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Project’s Final Evaluation – CDWB (Combatting Disinformation in the Western Balkans)

The European Partnership for Democracy (EPD) is recruiting a consultant or team of consultants (hereafter: the “Evaluator”) to conduct the final evaluation of the ‘CDWB – Combatting Disinformation in the Western Balkans’ (hereafter: the ‘Project’), funded by the European Union (EU). The evaluation is set to take place between December 2024 – March 2025. Under this contract, the Evaluator is expected to conduct an evaluation of the CDWB Project following the DAC criteria. To this end, the evaluation will have two main purposes: 

  • Accountability. The evaluation must ascertain the degree to which the Project has attained the overall and specific objectives established in the Description of the Action and Logical Framework Matrix annexed to the contract with the European Union. 
  • Learning. The evaluation must also provide relevant insights on the ways in which the Project has contributed to make policy makers, media actors and the CSOs from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro and Serbia address Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) in a coordinated manner and thereby contributing to more democratic resilience to FIMI and to lessen chances of inter-communal conflict in the Western Balkans.

*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence

Background information about the project

Following the aftermath of COVID-19 and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, disinformation, already considered endemic throughout the Western Balkans, experienced a sharp increase. While originating from various systemic issues within these countries, specific key common factors have been identified such as polarisation, scepticism towards EU integration, lack of pluralism, and state-owned media.

While foreign actors feature prominently, a significant share of disinformation in the Western Balkans is produced and disseminated by domestic and regional actors to undermine or delegitimize their political opponents. This fuels greater polarisation, hinders cross-communal cooperation, and undermines people’s confidence in democratic processes.

Interested bidders are requested to submit a technical and financial offer which will be assessed by an Evaluation Committee against the criteria listed in Annex 1. Please find Annex 1 below at the end of the TOR.  

Application procedure

Deadline 

Interested bidders are requested to submit a technical and financial offer which will be assessed by an Evaluation Committee against the criteria listed in Annex 1. Please find Annex 1 below at the end of the TOR.  The application package is to be sent at the latest by 18 November 2024, 12:00 CET to [email protected] ; Subject line: ‘“CDWB – Evaluation”

Requests for clarification may be submitted to the email address above until 11 November 2024, 23:59 CET. Answers will be published on EPD’s website by 14 November 2024, 23:59 CET.

Technical offer

The technical offer is composed of the :

  • Updated CVs of the Evaluator(s);
  • Annex 2 – Application form filled in.

Financial offer

The financial offer shall be: A separate document in the form of a quotation. Broken down into a detailed budget, that includes the total amount of the offer, all taxes included. 

Selection modalities

An Evaluation Steering Committee will be established to evaluate the bids and coordinate the evaluation process on behalf of the consortium. The committee, led by the EPD Head of Programmes, will be the first line of contact with the evaluation team lead.  

The technical offer will be  weighted with 80%; the financial offer will be weighted with 20%. Only candidates scoring at least 75/100 with regard to the criteria set in Annex 1 for their technical offer will have their financial offer considered. Bidders may be invited for an interview during the technical evaluation if deemed necessary by the Evaluation Steering Committee. 

EPD reserves the right to enter into a negotiation with the candidates  on the financial offer proposed by them, before finalising the selection process. The selection process will be finalised after candidates shortlisted in the second step of the process have been interviewed by the  Evaluation Committee and agreement on the offer has been found.