Notice of call for expressions of interest
1.
Contracting authority:
European Commission, Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union, attention: Mr Stéphane Mail-Fouilleul, Head of Unit TAXUD/R1: HR and Finances, J79 6/040, 1049 Brussels, BELGIUM.
2.
Registration procedure:
The objective of this call for expressions of interest is to set up a list of external experts.
Expressions of interest should be submitted in English by post to the address indicated at point 1. The envelope should be marked ‘Call for expression of interest TAXUD/2016/AO-07’.
Inclusion on the list entails no obligation on the part of the contracting authority concerning the conclusion of contracts.
3.
Information and documents to be provided:
Interested parties should provide their full contact details in their expression of interest.
The supporting evidence to be provided for the evaluation of the selection criteria are indicated at point 11.
4.
General description of the procedure:
Natural persons are invited to submit an expression of interest in accordance with the rules set out in this notice.
The contracting authority will draw up a list of experts who meet the criteria set out at point 11.
Where a particular task relating to the field described at point 7 is to be performed by an external expert, the contracting authority will assign experts to the task on the basis of the skills, experience and knowledge necessary and in accordance with the principles of non-discrimination, equal treatment and absence of conflict of interests.
The contracting authority will also ensure that experts are selected from the list in a balanced manner with an appropriate rotation of experts.
5.
Protection of personal data:
If processing your expression of interest involves the recording and processing of personal data (such as your name, address and CV), such data will be processed pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18.12.2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data. Unless indicated otherwise, your reply to this notice and any personal data requested are required for the purposes indicated above in point 4 and will be processed solely for those purposes by the contracting authority indicated in point 1, which is also acting as data controller. Details concerning the processing of your personal data are available on the privacy statement at:
http://ec.europa.eu/dataprotectionofficer/privacystatement_publicprocurement_en.pdf
Your personal data may be registered in the early warning system (EWS) only or both in the EWS and central exclusion database (CED) by the accounting officer of the Commission, should you be in one of the situations mentioned in:
— the Commission Decision of 16.12.2008 on the Early Warning System for the use of authorising officers of the Commission and the executive agencies (2008/969/EC, Euratom) (for more information see the privacy statement on
http://ec.europa.eu/budget/contracts_grants/info_contracts/legal_entities/legal_entities_en.cfm),
or
— the Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1302/2008 of 17.12.2008 on the central exclusion database (for more information see the privacy statement on
http://ec.europa.eu/budget/explained/management/protecting/protect_en.cfm#BDCE).
6.
Use of the list resulting from this notice:
The list resulting from this notice will be used exclusively for tasks to be carried out as described at point 7, with a maximum threshold of 135 000 EUR of total payments (including both remunerations and reimbursements).
7.
Full description of the fields covered by the call for expressions of interest:
The European Commission's Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union is seeking to attract leading economists from academia, international organisations and top research institutions to participate in its visiting fellows programme. Selected economists are invited for a short-term mission (i.e. between 1 and 10 days) to be carried out in close collaboration with members of DG Taxation and Customs Union staff, present and/or discuss research work and share their knowledge in the area of quantitative methods, economic modelling and public economics theory, namely in the areas of taxation policy and tax reforms.
The general aim of the programme is to strengthen the in-house research potential of DG Taxation and Customs Union by improving connections with the economic research community. The programme aims to give DG Taxation and Customs Union staff better access to ongoing research work as well as to increase exposure to new approaches and insights on issues of relevance for DG Taxation and Customs Union as set out in its mission statement (
http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/common/about/welcome/index_en.htm), in its annual work programme (
http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/common/about/work_program/index_en.htm) or as part of its forward-looking strategy. Visiting fellows will equally have an opportunity to experience the policymaking environment in which DG Taxation and Customs Union operates. During their mission, experts will be expected to interact with staff, discuss their research work with staff members, and, if appropriate, prepare an accompanying paper for eventual publication in the taxation papers series of DG Taxation and Customs Union. Experts should also be available to discuss with and, if requested, to advise staff members on research problems pertinent to DG Taxation and Customs Union. They will be invited to give a talk and present their work in an academic-style internal seminar (the TAXUD economic seminar series) and will also be asked to provide a written report of their activities in DG Taxation and Customs Union.
8.
Place of delivery:
Tasks will be carried out primarily remotely using electronic communication tools at the expert's permanent or official address.
9.
Expiry date of the list resulting from this call for expressions of interest:
The list resulting from this notice is valid for 4 years from dispatch of this notice. Interested parties may submit an application at any time prior to the last 3 months of validity of the list.
10.
Exclusion criteria:
In order to be included in the list, applicants should complete and sign the declaration of honour on the exclusion criteria which can be found in Annex II.G of the specifications.
11.
Selection criteria:
A candidate will be declared eligible if he fulfils all the following selection criteria:
— education: at minimum a university master's degree or equivalent diploma. The diploma should preferably be in economics even though other specialisations shall also be considered insofar as they are related to the tasks to be performed,
— experience: 5 years of relevant work experience, of which at least 3 years in the academia, an economic research institute or a governmental or international organisation,
— language skills: very good knowledge of the English language. The expert will have to assure that he/she has thorough knowledge of this language (at least level C1 of the common European framework of reference for languages (CEFR)),
— publications: at least 3 publications as author or co-author in international peer-reviewed economic academic journals.
All the above requested experience and abilities will be assessed based on the information the applicants provide in their curriculum vitae which is part of their application.
The ability to use IT tools is a prerequisite in order to be selected as external expert.
There are no nationality requirements.
Experts are invited to submit (in English) a dossier including:
• a checklist,
• a cover letter,
• a detailed curriculum vitae including publications,
• a self-assessment of competence and experience,
• a declaration of honour on the exclusion criteria,
• legal entity form and financial identification form.
All documents can be found in Annex II of the specifications.
When signing the contract, the expert will be asked to sign a non-disclosure and absence of conflict of interest declaration (see Annex I of the specifications).
12.
Conditions of remuneration and reimbursement of experts:
Contracts must be signed by the selected experts, i.e. natural persons. No invoice from private or public law bodies will be accepted.
Experts shall be remunerated at a fixed price of 450 EUR per man/working day. A working day is considered to be 1 working day of the selected expert, where the normal work time for 1 day respects the law and regulations in force in the country where the services are to be performed. Hours worked beyond normal daily work shall not be payable. This rate is all-inclusive and covers social security costs, administrative costs and all types of overhead costs.
Experts will also receive reimbursements for his/her:
1. travel expenses to Brussels under the conditions set out hereunder and with a maximum of 2 return travels from the place of origin (usual workplace) to the contracting authority's offices in Brussels (1 return travel at the beginning and 1 return travel at the end of the mission):
— travel by air shall be reimbursed up to the maximum cost of an economy class ticket at the time of the reservation. If the journey by air involves a flight of 4 hours or more without stopovers the cost of a business class ticket shall be reimbursed,
— travel by boat or rail shall be reimbursed up to the maximum cost of a first class ticket,
— travel by car shall be reimbursed at the rate of 1 first class rail ticket for the same journey and on the same day,
— travel outside the European Union territory shall be reimbursed under the general conditions stated above provided the Commission has given its prior written agreement;
2. accommodation expenses: up to a maximum of 100 EUR/night/travel (if the times of flights or trains are incompatible with the timing of the visit at the contracting authority's offices in Brussels).
13.
‘Ex post’ transparency:
A list of experts (name and subject of the tasks executed) who have concluded a contract following the procedure set out at point 4 shall be published on the website of the contracting authority.
If an expert has concluded a contract of more than 15 000 EUR, the name, the locality (region of origin), amount, and subject of the contract shall be published on the website of the contracting authority (
http://ec.europa.eu/budget/fts/index_en.htm) no later than 30 June of the year following contract award. The information shall be removed 2 years after the year of contract award.
14.
Date of dispatch of notice:
8.7.2016.
15.
Date of receipt by the Publications Office of the European Union:
8.7.2016.