Evaluation consultancy services

Tender description

The department of agriculture, food and the marine invites proposals from suitable independent external consultants to undertake an evaluation of Ireland’s Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, hereafter ‘RDP’. The department of agriculture, food and the marine invites proposals from suitable independent external consultants to undertake an evaluation of Ireland’s Rural Development Programme 2014 – 2020, hereafter ‘RDP’. The evaluation shall be done through the assessment of the RDP's net contribution to changes in the CAP impact indicator values and through answering the Common Evaluation Questions (CEQs). The CEQs are mainly cause and effect questions that assess scheme impacts and results on the basis of evidence derived from mandatory indicators, agreed up by the Commission and DAFM, and additional indicators developed by DAFM. For the 2019 evaluation, the evaluation must also quantify the CAP impact indicators. Other information, such as survey data and non-beneficiary data from national statistics, annual accounts and the National Farm Survey, can also be used in the evaluations. Ireland’s RDP was formally adopted by the EU Commission on the 26.5.2015 and contains an extensive suite of measures that address all farming sectors and supports community-led local development by means of the LEADER programme. The RDP is co-funded by the EU and the national exchequer. EU support for the RDP via the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) will amount to 2 190 000 000 EUR over the 7-year lifespan and this EU funding will be supplemented by exchequer funding to bring the total support available under the RDP to some 4 000 000 000 EUR.