EASPD is the European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities. We are a European not-for-profit organisation and represent over 20,000 social service provider organisations across both Europe and disability. The main objective of EASPD is to promote equal opportunities for people with disabilities through effective and high-quality service systems.

Tender specification

EASPD is looking for a Researcher/Research team to produce a Toolkit on how support services for persons with disabilities can benefit from InvestEU.

Main elements of work

The study should focus on guiding support services for persons with disabilities on how they can benefit from InvestEU. It should include

• Information about InvestEU and the benefits it can bring disability services
• Step by step guidance on how disability services can benefit from InvestEU, including the most relevant financial instruments
• Information about financial investors and intermediaries (EIB, CEB, NPBIs, commercial banks, other national investors etc) and how disability services should approach them for InvestEU-supported investment
• Recommendations to stakeholders on how to unlock InvestEU for disability services: disability services, public authorities, financial intermediaries

The Researcher/Research team is expected to deliver a step-by-step guide to help disability services better understand and benefit from InvestEU. The research is expected to be done through desktop research (laws, policy documents, reports, studies, academia, etc) & at least 10 interviews with relevant stakeholders.

The researcher will also be expected to present the report during an event. The work includes following tasks:

• Main report (describe)
• An executive summary (2-3 pages) and conclusions (describe)
• EASPD expects the subcontractors to deliver along with the report and executive summary, a short biography of the researchers, an overview of the datasets used for the study (including data sources for graphs and tables), and a list of potential dissemination channels (e.g. journals, conferences, etc.).

Deadlines and Budget

Deadline for application: 5th November 2021

Response to application: 8th November 2021

Selected applicants are expected to take on the assignment as soon as possible. The deliverables are expected to be finalised by 31st December 2021.

Expertise required

The researcher(s) will be expected to demonstrate:

• Proven experience in coordinating international research projects and collaborative work
• Solid academic and/or professional background with regards to the social service sectors; in particular from the angle of funding policies
• Experience in data collection, analysis and presentation
• Wide network of contacts and entry-points for collecting data at national level in EU countries; the selected candidate should ensure the processing of national data in local language(s)
• Experience of writing accessible reports for an NGO and/or EU/national organisation readership
• Excellent command of English (written and oral)
• An operational approach to the integration of good management principles, including correct personal data management in line with the requirements of the GDPR.
• Only candidates from EU Member States are eligible for participating in the tender

Selection and award criteria

The applicant(s) should submit the following documents until 5th November 2021:

• A motivation letter describing your expertise and explaining why you are the right candidate(-s) for the assignment (not more than 1 page)
• A technical proposal explaining how you plan to conduct the research, including a review of what has already been done, a proposed methodology, a work plan, resources needed, budget, etc. (not more than 2-3 pages). It should also include some examples of funding policies they would look to assess in depth
•  CV, including the list of published articles, reports, studies if relevant

Only selected candidates will be contacted.

Content of the bids

The tenderer will ensure that their bid clearly identifies how they meet the selection criteria. It would also be useful to see examples of previous work demonstrating their ability to write and present in English to a primarily NGO audience.

Payments and standard contract

Payment will be made on receipt of Draft Deliverables and the Final Deliverables, 40% and 60% respectively. Only validated fact sheets will be accepted and fully compensated. The Contract will be drawn up between EASPD and the contractor. 

The estimated price is EUR 10,000 all taxes included.

The contract will be awarded to the tenderer whose offer represents the best value for money, taking into account the quality of submitted document and individual expertise. The contract will only be awarded to a tenderer who clearly proves that they have knowledge, experience and expertise which match at least 70% of the selection criteria.

Contact Details

Please send bids to Thomas Bignal, Policy Manager, European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD): thomas.bignal@easpd.eu. The subject of the email should be “Bid Invest EU – Name of the applicant” (e.g. Bid InvestEU – Joanna Smith).