Background

In the implementation of the Programme, Union funding shall be granted following competitive calls issued in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1092.

The Commission shall be assisted, in the context of the award procedure, by independent experts, whose security credentials shall be validated by Member States. Those experts shall be Union nationals from as broad a range of Member States as possible and shall be selected on the basis of calls for applications with a view to establishing a database of candidates.

The Commission shall ensure that experts do not evaluate, advise or assist on matters with regard to which they have a conflict of interests.

The Commission is therefore establishing a database of independent experts who can be called on in connection with the European Defence Industrial Development Programme¹ (EDIDP) for the following tasks

1. Evaluation of proposals
2. Monitoring of the implementation of actions

Independent experts shall be chosen on the basis of skills, experience and knowledge appropriate to carry out the tasks assigned to them.

They shall also have appropriate language skills in particular in English for the tasks to be carried out.

Field of expertise

The Commission is looking for experts with a high level of expertise and professional experience in a military context regarding the development of defence products and technologies or management of defence capabilities development projects/programmes in a European and/or NATO context in one or more of the following fields

1. Preparation, protection, deployment and sustainability
2. Information management and superiority and command, control, communication, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR), cyber defence and cybersecurity
3. Engagement and effectors

Registration procedure

To this end, the Commission hereby invites individuals to apply as prospective independent experts via the "Funding & Tenders Portal" in order to be included in its database of experts.

However, the Commission is not bound to appoint only experts registered in this database. It may select in a transparent manner any individual expert with the appropriate skills not included in the database, if deemed appropriate and in duly justified cases.

Registrations must be submitted via the online registration form.

Interested parties may submit an expression of interest at any time. However, early application is encouraged, in order to allow a timely selection of experts for the first calls for proposals in 2019.

Experts who already registered in the database of independent experts drawn up for the implementation of EU programmes and who wish to apply for the EDIDP, are invited to declare their interest in being considered for EDIDP assignments by duly updating their area of expertise in line with the new set of EDIDP specialist fields and pre-defined areas. This must be done via your expert area in the Funding &Tenders Portal.

All sections of the application form must be completed and kept up-to-date. Areas of expertise and professional experience must be adequately detailed and documented, avoiding including any sensitive information of any kind.

EDIDP is added to the list of programmes in the 'Programme selection' tab (Who can see my profile).

As the Commission service collects and further processes personal data, it is subject to Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC. Processing operations are under the responsibility of the controller.

Selection procedure

The Commission will use the database for selecting the experts it needs.

In accordance with the above mentioned Regulation, the Commission may authorise access to its database of prospective independent experts to public research funding bodies from the Member States and countries associated to Horizon 2020 and entities set up involving the EU in in joint research programmes with Member States, on condition that the experts concerned have given their prior agreement in the online registration form.

To ensure the independence of the work that they are called upon to perform in their capacity as 'independent experts', prior to the signature of their contract, they will be required to attest that they agree to abide by the terms of the code of conduct (including confidentiality aspects) in the electronic exchange system. In particular, they will be required to sign a declaration certifying that there is no conflict of interest at the time of contracting and that they undertake to inform the Commission or the relevant funding body if any conflict should arise in the course of their duties.

If selected, the expert will need to be in the possession of a personal security clearance at the appropriate level before appointment. Such security credentials shall be validated by the Member State(s).