Methodological support for literature reviews for evidence-based scientific assessments

The tenderer must have generated an overall annual turnover of at least 500.000,00 € in each of the last 2 closed financial years (2023 and 2024).

a) The tenderer overall must have extensive and demonstrable experience in performing and managing systematic literature reviews (including full systematic reviews and/or substantial parts thereof) in accordance with internationally recognised methodologies (e.g. protocol development, literature searching, screening, data extraction, critical appraisal and synthesis), as well as in project management of comparable scientific assignments. b) The tenderer overall must have extensive and demonstrable experience in drafting high-quality scientific deliverables relevant to the subject matter of the contract (e.g. scientific publications, protocols, technical reports, evidence tables and/or synthesis reports).

Operational Manager: Ability to identify 1 Operational Manager and 1 backup Operational Manager, compliant with the following requirements: i) proven professional experience in project management, including the coordination of complex assignments, management of staff resources, monitoring of deliverables, timelines and quality, and escalation of operational issues, to be proven by providing reference to at least 3 projects managed in the last 5 years. A clear description of the candidate's role and responsibilities, in particular with respect to operational coordination, reporting, quality assurance and interaction with contracting authorities or stakeholders must be included. ii) At least 5 years of proven professional experience in performing and/or overseeing the full stepwise process of systematic reviews (SRs). Note: Professional experience is referring to independent scientific work undertaken outside of activities related to acquiring a University or professional degree at any level. PHD counts as relevant professional experience if carried out in the last 5 years.

Junior Experts: Ability to provide a team of minimum 4 junior experts compliant with the following profile requirements: i) Junior expert: at least a Master's degree (or equivalent, i.e. at least 4 years of University) and minimum 1 year professional experience in the scientific domain of the assignment. Examples of scientific domains that may be requested by EFSA (non-exhaustive) include: chemical risk assessment (e.g. pesticides, food additives, contaminants, substances and ingredients of botanical origin added to foods); biological hazards (e.g. microbiology, antimicrobial resistance); animal health and welfare; plant health (e.g. pests); genetically modified organisms; environmental risk assessment; nutrition/novel foods; efficacy assessments; emerging risks identification, monitoring and/or surveillance; and methodological development. Tenderers shall note that for each reopening of competition, EFSA will specify the relevant scientific domain(s) of the assignment and may introduce additional domain-specific requirements.

Senior Experts: Ability to provide a team of minimum 4 senior experts compliant with the following profile requirements: ii) Senior expert: at least a Master's degree (or equivalent, i.e. at least 4 years of University) and minimum 3 years professional experience in the scientific domain of the assignment. Examples of scientific domains that may be requested by EFSA (non-exhaustive) include: chemical risk assessment (e.g. pesticides, food additives, contaminants, substances and ingredients of botanical origin added to foods); biological hazards (e.g. microbiology, antimicrobial resistance); animal health and welfare; plant health (e.g. pests); genetically modified organisms; environmental risk assessment; nutrition/novel foods; efficacy assessments; emerging risks identification, monitoring and/or surveillance; and methodological development. Tenderers shall note that for each reopening of competition, EFSA will specify the relevant scientific domain(s) of the assignment and may introduce additional domain-specific requirements.

The tenderer must have access to: a) at least two relevant scientific electronic bibliographic databases for the execution of the contract; at least one of them should be a large multidisciplinary database, such as Web of Science Core Collection, Scopus or equivalent. The bibliographic databases should be relevant to cover the types of scientific questions discussed in section 1.1. b) relevant subscriptions to scientific literature collections from at least 3 publishers, such as: ACS, Elsevier, Oxford University Press, Taylor & Francis, Springer Nature, Wiley, etc. c) a reference management software (e.g. Endnote, Citavi, Zotero, Mendeley or similar). EFSA currently uses Endnote 21. d) a software for the management and presentation of the extracted data and the creation of tables, graphs etc (e.g. R or similar).

a) Signed declaration on honour.

a) Signed declaration on honour.

Environmental protection is an integral part of EFSA's governance. EFSA has established, implemented and maintains a certified environmental management system in accordance with the international standard ISO 14001 and the European EMAS regulation. Environmental impacts of EFSA's activities are identified, managed and monitored in order to improve environmental performance. This commitment to environmental sustainability requires us to consider a life-cycle perspective when purchasing our services. For this reason we are asking you some information on the environmental management of your activities, to be provided filling in Annex 3 (Information on environmental management). To be completed by the tenderer or leading partner. The answers will not be considered under any criteria, neither selection nor award criteria.