Main project partner is the Ministry of Finance and Economy (MFE). Other beneficiary institutions are the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth (MESY), Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEFA), the Albanian School of Public Administration (ASPA), and other Line Ministries’ members of the various inter institutional working groups under the lead of MFE.

 2.           Purpose of the call for expression of interest and application procedure  

This open call for expression of interest is managed by the a.m. SANECA project and with the aim of establishing a pool of potential national experts to support the project activities in the three mentioned complementary areas.

The experts that have the necessary expertise and experience in the relevant areas/topics (section 3) and are interested and available to be engaged in future short-term assignments for that purpose shall send their application and the documents listed in section 5.

 On the basis of the information provided in the application, the Project assesses whether the applicants meet the criteria laid down in the section 4. The applicants will be informed by the Project not later than 1 month after the application deadline, whether they have been included in the pool of potential experts or not.

Inclusion in the pool of experts entails no obligation on part of the project for concluding a contract. A contract is going to be prepared on the basis of the concrete needs and priorities set by the beneficiary and the project. Depending on the amount of work in a given area, competitive bidding might apply. Applicable rules for the procedure will be notified accordingly and in advance.

The list resulting from this notice is valid for the duration of the project, i.e. until 30.11.2022 with a possibility for a longer period.

 3.           Scope of work and description of main tasks

Scope of work

Albania has entered a new and very decisive phase in the process of EU accession. On 25 March 2020 the European Council decided to open accession talks with Albania in the light of the progress made by the country to advance the EU agenda reform. The negotiating structures are established, and the negotiating group is already appointed. While expecting soon the decision on the organisation of the 1st Intergovernmental Conference, currently all negotiating structures and line institutions are intensively involved in the preparation for the upcoming bilateral screening meetings and the arrangements of the opening of accession talks. 

 Thus, the scope of work of potential assignments will be to support the project activities envisaged in the three complementary areas, with focus on the following policy areas of the EU acquis:

 Chapter 1: Free movement of Goods

Chapter 3: Right of establishment and freedom to provide services

Chapter 20: Enterprise and industrial policy

Chapter 28: Consumer and health protection

 Description of main tasks

 Depending on the chapter-specific requirements, the tasks might include, but are not limited to, the following:

 ·        Support for preparation of different policy/legal/institutional analysis for the whole or selected areas under the chapters concerned, in view of compliance with EU requirements, which depending on the relevant chapters might include for example;

 Under chapter 1:

o  The area of food and non-food products’ legislative/regulatory framework;

o   Prohibited and to be evaluated non-technical barriers to cross-border trade in goods;

 Under chapter 3:

o  Service legislation/regulatory framework comprising business services, trade related services, tourism, environment, crafts, e-services, veterinary and health related services etc.;

o  Regulated professions’ legislative/regulatory framework, such as for professions in the health sector, incl. veterinary surgeons, architects, lawyers, sailors, commercial agents, as well as some other professions in transport or those linked to activities involving toxic products, commercial, trade and industry-related professions etc.;

 Under chapter 20:

SMEs and industrial policy and instruments, including certain sectoral policies (chapter 20);

 Under chapter 28:

o  Consumer protection (chapter 28);

o  Certain subareas of public health as divided in respective subchapter 28, etc.

 ·        Support in the process of approximation/alignment of legislation/regulatory framework with the acquis in the areas covered by selected chapters;

·        Provide support through advice/coaching/trainings and other hands-on support to responsible Inter-Institutional Working Groups aiming at fulfilling obligations deriving from the screening and negotiation process in selected chapters;

 ·        Provide support for stakeholders’ analysis for the whole or part of the chapters concerned. This might include support for identification/mapping of relevant stakeholders from civil and business community, incl. academia, as well as thorough analysis of their interests and behavioral patterns and other important aspects to consider in view of their involvement in the accession negotiations process;

 ·        Provide support for identifying type/categories of data needed for the range of analysis required herein and most importantly gathering and processing them (per chapter/subchapter or specific topics thereunder.       

4. Required skills and experience

Depending on what area the expert would express the interest to be involved in, the following criteria will be observed for the selection:

·        At least 3 years of technical competence and professional experience, in any of the areas covered by abovementioned Chapter/s (full chapter or selected subareas/topics);

·        In-depth knowledge of related Albanian legislation/institutional set up and EU acquis (full chapter or selected subareas/topics);

·        Hands-on experience in the areas concerned;

·        Strong knowledge on EU integration policy documents, processes, instruments and structures;

·        Excellent analytical, interpersonal and communication and reporting skills;

·        Very good command of written and spoken English and computer literacy;

·        Experience in working in a multidisciplinary team;

·        Track record of written papers or publications in any of the related areas (strong advantage);

·        Previous experience in consultancy services in related areas (strong advantage).

5.   Documents to be provided

Experts interested in the call are invited to send their application until 15/09/2020. Each application shall include the following documents:

·        a motivation letter explaining why the applicant would like to be part of this pool of experts and which concrete experience the expert has related to the scope of work, thereby clearly indicating the relevant Chapter(s) of EU acquis/sub areas/topics, possibly also indicating the type of tasks the applicant proves to fit in;

·        in case of consulting companies (legal persons): company profile and curriculum vitae (CV) of experts that will be involved (in the European format, preferably not exceeding 3 pages).

·        in case of individual experts (natural persons or those with academic background): curriculum vitae (CV) in the European format, preferably not exceeding 3 pages. 

·        Additional supporting documents (e.g. publications or references) may be requested at a later stage.

All documents shall be submitted in English, by electronic means at the following address [email protected].

 6.   Protection of personal data

If processing your expression of interest involves the recording and processing of personal data (such as your name, contact details and address and CV), such data will be processed pursuant to provisions of the law no. 9887, dated 10.3.2008 “On protection of personal data”, as amended. Your reply to this call and personal data requested are required for the purpose indicated in point 2 and will be processed solely for that purpose by the project.