1. INTRODUCTION TO EFSA AS CONTRACTING AUTHORITY
2. LIST OF INDIVIDUALS FOR SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT SCHEME
The objective of this call for expressions of interest is to establish a list of individuals (natural persons) with scientific expertise to assist EFSA in carrying out preparatory work (including data related activities) in support of EFSA’s scientific and risk communication activities with the main focus on the areas of generic risk assessments and the assessment of applications for the authorisation of regulated products, in particular in the areas of Animal Health and Animal Welfare, Biological hazards and Chemical contaminants, Pesticides, Plant health, Genetically Modified Organisms for food and feed uses, Food Additives, Food Contact Materials, Food Enzymes, Food Flavourings, Feed additives, Novel Foods, Nutrition and activities in the area of Social Sciences. The delivered preparatory work will be reviewed by EFSA staff and/or ad hoc experts for its use in EFSA scientific outputs and communications.
Individuals are required to indicate their area of expertise using the list of knowledge areas in Annex V.
The following list contains examples of tasks that EFSA can entrust to selected candidates [1]:
Specifically in the area of social science the following are examples of tasks that EFSA can entrust to selected candidates:
Maximum amount that can be paid to an individual during the whole duration of the call (5 years) is 140.000 €, including remunerations and possible reimbursements.
Where a particular task described at point 2.2 is to be performed by an individual, EFSA as the contracting authority will assign individuals to the task on the basis of the skills, experience and knowledge necessary and in accordance with the principles of non-discrimination, equal treatment and absence of conflict of interests.
The tasks will be formalised in a service request sent to the individual selected and via a specific contract. The specific contract will define the exact duration of the tasks.
DECLARATION OF INTEREST (DoI) AND DECLARATION ON PREVIOUS WORK IN EU INSTITUTIONS
The individuals shall commit to respect applicable national legislation, including taxation, social security and labour law with regard to any payment received from EFSA.
Where applicable, the travel and subsistence expenses will be reimbursed under the conditions set out in the contract according to the conditions stipulated in Annex I.
Tasks will be carried out in most of the cases remotely and delivered using electronic communication tools. In certain cases, EFSA may request that specific tasks are carried out in EFSA premises or other sites that will be mentioned in the contract specifications.
A list of individuals who have concluded with EFSA a contract of more than 15.000 € following the procedure set out at point 2.3 shall be published on EFSA website, no later than 30 June of the year following the year in which the contract was awarded. Information published includes the name of the individual, the locality (region of origin), the amount, and the subject of the contract. The information shall be removed two years after the year of the contract award.
3. REQUIREMENTS
3.1 ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
Individuals shall be excluded from participation in the award where they are in one or more of the following exclusion situations:
(a) the person or entity is bankrupt, subject to insolvency or winding-up procedures, its assets are being administered by a liquidator or by a court, it is in an arrangement with creditors, its business activities are suspended, or it is in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for under Union or national law;
(b) it has been established by a final judgment or a final administrative decision that the person or entity is in breach of its obligations relating to the payment of taxes or social security contributions in accordance with the applicable law;
(c) it has been established by a final judgment or a final administrative decision that the person or entity is guilty of grave professional misconduct by having violated applicable laws or regulations or ethical standards of the profession to which the person or entity belongs, or by having engaged in any wrongful conduct which has an impact on its professional credibility where such conduct denotes wrongful intent or gross negligence, including, in particular, any of the following:
(i) fraudulently or negligently misrepresenting information required for the verification of the absence of grounds for exclusion or the fulfilment of eligibility or selection criteria or in the implementation of the legal commitment;
(ii) entering into agreement with other persons or entities with the aim of distorting competition;
(iii) violating intellectual property rights;
(iv) attempting to influence the decision-making of the authorising officer responsible during the award procedure;
(v) attempting to obtain confidential information that may confer upon it undue advantages in the award procedure;
(d) it has been established by a final judgment that the person or entity is guilty of any of the following:
(i) fraud, within the meaning of Article 3 of Directive (EU) 2017/1371 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1) and Article 1 of the Convention on the protection of the European Communities’ financial interests, drawn up by the Council Act of 26 July 1995 (2);
(ii) corruption, as defined in Article 4(2) of Directive (EU) 2017/1371 or active corruption within the meaning of Article 3 of the Convention on the fight against corruption involving officials of the European Communities or officials of Member States of the European Union, drawn up by the Council Act of 26 May 1997 (3), or conduct referred to in Article 2(1) of Council Framework Decision 2003/568/JHA (4), or corruption as defined in other applicable laws;
(iii) conduct related to a criminal organisation as referred to in Article 2 of Council Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA (5);
(iv) money laundering or terrorist financing within the meaning of Article 1(3), (4) and (5) of Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1);
(v) terrorist offences or offences linked to terrorist activities, as defined in Articles 1 and 3 of Council Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA (2), respectively, or inciting, aiding, abetting or attempting to commit such offences, as referred to in Article 4 of that Decision;
(vi) child labour or other offences concerning trafficking in human beings as referred to in Article 2 of Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 3);
(e) the person or entity has shown significant deficiencies in complying with main obligations in the implementation of a legal commitment financed by the budget which has:
(i) led to the early termination of a legal commitment;
(ii) led to the application of liquidated damages or other contractual penalties; or
(iii) been discovered by an authorising officer, OLAF or the Court of Auditors following checks, audits or investigations;
(f) it has been established by a final judgment or final administrative decision that the person or entity has committed an irregularity within the meaning of Article 1(2) of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 (4);
(g) it has been established by a final judgment or final administrative decision that the person or entity has created an entity in a different jurisdiction with the intent to circumvent fiscal, social or any other legal obligations in the jurisdiction of its registered office, central administration or principal place of business;
(h) it has been established by a final judgment or final administrative decision that an entity has been created with the intent referred to in point (g).
SUPPORTING EVIDENCE REQUESTED:
In question 7 of the application form, applicants are requested to declare that they are in none of the situations listed in section I “SITUATION OF EXCLUSION CONCERNING THE PERSON” and section IV “GROUNDS FOR REJECTION FROM THIS PROCEDURE”. EFSA reserves the right to ask for further supporting evidence of non-exclusion.
In case applicants are in one or more of the situations of exclusion/ grounds for rejection, they must download, complete and send the declaration of honour on exclusion criteria and relevant documentation to EFSAProcurement@efsa.europa.eu.
The declaration of honour on exclusion criteria is published with the call.
3.3 SELECTION CRITERIA
Applicants to be placed on the list shall be selected based on their professional and technical capacity to perform the tasks described in point 2.2. In particular, the applicants must meet these selection criteria to evidence their capacity:
(i) Education
A level of education which corresponds to completed university studies of at least three (3) years attested by a diploma in one of the following fields:
• Agronomy, Crop Sciences, Forestry sciences
• Animal welfare/ethics
• Biochemistry
• Biology/Microbiology
• Chemistry
• Ecology/behaviour Ecology
• Epidemiology
• Exposure Assessment
• Food/Feed Science and Technology
• Genetics, Molecular Biology
• Human Medicine
• Human Nutrition
• Information Science/Data Science/Bioinformatics
• Mathematics/Statistics/Biostatistics
• Pharmacology/Pharmacy
• Plant/Animal Sciences
• Regulatory Science
• Social Science
• Toxicology
• Veterinary Science
• Zoology/Entomology
• or related areas. (NB: for related/similar areas, the applicant should explain their relevance for the tasks).
(ii) Professional experience & Competencies
In addition to the above:
• at least 3 years of proven professional experience after their degree in at least one of the above fields in which the above qualifications (i) were obtained. A remunerated PhD degree acquired in a field relevant to the areas mentioned above can be counted as professional experience up to 3 years. Paid traineeships are counted as working experience; and
• demonstrable experience in the scientific areas indicated in Annex V, as evidenced by:
- The preparation and (contribution to) drafting of at least 2 relevant risk assessment reports and/or publications in peer-reviewed journals related to the above-mentioned scientific expertise, carried out in the last 5 years before the application date (the publications should be in EN language and the DOI number or weblink should be provided). For social sciences and communication, the reports may also cover social research analysis or communication reports published in scientific journals or on EU institution, MS authority, or international organisations’ websites; and
• an excellent ability to communicate clearly and effectively in both spoken and written English, evidenced by either:
- having written at least 2 reports or publications in English; or
- a certificate demonstrating at least level B.2 of the Common European Framework of References for Languages; or
- having worked for at least 2 years in a working environment where the day-to-day working language for meetings and communications is English.
SUPPORTING EVIDENCE REQUESTED:
• CV evidencing the above requirements.
• Before any contract of appointment, EFSA reserves the right to request the selected applicant to provide supporting documents relating to their education and professional experience (i.e. copy of university degree, and certificates of working experience, etc.) to demonstrate fulfilment of the selection criteria.
4. HOW TO APPLY
4.1 GENERAL INFORMATION
The call for expression of interests shall be read in conjunction with its annexes which contain essential additional information.
Submission of an application implies acceptance of the terms and conditions laid down in this Call for the Expression of Interest (EOI) and all relevant annexes.
Expenditures for preparing and submitting expressions of interest will not be reimbursed by EFSA.
Applications should be submitted in one of the official languages of the European Union.
Applications may be submitted at any time during the period of validity of the call for expression of interest, with the exception of the last three months of that period. However, we advise you to apply as early as possible, as assignments can arise at any point in time during the validity of the list.
Individuals may withdraw their application at any moment by written notice to EFSA.
Incoming applications received in response to this call will be evaluated on a need basis, where specific support under the terms of Article 237 of the EU Financial Regulation is necessary. Individuals will be notified of the outcome of their application as soon as possible after the evaluation is finished.
4.2 APPLICATION PROCESS
The application shall be submitted online on the EFSA careers page. Fill in and sign electronically the application form.
4.3 PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION and CONFIDENTIALITY
As an EU Agency, EFSA is subject to Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, forming the primary legal basis for measuring the lawfulness of personal data processing. The applicability of this Regulation in the context of this call has the following implications:
– As data Controller, EFSA shall ensure that personal data contained in your application (e.g. names of individuals, their CVs, contact details, financial details , declarations of interest) is processed in compliance with the Regulation. More detailed information on the processing of personal data in the context of procurement procedures of EFSA is available in the Privacy Statement on our website5;
– The selected individual acts as a processor of EFSA in case any personal data should be handled under the contract in the sense of Article 29 of the Regulation. In such case and in accordance with this provision, the individual:
• shall only process the personal data on documented instructions of EFSA as the data Controller,
• shall commit him/herself to confidentiality,
• shall undertake appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure the confidential and secure processing of the personal data needed for the implementation of the contract,
• shall delete or return to EFSA all personal data after the end of the provision of services,
• shall make available to EFSA all information necessary to demonstrate compliance with the obligations pursuant to the Regulation and shall allow for or contribute to audits and inspections by or on behalf of EFSA,
• shall notify any personal data breaches to EFSA.
The expert must comply with the confidentiality standards set out in the contract (Annex VI) and must include a completed and signed statement on confidentiality, provided in Annex to the draft contract.
Annex I – TRAVEL COSTS AND SUBSISTENCE ALLOWANCES
Travel costs
These lump sums must be applied for travel costs:
| Distance in road Km | Travel cost |
| Up to 100 | no allowance |
| Between 100 – 400 | 200 € |
| Above 400 | 400 € |
Daily subsistence allowances (DSA)
The DSA of 200 € applies if the distance between the place of residence of the individual and the agreed place of work is more than 50 km. Such DSA covers accommodation, meals, local transport to reach airport/train station etc. For each started day of a presence in the agreed place of work one DSA is granted.
Annex II – DECLARATION OF HONOUR FOR EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Annex III – INDIVIDUAL DECLARATION OF INTEREST FORM
Annex IV – DECLARATION OF PREVIOUS WORK IN EU INSTITUTIONS
Annex V – SCIENTIFIC EXPERTISE
Annex VI – Draft Contract
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1. General tasks provided by way of example, the list is non exhaustive.
2. Statutory staff (i.e. officials, temporary agents, contract agents). Interims, trainees, contractors and individuals awarded previous ISA contracts with EFSA do not fall within the category of statutory staff.
3. Statutory staff (i.e. officials, temporary agents, contract agents). Interims, trainees, contractors and individuals awarded previous ISA contracts with EFSA do not fall within the category of statutory staff.
4. See previous footnote.