COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION Mid-term evaluation of the JASPERS initiative in 2014-2020
Date: 2021-08-31
Institutions: Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy, European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, EU financing, EU initiative, European Commission, European Investment Bank, European Region, accession to the European Union, consultancy, investment project, investment promotion

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  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 31.8.2021  SWD(2021) 237 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION  Mid-term evaluation of the JASPERS initiative in 2014-2020   {SWD(2021) 236 final}  
 
 
Mid-term evaluation of the JASPERS initiative in 2014-2020  

Joint Assistance to Support Projects in European Regions (JASPERS), which was launched in 
2006, is an initiative of the European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) 
aimed at providing independent and free technical advisory services to all Member States and 
pre-accession countries1 in all sectors relevant for EU funded investments.  

This  evaluation  aims  to  assess  the  services  provided  by  JASPERS  in  the  period  2014-2018 
and how they contributed to the development of high-quality, mature infrastructure projects as 
well  as  to  the  technical  capacity  of  managing  authorities  and  beneficiaries  to  prepare  such 
projects. It follows the five evaluation criteria defined by the European Commission’s Better 
Regulation  guidelines:  effectiveness,  efficiency,  coherence,  relevance  and  EU  added  value. 
The analysis was designed to take into account various limitations that were identified. These 
are linked to the definition of the objectives, data collection and availability, strategic needs 
analysis etc. and which were addressed via proxy analysis. The baseline for this evaluation is 
the  2007-2013  period,  when  JASPERS  was  operating  with  a  smaller  quantitative  scope  and 
geographical coverage.  

In the 2014-2020 programming period, the general objective of the JASPERS initiative was to 
improve the quality of investments supported by EU funds, as was the case for the 2007-2013 
period. JASPERS assistance covered advisory services for potential investments supported by 
the  following  EU  funds  (mandates):  European  Regional  Development  Fund  and  Cohesion 
Fund2; Connecting Europe Facility since 2015; Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance Fund 
(IPA II) since 2016. Over the evaluated period, JASPERS has operated on a demand basis in 
response to specific requests made by Member States, with the subsequent agreement of the 
Commission. Each task implemented by JASPERS is referred to as an ‘assignment’.   

Different types of services provided by JASPERS:  

a) technical advisory services – designed to improve the projects intended for EU financing;  

b)  review  function  –  designed  to  assist  Member  States  and  the  Commission  in  assessing 
whether or not major projects fulfil the quality regulatory criteria required for EU funding;  

c) capacity building and horizontal/strategic support – to strengthen Member States’ capacity 
to  identify,  prepare  and  implement  projects,  and  to  provide  support  in  preparing 
national/regional strategies for the implementation of EU cohesion policy. 

In  2014-2018,  the  JASPERS  portfolio  included  1,096  assignments  for  all  mandates  and 
services.  The  European  Structural  and  Investment  Funds  (ESIF)  mandate  was  the  largest  in 
the  JASPERS  portfolio,  with  close  to  960  assignments,  followed  by  the  IPA  mandate  with 
around 100 assignments.  

The evaluation finds that its activities expanded both in scope and volume during 2014-2018 
compared to the previous period. JASPERS also diversified its portfolio by including a new 
function for the quality review of major ESIF projects. In the first 5 years of the 2014-2020 

1  Albania,  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  Kosovo*,  the  Republic  of  North  Macedonia,  Montenegro,  Serbia, 

Turkey. 

*  This designation  is  without prejudice  to positions on status, and is in line  with  UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ 

Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence. 

2  Referred to as the ESIF (European Structural and Investment Funds) mandate. 

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programming period, JASPERS received more requests for services than in the entire 2007-
2013 period.  

Effectiveness 
The evaluation finds that the timing of JASPERS advisory involvement in preparing for major 
projects  had  a  significant  impact  on  its  effectiveness.  Early  involvement  of  its  advisory 
services  was  associated  with  shorter  core  project  preparation  relative  to  the  overall  project 
lifecycle. 

The  evidence  suggests  that  its  review  function  was  relatively  effective  in  flagging  quality 
issues.  The  Commission  then  included  those  in  its  letters  to  Member  States,  setting  out  the 
reasons for requesting improvements (i.e. interrupting projects). 

While  a  large  majority  of  capacity-building  activities  were  completed  and  achieved  their 
objective of delivering training to the Member States, there is little evidence that these have 
triggered a visible ripple effect in reducing Member States’ reliance on the support provided 
for project preparation. This should be the ultimate objective in principle.  

Efficiency 
The evaluation finds little correlation between work intensity and the duration of assignments. 
Preliminary  evidence  on  developments  over  time  indicates  a  need  for  further  in-depth 
reflection on how to optimise the allocation of work effort and rationalise costs. 

While  JASPERS  services  were  generally  found  to  be  efficient  in  terms  of  completing  the 
assignments  during  the  period  2014-2018,  the  evaluation  concludes  that  the  planning  and 
management of administratively closed assignments can be improved. 

Coherence 
During the period 2014-2018, JASPERS services were coherent with EU requirements set by 
cohesion  policy  legislation  and  the  EU-level  objectives  for  climate,  environment  and 
regulatory requirements for competition. The evidence also suggests a high degree of internal 
coherence between the different independent JASPERS divisions. However, there was limited 
evidence  of  JASPERS  cooperating  with  other  technical  assistance  initiatives  of  the 
Commission. 

Relevance 
JASPERS advisory services remained relevant  in the 2014-2020 period.  In addition,  for the 
2014-2020  programming  period,  JASPERS  provided  a  new  kind  of  support  in  the  form  of 
reviewing  the  quality  of  new  major  projects  submitted  for  EU  funding,  as  required  by  the 
regulations. 

Its activities continued to be demand-driven, with assignments initiated wholly at the request 
of Member States or pre-accession countries. This probably limited the strategic planning of 
these activities. 

EU added value 
The consultation carried out indicates that JASPERS services are appreciated by stakeholders 
due  to  the  technical  expertise  and  EU-wide  experience  acquired  while  working  in  many 
countries  and  with  the  Commission.  This  is  also  because  accessing  support  did  not  entail  a 
public procurement process and was provided free of charge. 

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Overall, the evaluation finds that: 

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JASPERS technical advisory services contributed to a faster and better preparation of 
projects leading to a faster mobilisation of EU funds. 
JASPERS’  general  objective  has  been  broadly  achieved  together  with  all  of  the 
specific  objectives,  with  the  exception  of  the  transfer  of  technical  knowledge  to 
Member States in view of reducing their reliance on JASPERS advisory services. 
-  The  evaluation  aimed  to  address  all  the  evaluation  criteria  in  accordance  with  the 
Better  Regulation  guidelines,  it  relied  on  several  proxy  analyses  due  to  various 
limitations;  in  particular the limitation  concerning the  availability  of data needed  for 
assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of JASPERS services was significant (more 
structured  performance  monitoring  at  the  level  of  assignments  only  started  in  2017, 
and was further strengthened only after 2018).  

-  There  is  scope  for  a  more  structured  approach  to  the  planning  and  monitoring  of 
assignments,  with:  (i)  well-defined  and  targeted  objectives;  (ii)  clear  and  realistic 
timelines; (iii) milestones that enable progress in implementation to be monitored over 
time. 

The developments in 2019-2020 have already addressed most of the points for improvement 
highlighted  by  this  evaluation.  One  of  the  main  elements  still  to  be  discussed  in  the  2021-
2027 period concerns the monitoring framework, for which the conclusions of the evaluation 
will  be  taken  into  account,  as  well  as  the  transfer  of  knowledge  (capacity  building)  to  the 
Member  States.  The  proactive  approach  implemented  in  the  last  2  years  of  the  2014-2020 
programming  period  provides  reassurance  that  the  JASPERS  initiative  and  its  development 
will be closely scrutinised and monitored by the parties involved. 

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