Study on Organisational Models of Programme Authorities Managing EU Cohesion Policy 2000-2020

Reference number: REGIO/2022/OP/0011

Contract No: 2022CE16BAT012

Description: This study aims to analyse the changes to the organisational models of managing authorities responsible for the ERDF in national and regional programmes between 2000 and 2020.

The three objectives to reach are the following:

Objective A: The study should provide robust and reliable evidence of the main changes in the organisational model of managing authorities over the three programming periods.
Objective B: Based on this evidence, the study should analyse how these organisational changes relate to the context in which the authority has been operating. Key features to consider are the applicable EU legislation for managing the cohesion policy funds, EU and national policies and institutional context, and other social, economic and technological factors.
After identifying how these issues have affected organisational changes, the study should assess:
1. conditions that trigger changes;
2. how organisational changes have led to changes in one or more of the four strands;
3. success factors in transforming the strands, i.e. which factors led to properly identify challenges, formulate operational changes in the organisations, achieve those changes.
Objective C: Based on the above, the study should look at organisational challenges for authorities linked to implementing the 2021-2027 programmes or to preparing the following programming period.

The work on this study should be organised into the following tasks:

Task 0
Managing relations with the contracting authority and coordinating the tasks.
Task 1: Develop a framework to analyse organisational changes
The contractor will identify variables under each strand of the organisational model and explain their choice. These variables will be used to document organisational changes in the authorities. It will also map and categorise the features that influence how an authority is organised, e.g. legal requirements, EU and national policies. Lastly, it will propose a sample of authorities for the study.
The size and diversity of the sample should ensure robust and reliable evidence from across the EU. It should be representative of the different types of national and regional managing authorities, e.g. number of beneficiaries in programmes, thematic coverage, geographical location. The sample should also collect data from the three programming periods – if a body did not have an ERDF management role in a previous programming period, then the contractor should identify its predecessor. To take into account when new countries joined the EU, Bulgarian and Romanian bodies will only be analysed for the 2007-2013 and 2014-2020 programming periods and Croatian bodies for 2014-2020. The contractor might consider relevant to assess pre-accession management structure. The sample should ensure representativeness across the EU, e.g. by proposing a weighted system.
Task 2: Develop the methodology to collect and analyse information and involve managing authorities
The contractor will propose research methods to collect and analyse information, and how to involve managing authorities into the analysis. The contractor will include in the proposal a theoretical model to analyse organisational changes. It will set up an information repository to collect, organise and save data (which should be classified using Cohesion Open Data Platform codes). The contracting authority should have remote access to the information repository.
Task 3: Perform the analysis
The contractor will perform the analysis based on agreed outcome of tasks 1 and 2 to achieve the study’s three objectives described above (collecting and saving information in the repository, analysing the changes, and involving the managing authorities included in the sample).
Task 4: Prepare interim report, final report and data set
The contractor will draft the interim report, the final study report and prepare a data set. The data set is a subset of the information repository that underpins analysis and conclusions in the study report. The data set should be published in an open data format and be made available to third parties for further research.
Task 5: Prepare materials for events
The contractor will prepare content and presentations for two events: an online workshop to update authorities on progress and a final hybrid event to present the final report to authorities and stakeholders. The contracting authority will organise both events.

Duration in months: 19