CAC – Clinical Academic Centres

Evaluation Process

The Foundation for Science and Technology I.P. (FCT, I.P.) has delegated to the Agency for Clinical Research and Biomedical Innovation (AICIB) the external evaluation of Clinical Academic Centres (CAC), under the terms of article 22 of Decree-Law No. 61/2018, of 3 August.

The evaluation of the CAC aims to ensure that these centres implement the best international practices.
In this way, a system of multi-annual assessment of clinical academic centres is created, carried out by a group of international experts.

The evaluation seeks to ensure that the activity of clinical academic centres is governed by the general principles of administrative activity, in particular the principles of capacity-building and capacity enhancement, merit and quality, impartiality, transparency and independence, taking as its object the outcome of the joint activity of the members of the clinical academic centre and not merely the sum of its parts.

External evaluation is carried out at four-year intervals; this period may be altered by decision of the FCT, I. P., or agency to be indicated by the FCT, I. P., and the ACSS, I. P., after consultation with the National Council of Clinical Academic Centres.

A positive external evaluation determines the possibility of granting multi-annual programmatic funding by AICIB in a percentage to be proposed by the evaluation panel of the total funding obtained by all the scientific research and technological development units that include the Clinical Academic Centre.

A negative external assessment in two successive evaluations determines, depending on whether the centre is a consortium or an association, the extinction of the clinical academic centre or the withdrawal of the respective statute, which should be provided for in the act of constitution or in the statutes of the association.
(Decree Law No. 61/2018, of 3 August)

Evaluation process 2021/2025

The first evaluation of the CACs will be carried out by AICIB, under delegation of FCT, I.P. and is expected to begin in the 1st quarter of 2021.

The multi-annual funding of the CACs, to be determined by the evaluation to be carried out by AICIB, is based on the activities carried out since 1 January 2017, by each of the CACs, considering the following criteria:

  1. Merit of institutional articulation: scientific, technical and health care merit and relevance of the activity resulting from the institutional articulation of all members of the clinical academic centre;
  2. Enhancement of collaboration: adoption and implementation of forms of joint enhancement of medical, scientific and training activity in career progression in the institutions that make up the clinical academic centre;
  3. Collaborative organisation: adoption and implementation of collaborative forms of organisation between all parties involved in the clinical academic centre, in a way that enhances joint activities in the medical, scientific and training areas and stimulates articulated forms of scientific and qualified employment.

Due to the current pandemic of COVID-19, the 2021/2025 evaluation of CACs will take place in 2 phases.

The 1st phase, remote, will be conducted on the basis of:

  • Application forms and documents submitted by the CACs;
  • Videoconferences between the international panel of evaluators and each of the CACs.

The second phase, in-person, will include the visit of the evaluators belonging to the evaluation panel to each of the CCS existing in Portugal.

The evaluation will only be completed after phase 2 and only after this phase will the funding to be allocated to each CCS be determined.