The European Commission (EC) co-financed a grant scheme “IPA Agriculture and Rural Development Support Grant Scheme 2015” to achieve objectives indicated in the IPA II – Country Strategy Paper for Kosovo 2014-2020. Numerous proposals were submitted for this grant scheme, and the first stage of evaluation for concept notes was already carried out. The overall objective of this contract is to assist the European Union Office in Kosovo in the selection of the best proposals under the Call for Proposals “IPA Agriculture and Rural Development Support Grant Scheme 2015”. The call was launched in February 2019 and comprising a total of 8.8 million euros split among three lots.

We improved the efficiency of the evaluation of the project proposals and ensured the quality of the selected proposals through assessment support to the EU. Particularly, we were tasked with ensuring that projects were in line with the criteria set in the guidelines for applications, including from climate change and gender perspectives. We also provided the basis for a qualitative assessment and risk assessment through due diligence on the applications.

The final outputs included:

• Evaluation grids for full applications filled in with adequate scoring and comments;
• Ranking list of the assessed proposals;
• Request-for-clarification letters;
• Assessment report summarising the activities of the assessors during evaluation of the full applications;
• Assessment report summarising the activities of the assessors during the risk assessment phase.

• Managed key stakeholders through kick-off and debriefing meetings by videoconference
• Conducted technical and financial assessments of 85 full applications in line with the guidelines published
• Provided scoring and comments through an electronic evaluation grid, including overall comments on the strengths and weaknesses of each proposal
• Conducted due diligence (i.e. interviews, visits of premises, and checks on the production processes) for all proposals provisionally selected by the Evaluation Committee
• Summarised all assessment activities in a final report