CALL FOR EVIDENCE FOR AN EVALUATION / FITNESS CHECK

Title of the evaluation	Technical Support Instrument – mid-term evaluation
Lead DG – responsible unit	DG REFORM – Unit A2 – Technical Support Coordination, Inter- institutional and Legal Affairs
Indicative timetable (planned start date and completion date)	Q1 2024 – Q1 2025
Additional information	https://commission.europa.eu/funding-tenders/find-funding/eu-funding-programmes/technical-support-instrument_en
This document is for information purposes only. It does not prejudge the final decision of the Commission on whether this initiative will be pursued or on its final content. All elements of the initiative described by the document, including its timing, are subject to change.
A. Political context, purpose and scope of the evaluation
Political context
The Technical Support Instrument (TSI), established under Regulation (EU) 2021/240, entered into force on 19 February 2021. It is the successor to the Structural Reform Support Programme. Its aim is to help EU countries strengthen their institutional and administrative capacity, regionally and locally, to facilitate socially inclusive, green and digital transitions, to effectively address the challenges identified in the country-specific recommendations made in the context of the European Semester, and to implement EU law (Article 3 of the Regulation (EU) 2021/240). With a budget of EUR 864 million for 2021-2027, the TSI is managed by the Directorate-General of the European Commission for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM). The TSI is an important part of the EU’s initiative to help EU countries mitigate the economic and social impacts of COVID-19. It helps EU countries design and implement resilience-enhancing reforms by dispensing expertise to national authorities. Technical support is provided in a wide range of policy areas, including, but not limited, to: green and digital transitions; healthcare and long-term care; skills, education and training; governance and public administration; competitiveness; the financial sector and access to finance; revenue administration and public financial management; the labour market, social protection and migration. There are examples of support activities under the TSI on this webpage. As Article 16 of the Regulation (EU) 2021/240 states, the TSI is subject to an independent mid-term evaluation by 20 February 2025.
Purpose and scope
The purpose of the mid-term evaluation is to gather evidence on the early implementation of the TSI in accordance with the instrument’s legal base and to inform the European Parliament and the Council of the achievement of the TSI objectives to date, on how efficiently resources have been used, the TSI’s EU added value and the relevance of TSI objectives and actions. This evaluation will also be used: ·to identify key actions addressing the effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, coherence and EU added value of the TSI; ·to identify lessons learned and contribute to the preparation of the subsequent programming period; ·as input for the ex-post evaluation of the TSI. The evaluation will cover all projects funded under the TSI whose requests have been adopted between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2023, in the 27 EU countries. It will cover the TSI’s entire cycle, from the requests for support submitted by EU countries to the completion of the technical support projects’ implementation. The mid-term evaluation has inherent limitations because the TSI’s implementation began relatively recently (in 2021). Its long-term impacts can only be gauged in EU countries after a few years, from how specific reforms are being implemented.
B. Better regulation
Consultation strategy
To get feedback from the stakeholders concerned and from the public on the TSI, the following stakeholders’ consultations are planned from the second quarter of 2024: ·A twelve-week open public consultation on the Have Your Say web portal. The questionnaire for the consultation will be available and responses to it may be given in all official EU languages. After the closure of the public consultation, a factual summary report will be published on Have Your Say along with the responses to the consultation. ·Targeted consultations addressed to EU countries, technical support providers and Commission staff. Possible data collection tools include online surveys, interviews, workshops and focus groups. A synopsis report summarising all the responses will be prepared and enclosed to the Staff Working Document on the mid-term evaluation, which is expected to be published by the European Commission in early 2025.
Why we are consulting?
The aim of the consultation is to collect inputs to reply to the evaluation questions, addressing the relevant knowledge gaps and validating the preliminary findings. At the very least, the stakeholder consultations must cover the five mandatory evaluation criteria (effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, coherence and EU added value).
Target audience
The open public consultation is open to anyone interested in providing input, so it reaches a broad range and large number of stakeholders. The targeted consultations will collect the specialist views of the different categories of stakeholders involved in designing and implementing TSI actions, such as the beneficiary authorities of EU countries, the coordinating authorities of EU countries, technical support providers, REFORM staff and representatives of other Commission services.
Data collection and methodology
The mid-term evaluation, supported by an external study, will assess at least the five evaluation criteria set out in the Better Regulation Guidelines: the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, and EU added value of the TSI (including TSI projects). The overall achievement of the TSI objectives and its likely long-term impacts will be assessed to the extent made possible by the availability of data. The methodology for assessing the TSI’s results and long-term impacts will be based on the evaluation questions, and on the data gathered by different sources (including the people consulted): ·Existing data from DG REFORM’s internal monitoring system, including information and evidence gathered through the feedback mechanism on the completed projects implemented under the TSI. ·Complementary quantitative and qualitative evidence gathered, as appropriate, through desk research, case studies, and consultations of the various stakeholders; ·Data on and the results of evaluations of the TSI’s predecessor, the Structural Reform Support Programme. ·Other relevant sources, such as research papers, reports from other EU institutions, etc.