EuropeAid SIEA 2018: Which organizations won the first €100M?

More than €100 million ($109 million) has so far been allocated to contractors under EuropeAid’s “Services for the Implementation of External Aid 2018.” SIEA 2018 is EuropeAid’s primary framework contract for development services. It is valid until May 2020, with a likely extension until 2022. Over the summer, EuropeAid announced which contractors had secured the first funds under the framework, in its first release of contract awards. The awards encompass 612 contracts, awarded between June 2018 and June 2019. Devex has analyzed the data to reveal insights on where the funding is going and who is managing it. SIEA 2018’s budget is double that of its predecessor BENEF 2013, at €650 million. After a rigorous but fast-paced selection process, 774 top contractors were shortlisted and selected under six thematic lots covering the various angles of development work. They gathered into 53 consortia, each headed up by a lead contractor. Announced last year, you can explore the lots and consortia using Devex’s explainer and interactive dashboard. They now compete between themselves for contracts, which are worth up to €1 million — more than three times the cap under previous framework agreements. So far, the leading lot by both number and value of allocated contracts is lot number 2 — Infrastructure, Sustainable Growth, and Jobs — with 174 contracts worth a total of around €29 million. It also boasts the highest budget — €155 million — of any SIEA lot. The biggest contract in this lot, worth €932,680, was awarded to Cowi Belgium in 2018 to conduct feasibility studies for a hydroelectric site in Togo. Trailing close behind is lot number 3 — Human Rights, Democracy, and Peace — with 169 contracts worth more than €27 million. Three large contracts stand out: a €973,000 award to IBF International Consulting for support programs for decentralization, local governance, and local development; an award to NIRAS A/S for supporting joint programming of EU and EU member states external assistance to partner countries, worth around €970,000; and an award supporting Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance management, worth about €950,000 awarded to DAI Brussels. So far, the least amount of money has been channeled through lot 6 — Innovative Financing for Development — with 15 contracts worth just over €3 million. However, the individual contract value averages around €212,000, which is the highest across all lots. For instance, the fourth largest contract overall belongs to lot 6. The €938,000 contract was awarded to DFC SAU to provide expert technical support for the EU’s work on financing for sustainable development. This lot is also expected to encompass more contracts in the future, as its total budget is set at €80 million, which is the fourth largest across the lots. There were a total of 41 contractors in this round of contract awards. However, 20 contractors hold three-quarters of the contracts allocated between them. AECOM International Development Europe — which has now transferred its development portfolio to DT Global — is leading the pack with 51 awards, worth around €7.4 million, primarily in lots 2 and 5, which concern budget support. Related but treated as a separate entity is AECOM Belgium, which was awarded four contracts in lot 6. IBF International Consulting is a close second with 42 contracts worth €7.5 million, mostly in the Human Rights, Democracy, and Peace lot. Third, is Cowi Belgium with 39 contracts worth €7.6 million in lot 1 — Sustainable Management of Natural Resources and Resilience — and 2. This is also the largest contractor in terms of total contract value awarded. Last August, Devex analyzed the top 20 SIEA contractors by consortia participation. Of that list, only six contractors feature in the current list of top awarded companies: AECOM, NIRAS, DAI, Ecorys, IBF, and Proman. Agriconsulting Europe is part of nine consortia, but has only been awarded 10 contracts altogether. Cardno Emerging Markets is participating in seven consortia — the same number as Ecorys — yet has not been awarded any contracts. Looking at the headquarters of the top 20 contractors, there are only two located outside of Western Europe — Transport & Infrastructure Expertise Group from Slovakia and Stantec from Canada. Four contractors have headquarters in Brussels. Three each are based in Germany and France. Geographically, the highest share of contracts — 48% of the total — are in either unspecified locations or worldwide. There are also 24 contracts that only specify a particular region, such as a €220,000 contract awarded to Particip for a validation study on setting up a regional observatory on migration in Central Africa. The remaining 295 contracts are located around the world, with the highest concentration in Tunisia (14 contracts), Albania (13), Uganda (10), and Ukraine (9). Albania also has the highest combined value of contracts, primarily in lots 2 and 3, amounting to around €3.3 million. The MENA region is also prioritized, with Morocco, Mali, and Jordan having seven contracts each, and the Palestinian territories and Egypt having six contracts each. This has echoes of political sentiments in light of the so-called “migration crisis,” which has prompted European countries to make investments in countries of origin, in an effort to subdue future migration flows. There were three contracts to be implemented in Western Europe — one in France and two in the Netherlands. However, these related to overseas territories — specifically New Caledonia, Sint Maarten, and Bonaire. Explore the six lots of EuropeAid's new framework contract in-depth using Devex's data visualization.