On May 26th, 2023, EFSA launched a tender intending to estimate the burden of nine animal-to-human transmissible diseases from food. Those diseases include campylobacteriosis, salmonellosis, listeriosis, infection with Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC), zoonotic tuberculosis, brucellosis, trichinellosis, echinococcosis, and yersiniosis.
The goals of the tender
In scientific research and statistics, the most accounted estimation metric of this particular phenomenon is the zoonosis Disability Adjusted Life Year (zDALY), which permits obtaining accurate figures about the dual burden (both on animals and humans) of these diseases in the EU Member States and/or in countries included in the European Economic Area (EEA) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).
The overall goal of the EFSA tender is to measure the zDALYs and assess both the tangible (comprising direct and indirect costs) and intangible costs associated with human and animal diseases, not accounted for in the aforementioned metric. The tenderer should create a methodological framework uniting zDALYs and cost assessments into an overall estimator for the addressed nine foodborne zoonoses.
The WPs in detail
The procurement procedure will result in a framework contract, where distinct tasks and their respective deliverables will be solicited through individual contracts. As a rough guideline, the plan is to initiate 4 specific contracts over 4 years. EFSA will task the contractor with executing the listed tasks categorized into 7 work packages:
- WP1: Feasibility study, of two selected zoonoses using publicly available data from at least three countries;
- WP2: Identification of data sources;
- WP3: Data gathering;
- WP4: Case study of one selected zoonosis using all gathered data from all countries;
- WP5: Full study of eight zoonoses using all gathered data from all countries;
- WP6: Dissemination;
- WP7: Project management and communication.
More details about the single tasks to be included in each WP are available on the Tender Specifications. Mind that every task can be subcontracted if needed.
Selection criteria and financial ceiling
Tenderers' offers evaluations will follow the criteria listed below:
- Exclusion criteria: tenderers with a registered office in an EU Member State are eligible for participation. Third countries that are also included in EFSA procurements are FYROM, Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein. Upon submitting an offer, tenderers, and eventual partners/subcontractors, assert that they are not under EU restrictive measures outlined in Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) or Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU). The tenderer must also have generated an overall annual turnover of at least 600.000 euros in each of the last 3 closed financial years (2022 and 2021). Furthermore, it has to have a demonstrated background in project management, epidemiology of foodborne zoonoses, development of economic models, data collection, management and visualization, and communication.
- Compliance with tender specifications: off-topic proposals, overpriced solutions, tenderers who don't comply with the current environmental regulations, and submissions that fall under the exclusion criteria will be automatically excluded.
- Award criteria: the most economically advantageous offer will be awarded with the framework contract. The assessment will take place with the best price-quality ratio, calculated with the formula 30 * Cheapest price offer/price of tender + 70 * Total quality score -out of 100- for all quality award criteria of tender/100.
The financial envelope allocated for this tender amounts to 2 200 000 euros, which includes a contingency of 10% and possible price indexations. The winning tenderer might receive a future negotiated procedure from EFSA regarding the repetition of certain services during the three years following the signature of the original framework contract. In this case, the financial increase of the contract will not go beyond 50% of the original envelope.
Deadlines
Tenderers may send their offers until 2:30 PM CET on February 14th, 2024. EFSA will reply to any clarification regarding the application procedure until 2:30 PM CET on February 6th, 2024. The estimated notification period of the evaluation results is March 2024.
Any further detail is available in the Tender page and in the Tender Specifications, linked above.
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