Framework agreements covering a 2-year period for mid-term and final central project evaluations. The objective is to establish a pool of contractors whereas the number of contractors is not limited.

This invitation to tender is one of 12 contract award procedures (framework agreements) covering different thematic areas. A separate pool of contractors will be established for each contract award procedure. Bidders may be freelance / self-employed persons or consulting firms.

At the time of this invitation to tender, the precise dates/time of each evaluation have not been specified. Additional evaluations may also be possible.

Central project evaluations generally concern projects that GIZ carries out on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) as our main commissioning party, together with our partners in order to support their change projects.

The current evaluation portfolio covers the following thematic areas worldwide:

Framework agreement title/ Reference Nº (Transaction Nº):

1) Economic policy, pro-poor growth strategies 81219290;

2) Private sector development, SME and MSME promotion 81219291;

3) Health 81219292;

4) Legal and judicial systems, human rights, civil society 81219293;

5) Urban and regional development 81219294;

6) Fragile contexts 81219295;

7) Refugee movements and migration 81219296;

8) Climate 81219297;

9) Biodiversity 81219298;

10) Agriculture, rural development and climate change 81219299;

11) Water and sanitation 81219300;

12) Energy 81219301

The subjects of the evaluations in this framework agreement are technical cooperation projects in the field of private sector development development, SME and MSME promotion.

The purpose of a central project evaluation is to provide a critical, analytical review of the results and implementation of a project. They can be carried out at different times: completed projects are evaluated some 8 months after the end of their term, which is usually 3 years (final evaluation). Projects with planned follow-on measures are also evaluated during their term (mid-term evaluation), depending on the intended use (submission for planning the follow-on commission, project steering, reporting to the commissioning party, strategic reflection). Both the mid-term and final evaluations take predecessor projects into consideration (where substantively relevant) in order to make statements about long-term results and sustainability. Contractors must prepare a final project evaluation report.

The different types of evaluation are designed to provide a robust insight into the outputs, outcomes and impacts of approaches in partner structures. To ensure the comparability of project evaluations in German development cooperation and at the international level, GIZ applies the five evaluation criteria agreed by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): Relevance, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Impact and Sustainability. The particular challenge lies in verifying a causal relationship between measures and results up to impacts, and in plausibly substantiating the contribution of those measures to the results. To address the challenge of verifying a causal relationship, a theoretically sound, transparent and robust methodological approach is required. All evaluations must be carried out by a team consisting of one international and one local / regional evaluator.

Central project evaluations of GIZ projects are carried out using a system of rotation. In early 2018, a sample of the same size will be drawn, and invitations to tender will be issued EU-wide for corresponding evaluations in the following years.