The European Commission will pilot a new mechanism in the Horizon Europe evaluation process called ‘blind evaluation’ in all two-stage calls included in the recently published Work Programme 2023-24, except one call under the ‘Widening Participation’ part.
As previously reported by UKRO, the Horizon Europe Implementation Strategy introduced two new pilots in the evaluation process: the ‘blind evaluation’ and the ‘right to react’ mechanisms. The latter allows applicants to submit additional clarifications at evaluators’ request, has been tested in selected 2021-2022 calls and UKRO understands the Commission is now assessing the pilot.
The objective of anonymised proposals in the ‘blind evaluation’ pilot is to tackle some concerns about a potential bias of evaluators towards well-known organisations in countries with better-performing R&I systems. UKRO understands that the Commission views its evaluation processes in Horizon Europe as robust and non-discriminatory. Nevertheless, the pilot was requested by the Council of the EU representing the EU Member States and needs to be implemented by the Commission.
Depending on the pilot’s results, the Commission might consider a broader roll-out in the future.
‘Blind evaluation’ key facts
The ‘blind evaluation’ approach means that at stage one of the evaluation process, the applicants’ identity is not revealed to the experts. At the first stage of proposal submission, applicants may not disclose their identity in Part B of their proposal. The second stage, in which full proposals are submitted, is not anonymised.
UKRO understands that all two-stage topics in the 2023-24 Work Programme will be evaluated blindly, except for one call under the ‘Widening Participation’ part. Applicants can find information on whether the topic is part of the blind evaluation pilot under the ‘Specific conditions‘ section of the call text.
A new admissibility criterion included in the General Annexes to Work Programme 2023-24 applies: ‘‘Applicants submitting a proposal under the blind evaluation pilot must not disclose their organisation names, acronyms, logos nor names of personnel in Part B of their first-stage application”.
If a proposal includes any identification of the applicant(s) in Part B, the bid will be declared inadmissible and will be rejected.
The Commission has updated the Part B proposal template for stage one accordingly to highlight the new admissibility condition.
UKRO understands that the Commission’s services and expert evaluators will be checking compliance with the anonymity requirement and any problematic proposals will be discussed on a case-by-case basis. The purpose is to only reject bids with clear and intentional disclosure of participants’ identities.
We also understand that the Commission is looking at the examples of statements resulting in ineligibility and statements that are eligible, provided by the COST Association to the applicants to its annual COST calls where the submissions are also anonymous. Based on this, similar guidance could be developed for Horizon Europe applicants in the future.