External Evaluation of Ireland/Northern Ireland Cross-Border Cooperation Observatory (INICCO)

The Centre for Cross Border Studies, founded in 1999 and with offices in Armagh and Dublin, researches and develops cooperation across the Irish border in education, training, health, the economy, planning, public administration, information provision and a range of other practical areas.

The Centre has been awarded funding from the EU INTERREG IVA Programme (managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB)) to undertake a ‘basket’ of five research, training and information projects in 2009-2011. These are in the areas of cross-border mobility information, spatial planning, hospital services and impact assessment, and the economic revival of the cross-border region.

This group of projects is entitled the Ireland/Northern Ireland Cross-border Cooperation Observatory (INICCO).

The Centre is now seeking an external evaluator for the INICCO project.

The main objectives of the evaluation of INICCO would be as follows:

• To inform decisions on operations, policy, or strategy related to ongoing and future EU Programme interventions in Northern Ireland and the Irish cross-border region;
• To demonstrate accountability to the SEUPB as the donor agency;
• To facilitate learning – contributing to the body of knowledge on what works and why in cross-border cooperation in Ireland, in order to verify or improve project/programme quality and management;
• To give stakeholders – particularly in the public sector – the opportunity to have a say in programme output and quality;
• To justify/validate the INICCO project to the donor, to project partners and other constituencies such as government agencies, local authorities, community and business interests in the Irish cross-border region.
• To assess how the five projects and the management of these link with and address the aims and objectives of the INTERREG IVA Programme.

The closing date for the receipt of tenders is no later than 4.00 pm on Thursday 30 July 2009. The evaluation will run for 28 months from September 2009 to the project end date, presently December 2011. The successful applicant will be informed by 1 September 2009.

The total cost of the evaluation, inclusive of all VAT and expenses, will be in the range Stg£60,000-70,000.

Under no circumstances will late tenders be considered, nor is the Centre obliged to accept the lowest or any bid. The Centre will not pay any extra fees for secretarial or handling charges, and will not be liable for any costs incurred in drawing up tenders.

See the Specification for External Evaluation