10009141 - Needs-based mobilisation of EU expertise for closing benchmarks and membership preparedness of Montenegro

This service contract will provide a flexible mechanism for rapid mobilisation of EU expertise to support Montenegro's overall EU accession process, with a primary focus on the EU acquis clusters Internal Market and Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth. The support shall address chapter-specific closing benchmarks and wider accession obligations, while ensuring that private-sector impacts are analysed and integrated through structured cooperation with private sector organisations (e.g. CEM, MEF) and other stakeholders.

The contractor is expected to bring an institutional approach and a strong EU network: mobilising experienced practitioners and specialised experts from Germany and other EU Member States, as well as facilitating peer-to-peer cooperation with relevant institutions and organisa-tions. The approach shall ensure rapid response to identified needs, high-quality outputs, and systematic knowledge transfer to Montenegrin counterparts.

Overall objective:

To provide rapid, needs-driven mobilisation of high-quality EU expertise to support Montenegro in meeting EU accession requirements, closing benchmarks and preparing institutions for the obligations of EU membership, with a primary focus on the EU acquis clusters Internal Market and Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth and on private-sector impacts.

Specific objectives:

- Support the EU Empower implementation and thus assist the Ministry of European Affairs (MEA) as the key partner institution and line ministries/agencies in addressing closing benchmarks and key EC findings in priority chapters, including through targeted analyses, drafting inputs and implementation support.

- Support Montenegro's preparedness for EU membership obligations (transposition, im-plementation and enforcement; administrative capacity; participation in EU institutions and Single Market-related processes) through practical, hands-on expert support and knowledge transfer.

- Ensure that private-sector impacts are systematically assessed and reflected in reforms in the focus clusters, including by strengthening evidence-based contri-butions from PSOs and structured public-private dialogue.

- Mobilise peer practitioners and specialised experts from Germany and other EU Member States to deliver short-term and targeted support packages aligned with the Action's Outputs.

- Ensure rapid response, quality assurance and effective coordination of expert deployments and deliverables based on the list of identified needs shared by the EU-EMPOWER-ME project and MEA.

Further details in section 2 of the ToR.