Harmonising the implementation of EU legal requirements in the fields of Food, Feed, Animal By-products and Food Processing Technologies through the '...

HaDEA has published tender HADEA/2026/OP/0041 for a service contract to organise and implement Better Training for Safer Food activities, including face to face workshops for competent authority staff and subject matter expert support for BTSF e learning in food law, feed law, animal by products and food processing technologies. The estimated contract value is €5,050,000 and the initial duration is 30 months renewable once. Award criteria are quality 80 percent and price 20 percent and submission is by mandatory eSubmission on the EU Funding and Tenders Portal. Tenderers must follow the procurement dossier for required documents and submit offers by 9 November 2026 at 14:00 Brussels time.

Tender summary

What is funded

A service contract to organise and implement Better Training for Safer Food (BTSF) activities: face-to-face workshops for competent authority staff in EU Member States and Candidate Countries and subject-matter expert support to develop BTSF e-learning courses.

Estimated contract value:Approximately €5,050,000 (estimated overall contract amount) ¹.

1. 1Who can apply: legal entities (service providers/consortia) able to deliver training, workshops and e-learning development for public competent authorities; tender procedure for service contracts via the Funding & Tenders Portal.
2. 2Duration and format: initial 30-month contract, renewable once; tasks include in-person workshops (Tasks 1-2) and SME support for e-learning (Task 3).
3. 3Submission: electronic submission via the Funding & Tenders Portal; main deadline 9 November 2026, 14:00:59 (Brussels time).

Consult the tender dossier and draft contract for exact eligibility, selection and award criteria and submission rules on the official tender page Tender details. ¹

Footnotes

1. 1Procurement documents published with the call include the Invitation to Tender, Draft Contract, Tender Specifications and Financial Offer form (publication date 13 July 2026). See the official dossier for task descriptions, evaluation weights (quality 80%, price 20%) and submission requirements.

Opportunity type and reference

Tender published by the Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). Call identifier HADEA/2026/OP/0041. Tender type: services contract. Main CPV code: 80500000 (combined facilities support services / training services). Estimated overall contract value: €5,050,000. Framework contract planned duration: initial period 30 months, renewable once; overall planned period indicated as 60 months in procurement data.

Purpose and scope of the contract

Organisation and implementation of Better Training for Safer Food (BTSF) training activities in the areas of food law, feed law, animal by-products and food processing technologies. The work includes delivery of face-to-face workshops targeted at competent authority staff in EU Member States and Candidate Countries (Tasks 1 and 2) and provision of subject matter expert support for the development of BTSF e-learning courses (Task 3). The contract is a direct service contract to implement and harmonise application of EU legal requirements in the listed thematic areas.

Tasks and deliverables (summary)

Key tasks described in procurement documents:Task 1: Organisation and delivery of face-to-face BTSF workshops for competent authority staff in EU Member States and Candidate Countries. Task 2: Logistical, pedagogical and administrative support to ensure harmonised face-to-face training delivery across jurisdictions. Task 3: Provision of subject matter experts (SMEs) to support the development, review and quality assurance of BTSF e-learning courses in food law, feed law, animal by-products and food processing technologies. Further details, evaluation criteria, security requirements and contractual clauses are contained in the tender specifications and draft contract documents in the procurement dossier Invitation to Tender and tender documents.

Estimated contract value:Estimated overall contract amount: €5,050,000. Estimated total procedure value shown as €5,050,000. The financial offer form is provided in the procurement documents ¹.

Eligibility and applicant types

The tender is open to economic operators capable of delivering the described services. Eligible applicant types expected to participate include: training providers, consultancies, organisations specialising in food safety and feed law, universities and research institutes with training capacity, non-governmental organisations with relevant subject-matter expertise, consortia combining logistics and subject-matter expertise, and private companies (SMEs and larger enterprises) offering pedagogical and e-learning development services. The tender documentation contains specific selection and qualification requirements that must be satisfied by tenderers.

Consortium and participation model

The procurement allows participation by single economic operators or groups/consortia. Specific tenderer qualification requests and tender selection criteria are set out in the tender specifications and may require demonstration of combined technical capacity, CVs of key experts, previous experience in closely related assignments and financial standing. The procurement is not SME-specific (smeSuitableIndicator: false) and encourages consortia where needed to meet capability requirements.

Geographic eligibility and beneficiaries

Primary geographic scope:EU Member States and EU Candidate Countries for workshop delivery and training activities. Tendering is managed by HaDEA, an EU agency; participation is via the EU Funding and Tenders Portal eSubmission mechanism. The procurement documentation does not restrict bidders to a specific Member State; international companies established in eligible jurisdictions according to procurement rules may participate subject to the contractual and exclusion criteria in the tender documents.

Target sectors and thematic areas

Target sectors:food safety, feed safety, animal by-products regulation, food processing technologies, public administration capacity building. Thematic focus: harmonisation of application of EU food and feed legislation through training and e-learning; capacity building for competent authorities; development of pedagogical content and subject-matter expertise for policy implementation.

Project stage and expected maturity

Expected project maturity:implementation and delivery stage. The contractor will be expected to provide operational delivery (training organisation and e-learning course development support), deploy subject-matter experts and trainers, handle logistical and administrative arrangements, and ensure quality assurance and harmonisation across jurisdictions.

Funding type and nature of support

Primary financial mechanism:procurement/service contract awarded by HaDEA. Nature of support to beneficiaries: monetary contract payments to the successful tenderer in exchange for delivery of services (training delivery, SME expertise for e-learning development, logistical and administrative services). This is not a grant, loan or subsidy; it is a public procurement under EU procedures.

Application and submission

Application method:open tender through the EU Funding and Tenders Portal using mandatory eSubmission. Tenderers must submit the technical proposal, financial offer (financial offer form provided as an attachment in native format), Declaration on Honour and other required annexes as specified in the tender specifications. An open tender event (opening) is scheduled for 10 November 2026 at 10:00 CET. The additional information request period ends 29 October 2026. See procurement documents for detailed submission instructions and eForms.

Key submission deadlines:Tender submission deadline / closing date: 9 November 2026 at 14:00:59 (Brussels time). An earlier date 1 January 2026 appears in metadata but the official closing date recorded is 9 November 2026. The tender opening: 10 November 2026 at 10:00 CET. The consider-changed-until date listed for procurement documents is 27 July 2026; consult the portal for updates ¹.

Evaluation and award

Awarding criteria:quality (weight 80) and price (weight 20) as indicated in procurement data. Tender specifications provide full evaluation methodology, scoring scales, minimum thresholds and required supporting evidence. Appeal terms designate an appeal receiver party. Tender validity period is six months. The procurement documents include draft contract and specific security requirements (Appendix 1).

Estimated timetable and contract duration

Planned contract initial duration:30 months (renewable once). Procurement project indicates a planned overall period of 60 months. Tender publication date: 13 July 2026. Contract award and start dates will follow evaluation and contracting processes after tender closure and are specified in the draft contract.

Success rates and number of application stages

Success rate:not published. As a public procurement, success rate depends on number of valid bids received; no historical success-rate figures are provided in the tender documents. Application stages: single-stage submission (submission of full technical and financial tender). Administrative opening and evaluation by the contracting authority constitute subsequent internal stages; therefore bidders must pass administrative compliance, selection/qualification and award evaluation stages.

Co-funding and financial requirements

No co-funding from the contracting authority is required; the successful tenderer will be paid under the service contract terms. Tenderers must submit a financial offer detailing prices for tasks and any rates. Financial standing and capacity documentation may be requested as part of selection criteria. The financial offer template is provided in the procurement dossier (Financial Offer form).

Templates, documents and application structure

The procurement dossier contains mandatory documents and templates:Invitation to Tender, Draft Direct Service Contract, Appendix 1 Security Requirements, Tender Specifications, Declaration on Honour (tender), Financial Offer form (native spreadsheet). Tenderers must follow the structure and forms in the dossier. The Tender Specifications set out required content for the technical offer (methodology, workplan, staffing, CVs of key experts, references), and the Financial Offer template must be used to submit prices. All documents are downloadable from the opportunity page on the Funding and Tenders Portal ¹.

1. 1Mandatory procurement documents to submit: Declaration on Honour, Technical Offer responding to Tender Specifications, Financial Offer using provided template, evidence of legal and financial standing as specified.
2. 2Technical offer structure expected: understanding of tasks, proposed methodology for face-to-face workshops, e-learning SME support approach, quality assurance measures, detailed staffing and CVs, previous relevant project examples and references.
3. 3Financial offer structure: complete the provided Financial_Offer_V1.xlsx template; provide breakdown per task, unit prices, travel and subsistence assumptions, and any overheads; confirm currency EUR.

Eligible applicant types (detailed answer)

Eligible applicant types:training providers, professional service companies, consultancies, SMEs and large enterprises providing training and e-learning development, universities and research institutes with relevant teaching/training capacity, NGOs and non-profit organisations active in food/feed safety and capacity building, public bodies or agencies (where permitted under procurement rules), consortia or joint ventures combining complementary capacities, and individual experts engaged via a tendering organisation. The procurement documents define exclusion and selection criteria that determine legal eligibility and required declarations.

Funding type (detailed answer)

Primary funding mechanism:public procurement (service contract) awarded by the Health and Digital Executive Agency. The mechanism is not a grant, loan or equity instrument; the contractor will be remunerated under the contract against delivery of specified services and outputs.

Consortium requirement (detailed answer)

Consortium allowed but not strictly mandated. Tenderers may bid as single legal entities or as consortia/consortiums/joint ventures. The tender specifications and selection criteria will set out evidence required for lead contractor and subcontracting arrangements, and how capacity of consortium members must be demonstrated.

Beneficiary scope (geographic eligibility) (detailed answer)

Geographic eligibility and operational scope:EU Member States and EU Candidate Countries for delivery of training activities. Bidders established in eligible countries under EU procurement rules may participate. The contracting authority is an EU agency (HaDEA) and the portal and documentation follow EU procurement and funding rules.

Target sector (detailed answer)

Sectors targeted:food safety and public health related to food and feed, regulatory compliance for feed and animal by-products, food processing technologies, capacity building for competent authority staff, e-learning development for regulatory training. This is a specialised public-sector training and capacity-building contract within the broader domain of food safety and regulatory enforcement.

Mentioned countries

Countries explicitly mentioned in the tender text:EU Member States and Candidate Countries. No specific individual Member States are listed in the scraped content. The contracting authority is the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA), based in the European Union.

Project stage (detailed answer)

Project stage expected:operational implementation and delivery of training (face-to-face) and support for e-learning course development. The contract requires immediate mobilisation of trainers, subject-matter experts and administrative/logistical capacity to deliver workshops and learning materials.

Funding amount (detailed answer)

Funding scale:estimated overall contract amount €5,050,000. The procurement dataset lists estimated total procedure value and estimated overall contract amount consistently at €5,050,000. Tenderers should price tasks in line with the Financial Offer template included in the dossier.

Application type (detailed answer)

Open call public procurement with mandatory electronic submission via the EU Funding and Tenders Portal (eSubmission). Bidders must register on the Portal and submit the full tender electronically by the stated deadline.

Nature of support (detailed answer)

Successful bidder(s) will receive monetary contract payments for services rendered under the service contract. The support is transactional and contractual rather than grant-based; the deliverables are training events, e-learning content and related outputs.

Application stages (detailed answer)

Application stages:single-stage tender submission followed by administrative compliance check, selection/qualification assessment and award evaluation based on quality and price. Therefore bidders should expect at least three internal procedural stages: (1) submission and admissibility check, (2) selection/qualification assessment, (3) award evaluation and ranking.

Success rates (detailed answer)

No success rate statistics are provided in the procurement documents or portal metadata. Success depends on the number and quality of competing tenders; public procurement award is competitive and follows the published evaluation rules and weighting (quality 80, price 20).

Co-funding requirement (detailed answer)

No co-funding is required from the contracting authority. The tenderer must provide a priced offer. The procurement documents may require evidence of financial capacity, but there is no matching fund or co-financing clause indicated in the public metadata.

Templates and application form structure

Available templates and documents in the dossier:1. Invitation to Tender (PDF); 2. Draft Direct Service Contract (PDF); 2a. Appendix 1 Security requirements (PDF); 3. Tender Specifications (PDF) which set out requirements, evaluation criteria and scoring; 4. Declaration on Honour (native docx template); 5. Financial Offer (native xlsx template). The technical offer should follow the Tender Specifications and include: methodology and approach per task, workplan and timetable, staffing plan with CVs/resumes of proposed key experts, examples of previous projects and references, quality assurance measures, travel and logistical arrangements, data protection and security compliance details. The financial offer must use the provided spreadsheet template and show itemised prices per task, unit costs, travel and subsistence and totals in EUR. All templates must be used as provided and uploaded via the eSubmission tool.

• Download and use the Declaration on Honour template and sign as required.
• Complete the Financial Offer template (5. HADEA2026OP0041_Financial_Offer_V1.xlsx) and ensure consistency between technical and financial proposals.
• Follow the Tender Specifications (3. HADEA2026OP0041_Tender Specifications_V1.pdf) for required technical content and supporting evidence.
• Consult the Draft Direct Service Contract and Appendix 1 for contractual, security and compliance obligations before bidding.

Procurement and contracting authority

Lead contracting authority:Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). The opportunity is published on the EU Funding and Tenders Portal and managed by HaDEA. The portal holds the full procurement dossier and the electronic submission gateway.

How to access the procurement documents

All procurement documents (Invitation to Tender, Draft Contract, Tender Specifications, Declaration on Honour, Financial Offer template and additional annexes) are available on the EU Funding and Tenders Portal opportunity page. Tenderers must consult the portal for updates and the consider-changed-until dates shown in the dossier. The procurement notice references documents published on 13 July 2026 and a document change notification period to 27 July 2026. For direct access consult the opportunity page on the Funding and Tenders Portal Opportunity details. ¹

Summary:This is an EU public procurement managed by HaDEA to contract a service provider (or consortium) to organise and deliver BTSF face-to-face training activities for competent authorities across EU Member States and Candidate Countries and to provide subject-matter expert support for BTSF e-learning course development in the areas of food law, feed law, animal by-products and food processing technologies. The estimated contract value is €5,050,000. Bidders must submit a full technical and financial offer via the Funding and Tenders Portal eSubmission by 9 November 2026, comply with the Tender Specifications and use the provided templates. Award will be based on quality (80) and price (20).

Footnotes

1. 1Procurement documents and annexes available on the Funding and Tenders Portal opportunity page: 1. HADEA2026OP0041 Invitation to Tender; 2. HADEA2026OP0041 Direct Service Contract; 2a. Appendix 1 Security requirements; 3. HADEA2026OP0041 Tender Specifications; 4. HADEA2026OP0041 Declaration on Honour (docx); 5. HADEA2026OP0041 Financial_Offer_V1.xlsx. Access the opportunity page for downloads and the eSubmission link Opportunity details.

Opportunity Overview

This is a competitive public procurement tender (HADEA/2026/OP/0041) for a service contract to organise and implement 'Better Training for Safer Food' (BTSF) training activities focused on food law, feed law, animal by-products, and food processing technologies [[7]]. The contract aims to harmonise the implementation of EU legal requirements across Member States and Candidate Countries through face-to-face workshops and e-learning course development [[7]].

Key Contract Details

Deadlines and Timeline

The tender has two identified deadlines:an initial deadline on 1 January 2026 at 13:00 UTC and a subsequent deadline on 9 November 2026 at 14:00 UTC [[Opportunity Metadata]]. Given the current date is July 2026, the January deadline has passed, and the relevant active deadline is 9 November 2026 [[Opportunity Metadata]].

Scope of Work

1. 1Task 1 & 2: Organisation and delivery of face-to-face workshops for competent authority staff in EU Member States and Candidate Countries covering food law, feed law, animal by-products, and food processing technologies [[7]].
2. 2Task 3: Support for subject matter experts (SMEs) in developing BTSF e-learning courses for the specified technical areas [[7]].
3. 3Training delivery must follow BTSF principles: information delivery, knowledge sharing, networking, and a 'train-the-trainer' approach [[3]].

Eligibility and Who Can Apply

Eligible applicants are organisations capable of delivering specialised training services in food law, feed law, animal by-products, and food processing technologies [[7]]. The tender is open to economic operators, which may be a single legal entity or a consortium where permitted [[23]].

Required Capabilities:Applicants must demonstrate expertise in event management for training and the design/delivery of technical content [[19]]. A good working level of English is mandatory unless simultaneous interpretation is requested for specific workshops [[18]].

Target Beneficiaries

The primary beneficiaries are staff of competent authorities in EU Member States and Candidate Countries involved in official controls [[8]]. Training may also extend to officials from non-EU neighbourhood countries based on strategic objectives [[3]].

Legal and Regulatory Context

The training focuses on key EU regulations including Regulation (EC) 1069/2009 and Commission Regulation (EU) 142/2011 regarding animal by-products, as well as broader food and feed law frameworks [[6]]. The initiative is grounded in Article 130 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625, which empowers the Commission to develop training for competent authority staff [[8]].

Application Process

Tenders must be submitted electronically via the EU Funding and Tenders Portal [[23]]. Required documents include the Invitation to Tender, Tender Specifications, Draft Contract, Security Requirements, Declaration on Honour, and Financial Offer Form [[23]].

Official Portal Link:Apply and access documents at EU Funding Portal - Tender Details.

Footnotes

1. 1The estimated budget of €5,050,000 is listed in the Development Aid tender notice for HADEA/2026/OP/0041-PIN [[7]].
2. 2Contract duration details (30 months initial, renewable once) are consistent with similar BTSF tenders managed by HaDEA, such as HADEA/2026/OP/0038 [[23]].