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EU Commission Technical Support Instrument (TSI) - Ireland’s National Coordinating Authority
From Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform
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The Technical Support Instrument (TSI) is the EU programme that provides tailor-made technical expertise to design and implement reforms within the Public Service. The support is demand driven and no co-financing is required. It can cover any phase in the reform process, from preparation and design to development and implementation of the reforms. The support can take the form of, for example, strategic and legal advice, studies, training and expert visits on the ground.
In Ireland, the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform is the National Co-ordinating Authority, through which all applications from the Public Service must be made. The European Commission's Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) manages the TSI. The TSI is the successor programme of the Structural Reform Support Programme (2017-2020).
Further information about TSI can be found via the links below:
- EU Commission TSI Website
- The EU Commission’s video ‘Technical Support Instrument at a glance’
• Notification of intention to apply: Friday, 6 September 2024 at the latest
• Deadline for submission on online portal: Friday, 11 October 2024
Early engagement with the National Coordinating Authority is strongly encouraged.
This year in addition to the General Technical Reform Project Application, there are 13 Flagship technical support projects.
These proposed 2025 Flagship technical support projects have been selected on the basis that they are largely needed across Member States and are linked to top EU priorities the Member States are in the process of implementing. As such, they aim at supporting Member States in achieving resilience and growth enhancing reforms. (Please click on each of the Flagships for more information)
Flagship technical support project application templates are available now on the DG Reform webpage.
A multi-country or multi-region project is a technical support project that is relevant or common to more than one Member State as it belongs to the same policy area and addresses the same priorities for technical support. There are two types of multi-country requests:
• Coordinated submission of same/similar requests by different Member States
• Request submission by one Member State on behalf of other Member State EU added value of the multi-country projects:
• Overcoming common challenges together
• Mutual learning
• Share of good practices
• Networking for identification of efficiencies
• Synergies and replicability of reform project
The aim of the repository is to gather individual ideas and proposals from Member States and to provide a space for discussion. It is an informal and non-committal process with the objective of identifying synergies for the creation of multi-country applications for TSI 2025.
If you would like to submit an idea or to view the repository, you need to take the following steps:
1. Create an EU LOGIN
2. Notify DG REFORM that you require access
3. Complete your profile on repository before adding a proposal / engaging with other proposals.
For information on these steps and how to use the Repository, you can find below a Quick Guide along with the Presentation from the launch event.
Quick instructions to participate in the Repository - TSI 2025
Repository of reform support needs under TSI - Quick guide for participants.
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Technical Launch of TSI 2025 presentation
Presentation from the TSI 2025 Technical Launch.
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For any questions, particularly regarding access, please email to REFORM-TSI@ec.europa.eu and cc irelandtsifunding@per.gov.ie
Ideas should be submitted to the repository by Monday, 15 July. However if you do have ideas after this date please advise the National Coordinating Authority.
In addition to the 13 flagship projects EU Member States can request technical support under the TSI to:
• prepare, amend, implement and revise national recovery and resilience plans under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. (See (See Ireland’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan)
• implement resilience-enhancing reforms in the context of EU economic governance, such as those arising from country-specific recommendations under the European Semester and by virtue of implementing EU law
• implement economic adjustment programmes
• implement reforms undertaken at their own initiative
A complete list of all successful reform projects under the Technical Support Instrument (2021-2022) and preceding Structural Reform Support Programme (2017-2020) is available on the Reform Support - Our projects page.
EU Commission (DG Reform) TSI 2025 Launch took place on Thursday, 24 April 2024, details from the event are available on the conference page.
Ireland’s national launch of a new call within the TSI 2025 cycle took place online on Thursday, 4 July at 9.30am for Irish Public Servants. The presentation from the event is now available to view or download:
Priorities for Technical Support in Revenue Administrations
Date: Wednesday, 22 May 2024, from 1pm to 2.45pm
Contact at REFORM-B1@ec.europa.eu
The session will focus on the technical support that DG REFORM can offer Member States in the coming year, and it will provide an opportunity to discuss potential areas for reform. The session will introduce DG REFORM’s flagship program for 2025, “Simplifying Revenue Administration for Businesses” along with sessions on previous flagship programs, multi-country partnerships, and green taxation. These sessions will include testimonials from long-standing strategic partnerships with Member State authorities, as well as insights from the DG REFORM Revenue Administration team.
Priorities for Technical Support in Public Financial Management
Date: Thursday, 23 May 2024, from 1pm to 3pm
Contact at REFORM-B1@ec.europa.eu
The session will focus on the technical support that DG REFORM can offer Member States in the coming year, and it will provide an opportunity to discuss potential areas for reform. The session will introduce DG REFORM’s flagship program for 2025, “Innovating Public Financial Management” along with focused sessions on DG REFORMs public financial management priorities. These sessions will include testimonials from previous beneficiaries of the TSI and experts from the OECD and IMF, as well as showcasing examples of multi-country partnerships.
Supporting the Resilience of Natural Resources
Date: Tuesday, 28 May from 1pm to 3pm
Contact at REFORM-B3@ec.europa.eu
The objective of the session will be to present you the Technical Support Instrument (TSI) 2025 flagships initiatives which aim to support the Member States to undertake reforms. The flagship initiative on Supporting the Resilience of Natural Resources will be presented on this occasion.
Support for reforms in education, labour market, social services and health
Date: Wednesday, 12 June from 8.30am to 11.45am.
Contact at REFORM-B4@ec.europa.eu
The objective of the workshop will be to present you the Technical Support Instrument (TSI) 2025 flagships initiatives which aim to support the ministries of labour and social affairs, education and health to undertake reforms. The flagship initiatives on Addressing the demographic change through reforms and EU Health Hub – investing in resilient health systems will be presented on this occasion.
Improving sustainability reporting framework for businesses
Date: Monday, 27 May from 1pm to 3pm
Contact at REFORM-B3@ec.europa.eu
The objective of the session will be to present you the Technical Support Instrument (TSI) 2025 flagships initiatives which aim to support the Member States to undertake reforms. The flagship initiative on improving sustainability reporting framework for businesses will be presented on this occasion.
Flagship initiatives in the area of competitiveness (Single Market and Competitiveness and Economic Security in Technologies and Resources (ESTER)
Date: Tuesday, 11 June from 9am to 11.30am.
Contact at REFORM-B3@ec.europa.eu
From 9am to 10.10am, the flagship initiative on “Single Market and Competitiveness” will be presented. This flagship will offer support to improve the business environment and reduce unnecessary administrative burden, in particular for SMEs, with a special focus on supporting efforts at regional level.
From 10.20am to 11.30am the flagship initiative on “Economic Security in Technologies and Resources (ESTER)” will be presented. This flagship will offer support to make supply chains of critical resources more resilient and to improve security of critical technologies, including through the implementation of the European Economic Security Strategy, the Green Deal Industrial Plan (GDIP), the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA), the Internal Market Emergency and Resilience Act (IMERA) as well as the European Defence Industrial Strategy.
As this EU support targets public service reform, only applications from Public Service entities which meet the requirements under the TSI Regulation and timelines of the Irish National Coordinating Authority will be eligible for consideration. If you are unsure if your organisation is eligible please contact the National Coordinating Authority team by emailing IrelandTSIfunding@per.gov.ie
Step 1: Irish TSI application process
Please contact the Irish National Coordinating Authority in the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform at IrelandTSIFunding@per.gov.ie once you have identified a project or a potential project and reviewed all the relevant supporting material on the website.
Our EU Commission DG Reform colleagues welcome early engagement to discuss any proposed project and provide support.
Please note: You must notify the Irish National Coordinating Authority by Friday, 6 September if you are considering applying to the TSI funding round. (This is to facilitate a new application process through the DG Reform online portal which requires pre-registration).
The general application template and the application templates for the 13 flagship projects (coming soon) can be found on the DG Reform website.
Ireland’s national launch of a new call within the TSI 2025 cycle will take place online on Thursday, 4 July at 9.30am for Irish public servants. Register for the event at Ireland's National Rollout TSI 2025 registration page.
The deadline for receipt of applications for TSI support is close of business (5pm) on Friday, 11 October 2024. Applications after this date will not be accepted.
Step 2: EU Commission
The Irish National Coordinating Authority undertakes a review and ranking of applications which must then be submitted to the Commission by the legally binding 31 October deadline.
The Commission analyses the requests received using the evaluation criteria outlined below. Usually preliminary results are issued in late December. The Commission starts deploying the projects on the ground after the adoption of the annual work programme of the TSI. On average, it takes 24 months from the Member State request to the completion of the technical support project.
The assessment criteria used to assess the requests are defined in the TSI Regulation and includes:
• Urgency, breadth and depth of the challenges identified;
• Support needs in respect of the policy areas concerned;
• Analysis of socioeconomic indicators, as well as institutional and general administrative capacity of the requesting Member State.
In addition, a number of other elements are taken into account in the assessment, including:
• The principles of transparency, equal treatment and sound financial management;
• Prioritisation by the Member State for TSI.
Since the inception of TSI and its predecessor, the Structural Reform Support Programme (SRSP), the Commission has supported Ireland with 64 completed and ongoing projects. A particular focus has been on the public administration, climate and energy challenges as well as challenges linked to Brexit.
Our contact email is IrelandTSIFunding@per.gov.ie