NP/EFSA/NIF/2024/02 - MICROHAZ – Microbiological Hazards in Novel Foods

Approximate launch date: end of September 2024

Call reference: NP/EFSA/NIF/2024/02

Deadline to register interest: 23/09/2024 - 23.59 (CEST)

Background

The EFSA Nutrition and Food Innovation Unit aims to develop a structured, standardised, validated database on microbiological hazards in novel foods (NFs), which will ensure scientific relevance, consistency and more efficiency in the risk assessment of NFs. The MICROHAZ database must include the following: 

a. Microbiological hazards (i.e., food safety and process hygiene microbiological criteria) relevant for different NF categories and sorted according to the NF source (e.g., indigenous microbiota, typical microbial contaminants in plants, animals, etc.), production process (e.g., microbial indicators of poor hygiene practices, inadequate handling and/or temperature control, etc.), NF formulation (e.g., powder, syrup, aqueous solution, oil) and storage conditions throughout shelf-life.

b. Realistic concentration ranges and maximum limits for microbiological hazards in NFs (from “a”), depending on the NF source, production process, NF formulation and storage conditions throughout shelf-life.

c. Up-to-date standard analytical methods for microbiological analyses relevant for “a”, including, e.g., analytical technique, LOQ/LOD values, sample size, sampling plan, regulatory reference methods, etc. 

Objectives

The objectives of the project are as follows:

1. To develop data model(s) covering “a”, “b” and “c”, in consideration of the already existing OpenFoodTox database, OECD Harmonised Templates (OHTs) and IUCLID documents and in line with the EFSA’s Regulated Products Data Steering Committee recommendations. The data model(s) should represent data in a structured manner, selecting the most appropriate data type to describe each piece of information, and using controlled vocabularies whenever possible (e.g., EFSA’s harmonized terminology).
2. To conduct a systematic review of external resources (i.e., scientific and grey literature, including regulatory provisions for microbiological criteria in foodstuffs and methodological standards) followed by data extraction and validation (expert judgement), as per the data model(s) developed in objective (1).
3. To extract and validate (expert judgement) end points for microbiological risk assessment from all published EFSA opinions on the safety of NFs to date, as per the data model(s) developed in objective (1). 
4. To integrate the validated data from objectives (1), (2) and (3) into a user-friendly interface with analytical features (e.g., search/filter options, data extraction/annotation), using a technology agreed with EFSA.
5. To propose recommendations for a guideline, standard operating procedure or best approach for the maintenance of the interface developed in objective (4).

Selection criteria - Technical and professional capacity:

The tenderer must have the technical and professional capacity to perform the contract in accordance with the tender specifications.

Requirement 1: Professional capacity – Scientific expertise (overall)
The tenderer must have extensive and demonstrable scientific expertise in the subject matter of the call.

Requested evidence:

• A list of three major projects or publications related to the subject matter of the call, carried out in the course of the past 5 years.

Requirement 2: Professional capacity – Scientific expertise (team)
The tenderer must have the ability to provide a team of at least 5 scientists compliant with the following minimum expertise requirements:

• One scientist with at least 5 years of experience in microbiological risk assessment.
• One scientist with at least 5 years of experience in novel foods.
• One scientist with at least 5 years of experience in systematic literature reviews.
• One scientist with at least 5 years of experience in data standardization and development of relational data models for scientific data.
• One expert with at least 5 years of experience in i) programming in SQL, R, Python or similar languages, ii) developing solutions using business intelligence tools, and iii) developing business applications.
  Requested evidence:
• Detailed CVs (recommended max. 3 pages) of the project team members proposed for the assignment.
• One-page summary with the project team members and the covered profiles.

Requirement 3: Professional capacity – English language capacity 
The team members must have an excellent level of spoken and written English. For non-native speakers, this must be demonstrated by an official certificate of English proving a C1 level OR at least 3 years of work or study in an English-speaking environment OR by proof of (co)authorship of at least 5 scientific publications and/or reports in English language.

Requested evidence:

• Detailed CVs of the project team members proposed for the assignment, where it is clearly indicated how the English requirement is met.
• Official certificate of English proving a C1 level, where applicable.

Requirement 4: Technical capacity – Bibliographic databases and reference management software
The tenderer must have the following minimum technical capacity to perform the contract:
•    Access to multidisciplinary and biomedical bibliographic databases (e.g., Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, Embase), including methodological standards (e.g., ISO), and a reference manager software compatible with EndNote20.
•    Access to business intelligence tools (e.g., PowerBI) and low-code development tools to create custom business applications (e.g., PowerApps).
•    Access to open-source programming languages, preferably SQL, R and Python.
Requested evidence:
•    A statement confirming access to the above.
If you are interested in this procedure please send an email within the deadline to EFSAprocurement [at] efsa.europa.eu (EFSAprocurement[at]efsa[dot]europa[dot]eu) quoting the reference of the procedure and specifying the following:
•    your name/organisation’s name and address; 
•    whether you participate as a physical person or an organisation/private company or in a consortium with other partners.

Procedure to register interest:

If you are interested in this procedure, please send an e-mail message within the deadline to EFSAprocurement [at] efsa.europa.eu (EFSAprocurement[at]efsa[dot]europa[dot]eu) quoting the reference of the procedure and specifying the following:

• your name/organisation's name and full address;
• whether you participate as a physical person or an organisation/private company.

If you intend to apply in joint offer with partners. In this case, you must clearly identify each member of the joint offer and which partner is appointed as the lead partner. The composition of the partners in a joint offer cannot be changed once the invitation to tender letter has been sent.