Tweet about the webinar Successful Consulting with EuropeAid Devex Twitter handle @devex Webinar Hashtag #devwebinar.

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Successful Consulting with EuropeAid

Devex Twitter handle

@devex

Webinar Hashtag

#devwebinar

Introduction

• The EU is a supersize donor

• Profile of consultants

• How to get a job

• Surviving procedures

• Other concerns (# of consultants, virtual world-virtual quality, rate trend, getting paid, body shops)

• Why TACU

EU largest donor worldwide*

• 27 EU countries + EC together responsible for 60% of all development aid (around €48 billion)

• USA provides 21%

• Growing budget until 2015: 0.7% GNI

• European Commission on its own:– Second largest donor of humanitarian aid– Third largest donor of development aid (after USA and

Germany)– Present in more than 150 countries

*based on OECD/DAC figures (2008)

EU budget: What’s in it for us?

• Total Devco budget: €9.987 billion

• Top 5:– Infrastructure and transport: €1.034 billion (8.8%)– Human and social development: €1.364 billion (11.6%)– Economic and institutional reforms: €1.394 billion (11.8%)– Conflict prevention and fragile states: €1.650 billion (14%)– Multi-sector: €2.559 billion (21.8%)

EC annual report (2010)

423 462

541 560

1034

136413941650

2559

Environment and sustainability

Trade and regional integration

Water and energy

Social cohesion and em-ployment

Infrastructure and transport

Human and social development

Support for economic and insti-tutional reforms

Conflict prevention and fragile states

Multi-sector

Technical assistance

• Projects are always tendered

• Contractors need to be eligible

• Two main types of contracts:– Service contracts– Framework contracts

• Tender procedures described in detailed regulation…

A consultant’s profile

• Key experts:– Older men (!): 50+– Internationals– Often public service or consultancy background– At least university level

• Short-term experts– Mostly men– International or (increasingly) national– In practice at least 15 years working experience– Public service, international development or consultancy

background– University level

How to get a job

• Your CV is key!

• Targeting vacancies is essential

• Identify suitable (decent) contractors

• Be prepared for “box-ticking operations”

• Make yourself ready for procedures…

• … and waiting

Surviving procedures

• Tendering takes time…

• TACU survey: up to 60% delays:– Average decision time service contracts is 152 days

(official maximum is 90 days)– Average decision time FWC is 26 days (official maximum

is 14 days)– Balkans and Turkey are “famous” for delays

• Experts are often out of work and waiting...

• Ever heard of “SoE&A”?

Technical Assistance Consultants United

• Membership organization open to all individual experts/consultants regardless of nationality

• Catalyst: campaign to ban SoE&A (2010)

• Mission: to promote the interests of professional consultants working in technical assistance contracts for donor-funded development cooperation

• Provides information and legal advice to members in contracting disputes, lobbies and negotiates with donors to reform their TA procedures

• Plans to expand beyond EC: all other donors to be covered

• www.ta-consultants-united.org or [email protected]

TACU’s main concerns

• Procedures for experts/consultants

• Getting paid

• Rates and reimbursements (trends)

• Facilities (insurance)

• Number of consultants

• “Body shops”

• Technical assistance: A virtual world with virtual quality?

TACU’s drive for change

• Fundamental changes of EuropeAid regulations:

– Abolish the Statement of Exclusivity and Availability

– Change the basis for evaluating tenders from excessive dependence on the CVs of proposed experts to the quality of the technical proposal

TACU’s package to be negotiated

• Short-term changes:

– Pay full EU-approved per diems for all short-term missions

– Pay short-term experts in full for travel days

– Make the insurance provisions transparent

– Sort out the mess over evidence of past work experience

– Change the minimum time spent on site by KEs from 95% to 80%

More TACU proposals for change (2)

• More short-term changes:

– Abolish specifying the amount of time spent on site for STEs and FWC assignments

– Make relevant experience as valuable as formal education

– Compensate experts financially as a sanction to be applied to contracting authorities that fail to meet their tender evaluation deadlines

– Reimburse experts for local expenditures at fair rates

Questions?

Henry LeerentveldChairman, TACU – Key Expert

Stephen Dewar General Secretary, TACU – Key Expert

Michael GerickeAdvisory Board Member, TACU – Key Expert

Lauren BranderSpecial Assistant and Project Associate, Devex

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Successful Consulting with EuropeAid

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Questions?

Email: [email protected]

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