OPEN CALL FOR EVALUATION BODY FOR EU PROMOTION PROJECT

Evaluation of the promotion campaign for the development of a multi European Programme REA EU 1144/2014 for the promotion of poultry

PROMOTION PROGRAMME IN BELGIUM, FRANCE, SPAIN AND GERMANY

1/ CONTEXT

The Partnership:

AVEC (Coordinator)- Association of poultry processors and poultry trade in the EU countries

AVEC is the voice of the European poultry meat sector. AVEC facilitates communication between international organisations and decision-makers and focus on key areas such as animal health and welfare, food safety and quality, trade, and sustainable development. AVEC’s members are national associations from 16 EU member States + 1 associate member from UK.

AVIANZA – the Spanish Poultry Meat Association (formerly called Propollo)

The Spanish Poultry Meat Association – AVIANZA – has more than 65 companies associated, integrating more than 95% of the poultry meat market. In this sense, we count on more than 5000 farms, 281 slaughter houses and cutting plants, as well as more than 40.000 employees working for the meat poultry industry in Spain.

BVG – Bundesverband der Geflügelschlachtereien e. V.

The BVG – Bundesverband der Geflügelschlachtereien e. V. is the professional organisation and sole representative body for the German poultry slaughter and processing industry. Its 33 members – mainly poultry slaughterhouses, poultry meat processors and marketers – represent more than 93% of the German poultry processing sector. As a specialized branch focusing on the topics of the poultry processing industry, BVG is a member of the umbrella and topmost organisation of the German poultry industry, the ZDG – Zentralverband der Deutschen Geflügelwirtschaft e. V. (German Poultry Association).

CIPC – French Interprofessional Committee for Broiler Chickens

Since its origins in 2007, CIPC is a French Poultry association representing 85% of the broiler sector and each of its fields: hatchery, farmers, animal nutrition, slaughterhouses. Based in Rennes, close to major poultry production areas, it develops its network and experience to offer a variety of services available from professionals to scientists and closely linked to administration. CIPC allocates its means and resources to broiler production, with a dedicated board member and study activities. The volume of French production in 2019 is estimated at 1.754 thousand tec of poultry including 222 Mtec of ducks, 326 MTec of turkeys and 1.173 MTec of broiler.

SUST EU POULTRY – the Programme:

This programme aims at raising awareness and promoting the European poultry meat and production methods highlighting its commitment to create the most sustainable and environmentally friendly European agri-food sector. The programme is focused on all three factors of a sustainability: environment, economy, and society. The proposing organizations cover four different European markets providing the programme with an ambitious European dimension and they will be focused on four different target markets: Belgium, Spain, Germany, and France.

While the efforts and measures from the European poultry sector when the new Biodiversity and Farm to Fork^[1] strategies were released as part of the Green Deal^[2] have been a great impulse, there is still a tendency to identify the sector as not having a beneficial role for climate action and the environment. For this reason, this programme aims to highlight the sustainability of EU agriculture for consumers, stressing its commitment to climate change mitigation and emphasizing how the consumption of European poultry meat is beneficial for a sustainable European environment, society, and economy.

With an overall budget of over €3 mill and many promotion and information activities in Belgium, Spain, Germany and France, the partnership will not only use online and offline channels to communicate the message but will also organize different events, tasting days and workshops to reach the highest number of consumers possible. The impact that this programme will have for the European poultry sector will also encourage other industry key players to work on their sustainable products and production methods.

General objectives:

“Highlight the specific features of agricultural production methods in the Union, particularly in terms of food safety, traceability, authenticity, labelling, nutritional and health aspects, animal welfare, respect for the environment and sustainability, and the characteristics of agricultural and food products, particularly in terms of their quality, taste, diversity or traditions” is the general aim of this programme.

If consumers are aware of the sustainable characteristics of the European poultry meat compared to the same products from third countries, they may prioritise EU produced poultry and make an informed choice. Within this program we aim at promoting European poultry meat products, more specifically those products originating mainly from chicken and turkey.

Contribution to the environment

This program, based on the sustainability of European products and production methods, aims to support the European poultry meat sector through communication activities based on the strategies that the proposing organisations and all its partners are pursuing to make their production chain and their environmental impact more sustainable. These strategies are in line with the European Farm to Fork and Green Deal strategies, both based on achieving greener and more sustainable production systems, among other aims.

This programme also aims to adapt to new market trends in poultry meat consumption, as well as to the environmental demands that people are increasingly placing on producers

2/ Objective of the call: selection of an evaluation agency for the campaign

In accordance with the EU regulations, the promotion programme must be assessed by an external Evaluation Body, in order to guarantee the respect of planned deliverables, costs and objectives.

The agency will determine a methodology to evaluate the correct implementation and effectiveness of the activities, as well as will evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign, especially on the targeted groups determined by the objectives and strategy. The selected evaluation body will have to take into account for each planned action the output, result and impact indicator. They will gather data using appropriate means and use the data collected during the campaign to reach an appropriate level of information.

The evaluation body will have to be mindful of:

• Output indicators: deliverables of the campaign (number of press ads, number of press releases, number of social media posts…)
• Result indicators: measuring the reach of each action (viewership of videos, readership of press releases and of social media posts…)
• Impact indicators: measure of how the campaign has increased awareness / image of the product and created a tangible economic return thanks to its various promotion actions, compared to the situation before the campaign and a baseline scenario without the campaign being implemented

3/ Budget and actions expected:

The budget of the evaluation of the campaign including fees is 72 000 € (VAT incl.) over a total of 2 year-campaign. The repartition of the total evaluation budget per year is the following:

• Year 1 (01/01/2022 – 31/12/2022): 17 500 €;
• Year 2 (01/01/2023 – 31/12/2023): 54 500 €.

The Evaluation Agency will be in charge of the following activities, for a total budget of 72 000€ (VAT incl.):

Work Package 7. Evaluation of results

Activity 1: Awareness Level Survey.

In order to calculate the impact of the programme, it is necessary to carry out surveys regarding the level of awareness of sustainability values of European poultry sector in target countries at the beginning of the programme and at the end of its implementation period. This survey will be carried out by an independent third party which through a series of surveys will report on the status and measurement of indicators established necessary to correctly evaluate the achievement of the target values set for the impact indicators.

Deliverables and estimated budget

• YEAR 1
  *Report on results extracted by the Starting Awareness Level Survey
  EUR 17.500
• YEAR 2
  Report on results extracted by the Final Awareness Level Survey
  EUR 17.500

Activity 2: Evaluation of results. KPI Study

As with the activity 1, the study of KPIs is necessary to better estimate the real impact of the programme. The evaluation of the KPIs will include and allow all four beneficiaries to better understand information such the increase of the recognition towards the EU sustainable poultry and the increase of its consumption and market share in target countries.

Deliverables and estimated budget

• YEAR 2
  Economic Data Report with analytical information, both quantitative and qualitative, and conclusions extracted after the analysis of the data.
  EUR 16.500

Activity 3: Study on Perception of Poultry Sustainability.

As with the activities 1 and 2, since there is not that much information available for consumer habits and consumer behaviour towards sustainability, we aim to develop a study on how consumer behaviours are embracing sustainability regarding the poultry industry. This study is intended to reveal the growing influence of sustainability of the post-pandemic target market’s consumers, the insights into the level of engagement between different age groups, the importance of sustainability in the decision-making process, the barriers to sustainable poultry shopping and the key aspects of consumers trends towards sustainable poultry meat and production methods. Thanks to this information and insights, the sustainability and continuity of the programme is ensured and guaranteed.

Deliverables and estimated budget

• YEAR 2
  Analytical and comprehensive report with all data collected, evaluated and with key insights on the target markets.
  EUR 20.500

Total for the Work Package 

Deliverables and estimated budget

• YEAR 1
  D7.1 Evaluation Report Year 1
  EUR 17.500
• YEAR 2
  D7.2 Evaluation report Year 2
  EUR 54.500

AVEC will send applicants on demand a briefing including technical information related to the selection of the target markets and the programme’s objectives, as well as activities foreseen and KPIs for the preparation of their applications.

4/ Rules of the competition:

1. This call for proposals concerns the promotion programme for agricultural products co-financed by the European Union.
2. Agencies wishing to apply must have English-speaking contact people, as all exchanges with AVEC and REA will be in English.
3. The application file will include the following elements:

• A presentation of the evaluation methodology;
• A reverse planning for the evaluation of the campaign;
• A detailed quote presented in Euro’s, all taxes included, respecting the broad budgetary framework.

4. The evaluation agency will have to bring guarantees on the absence of conflict of interests to take part in this call.
5. Once the evaluation agency’s work has been paid, the creations of the selected agency will become property of the announcers with no limit of time or location, for use through all communication techniques and media.
6. The announcers will reserve the right to use concepts and creations in all their campaigns and the campaigns of their collective structures with no limit in time.
7. Expenses can only be put forward after a detailed quote and a framework contract have been signed between the announcers and the selected agency.

5/ Documents to be provided by the applicants:

The detailed proposition should be sent imperatively in English to Ms. Birthe Steenberg (bs@avec-poultry.eu) and should include:

• A dated and signed motivation letter accepting the conditions of the competition, as described in the call for proposals.
• The list of principal references of the past 2 years for similar actions over several countries (evaluation of agricultural sector, collective or institutional communication campaign) and providing the aim, budget and length of services.
• The presentation of the agency and its internal organisation.
• The name and experience level of the team in charge of the project.
• Justification of knowledge of European markets, and in particular the markets targeted by the programme.
• The presentation of local offices/relay structures who could play a role in the project for all countries concerned by the programme.

These elements will help the announcers decide how adequate the agency’s offer is compared to the needs of the campaign.

6/ PLANNING

• 1^st February 2022 by 18.00: Deadline for sending application to the tender (all applications sent after this date will not be considered).
• 15^th February 2022 by 18h00: notification of the chosen agency and detailed notification to the other agencies of non-selection.

After the selection, AVEC will sign a bilateral agreement with the selected evaluation agency. The contract will stipulate everyone’s tasks and responsibilities.

7/ SELECTION CRITERIA

The selection will be done by a jury composed of AVEC’s Secretary General as well as AVEC members from France, Germany and Spain which are involved in the project.

Selection criteria:

1. Quality and coherence of the proposal (20 points)
2. Quality and pertinence of the suggested methodology (20 points)
3. Qualifications of the evaluation agency’s team (10 points)
4. Agency’s experience with EU programmes (20 points)
5. Financial viability of the agency (10 points)
6. Respect of the budget and best value for money (20 points)

8/ CONTACTS

Ms. Birthe Steenberg, Secretary General of AVEC (bs@avec-poultry.eu) is available to answer any questions agencies might have (tel: + 32 (0) 492 10 75 71).

Date of publication: 21/12/2021.

^[1] European Commission – https://ec.europa.eu/food/farm2fork_en

^[2] European Commission – https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/eu-climate-action_en