EU Accession Expert for Support for Policy Reforms, Accession and Effectiveness (SUPRAE) in the Republic of North Macedonia.

Eastern Bridge is shortlisted for the EU-funded tender: “Support for Policy Reforms, Accession and Effectiveness (SUPRAE)” in the Republic of North Macedonia.

This project will support the EU accession of North Macedonia by strengthening the national capacity to deliver on the structural reforms, align the country’s horizontal systems and standards with the EU ones and ensure that the invested EU funds create a value for the country and improve the every-day life of the people. In order to achieve this, the project will support North Macedonia in improving the quality of the national strategic planning, monitoring and reporting and will strengthen the policy dialogue involving authorities, civil society and donors. It will upgrade the national negotiation framework, methodology and capacity, will digitalise the coordination platforms and ensure an inclusive accession process oriented towards each citizen and each region. The project will reorganise and strengthen the established management and control systems for the EU funds and will invest in maturing projects and sector pipelines to support future EU and national investments. It is also expected that the project activities significantly improve the communication on EU policies, values and use of EU funds in the country and contribute to better public understanding of the role of the EU and the substance of the accession process in North Macedonia.

REQUIREMENENTS

Key expert 2: EU Accession Expert (minimum input: 500 working days)

Qualifications and skills

• Master degree or, in its absence, 4 years above the required general professional experience;
• Excellent spoken and written English, corresponding to level C1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages/table-1-cefr-3.3-common-reference-levels-global-scale

General professional experience

• At least 7 years, but preferably 10 years or more, of professional experience in thematic areas pertaining to EU accession process or EU membership, in an EU Member State, candidate or potential candidate country.

Specific professional experience

• Professional experience in negotiation/EU accession process, encompassing planning, organisation and coordination of negotiation structures, and communicating EU accession to public, demonstrated through participation in at least 1 project as a key/senior/Category I (or equivalent expert) or 3 years of employment in public administration at relevant position;
• Experience in assessing national capacities, drafting legislative texts, structuring and delivery of capacity building measures for public administration, preferably on EU acquis-related matters, demonstrated trough participation in at least 2 projects as a key/senior/Category I (or equivalent expert) or 5 years of employment in public administration on a position involving harmonising national legislation with the EU acquis.

One of three (3) Key experts will act as a Team Leader, having the overall responsibility for the daily management of the contract activities including coordination of the work of the key experts, proper reporting to the Contracting Authority, efficient use of the contract budget, administrative and logistic support to the contract activities and good communication with the Beneficiaries and the Contracting Authority.

In addition to the criteria specific for each profile as stipulated above, the proposed Team Leader must address the following specific professional criterion:

• Knowledge on EU project management methodology gained through the participation as a team leader in at least 2 EU-funded projects, with min duration of 24 months each.

All experts must have:

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills;
• Relevant experience in management of people or projects or programmes;
• Excellent understanding of the EU Financial Regulation, the Practical Guide on EU contracting Procedures (PRAG), the IPA Regulations.

All experts must be independent and free from conflicts of interest in the responsibilities they take on.

Location:

The operational base for the contract will be Skopje, North Macedonia. However, services can be delivered also outside of the beneficiary country with the prior authorisation of the Contracting authority, based on a justified request by the Contractor.

The working days delivered outside of the beneficiary country, with the exception of the time when an expert accompanies national authorities on a mission outside of the beneficiary country will trigger reduction of 15% of contracted fee rate for the key and the senior non-key experts.

The number of working days allocated to working in or outside the beneficiary country can be adjusted by the Contracting Authority in written through an administrative order.

Start date & period of implementation

The intended start date is 26 September 2022 and the period of implementation of the contract will be 42 months from this date.

Deadline for submission of CVs:  July 14, 2022