Strategies for grouping chemicals

EFSA/2026/OP/0004 is an open call for tenders by the European Food Safety Authority to procure research and development services to streamline and harmonise chemical grouping strategies for human health risk assessment of combined exposures across EFSA domains. The contract is a services contract performed at contractor premises with a maximum budget of €400,000, a maximum duration of 24 months, award by best price-quality ratio (70% quality, 30% price) and payments linked to five deliverables. Eligible legal entities established in EU/EEA or European Commission adequacy countries must submit electronic tenders via the Funding & Tenders Portal by 04/06/2026 14:30 (Europe/Rome) and meet defined financial and technical selection thresholds including turnover and specified expert profiles.

What it funds

A 24-month service contract to map EFSA's needs and practices for chemical grouping, inventory data types and tools (including AI/semi‑automated methods), design and test proof‑of‑concept implementation solutions and deliver an operational approach and recommendations to enable consistent, traceable grouping for human health mixture risk assessment.

Who can apply & key conditions

Open electronic tender to organisations established in eligible countries (EU/EEA or countries with an EC adequacy decision for personal data). Applicants must demonstrate project management, toxicology, cheminformatics/computational toxicology and data science expertise and meet financial/selection criteria in the tender specifications.

Budget & duration:Estimated total value €400,000; maximum contract duration 24 months; award by best price-quality ratio ¹.

1. 1Eligible applicants: legal entities registered in eligible countries (see tender documents).
2. 2Submission is electronic via the Funding & Tenders Portal (EU Login required).

Find full procurement documents, tender specifications and draft contract on the Funding & Tenders Portal F&T Portal - Tender details ¹.

Footnotes

1. 1Official call and all annexes (Invitation to tender, Tender specifications, Draft contract) are published on the F&T Portal; electronic submission via eSubmission is mandatory.

Basic opportunity details

Title:Strategies for grouping chemicals. Procurement type: Open procedure call for tenders (service contract). Contracting authority: European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). TED reference: 71/2026 250928-2026. Procedure identifier: EFSA/2026/OP/0004. Estimated total value: €400,000 (excluding VAT). Maximum contract duration: 24 months. Nature of the contract: services. Main CPV: 73000000 - Research and development services and related consultancy services. Award method: best price-quality ratio. Submission method: electronic through the Funding & Tenders Portal eSubmission. TED publication and F&T Portal publication date: 13/04/2026. Deadline for receipt of tenders: 04/06/2026 14:30 (Europe/Rome / CEST). Date and time of public opening: 05/06/2026 14:30 (Europe/Rome).

Call description and purpose

Purpose:EFSA seeks a contractor to support the streamlining and harmonisation of chemical grouping implementation to enable and improve human health risk assessment of combined exposure to multiple chemicals. The contract will map EFSA’s current and planned internal practices, identify and evaluate external data types, data sources, tools and methods (including emerging technologies and AI-driven data extraction approaches), propose prioritised implementation-support solutions, design and run proof-of-concept applications in realistic EFSA use cases, and produce a draft and final operational approach with recommendations for follow-up work. The deliverables are a sequence of five interim and final reports, technical proofs-of-concept and an operational approach intended to support consistent, transparent and scalable chemical grouping across EFSA domains.

Expected final outputs:A compendium of EFSA internal practices and needs; a compendium of external initiatives, data sources and tools; an inventory and maturity/readiness assessment of data and tools; prioritized implementation-support solutions; designed and executed proof-of-concepts with evaluation; a draft operational approach and a final operational approach with recommendations for follow-up projects and indicative resource needs ¹.

Eligibility and application logistics

Submission:Electronic submission via eSubmission on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. EU Login is required; as of 30 June 2026 two-factor authentication will be required for EU Login. Submissions must be in one of the EU official languages. Tenderers must register organisations in the Participant Register and use a PIC for submission. The tender documents published with the call include: Invitation to tender, Tender specifications (including detailed tasks, deliverables, evaluation and award criteria), and Draft Direct Service Contract. Clarifications must be submitted through the F&T Portal Questions & Answers area. The contracting authority may refuse to answer clarifications received less than six working days before the closing deadline. Questions must be submitted by 27/05/2026 23:59 (Europe/Rome).

Eligibility, selection and exclusion

Access to the procedure:only tenderers established in eligible countries may participate. Processing of personal data under the contract is permitted only for tenderers established in EU/EEA countries or in countries with an EU Commission adequacy decision. Subcontractors not compliant with access-to-market rules must be established in adequacy countries. Exclusion and selection follow Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 and EFSA procurement rules (declarations on honour for exclusion and selection criteria are mandatory).

Key mandatory selection thresholds

1. 1Economic/financial capacity: minimum overall annual turnover of €400,000 in each of the last two closed financial years (2023 and 2024).
2. 2Professional/technical capacity (organisational): demonstrable experience in project management of complex multidisciplinary scientific projects; human health risk assessment of chemicals and chemical grouping methodologies; data science expertise including handling heterogeneous datasets and automated workflows.
3. 3Professional/technical capacity (individuals): project team must include at least four expert profiles (Project Manager, Toxicologist, Computational Toxicologist/Cheminformatics Specialist, Data Scientist) meeting specified education and minimum years of experience.
4. 4Language: project team members must have very good spoken and written UK English (three years' professional experience in English-speaking environments or official certificate B2 for non-native speakers).

Opportunity classification and programmatic metadata

Eligible Applicant Types:Universities, research institutes, large enterprises, SMEs and consultancies with the required technical expertise are eligible. Nonprofits, NGOs and individual experts may participate if they form an eligible legal entity for contracting. Subcontracting is permitted except for tasks involving handling of EFSA confidential information (subcontracting of screening/extraction from non-public dossiers and internal EFSA confidential documents is prohibited). Joint tenders (consortia) are allowed with a designated lead partner. Public bodies and EU agencies may participate in line with procurement rules.

Funding Type:Procurement contract (service contract) funded by EFSA (direct service contract). The mechanism is a tender (procurement) rather than a grant, and EFSA will sign a direct service contract with the successful contractor.

Consortium Requirement:Single tenderer or consortium allowed. The call supports single economic operators or joint offers; if a joint tender is submitted, a lead partner must be designated. Joint tender members are jointly and severally liable under general conditions (with limited derogations possible where national law prevents joint liability).

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility):Applicants established in eligible countries (EU Member States and EEA countries) may participate. Processing of personal data under the contract is allowed only for entities established in the EU/EEA or in third countries for which the European Commission has adopted an adequacy decision. The contract performance takes place at contractor premises (place of performance).

Target Sectors / Thematic Scope:Primary thematic scope: human health risk assessment for chemicals and combined exposure (mixture risk assessment). Cross-cutting technical areas: toxicology, computational toxicology, cheminformatics, data science, natural language processing, AI/ML-assisted evidence extraction, FAIR data management and software/tool evaluation. Secondary relevance to sectors: pesticides, contaminants, food additives, food contact materials, food and feed flavourings, environmental and animal health (foundational for possible later expansion).

Mentioned Countries:Explicitly mentioned entities and jurisdictions in the procurement documents: EFSA (Italy, Parma). External organisations referenced as landscape examples: ECHA (EU), OECD (international), WHO (international), US EPA (United States). The tender is open across the European Economic Area; no single additional country list is imposed in the call text.

Project Stage / Maturity Expected:Expected maturity: from research and development through demonstration/validation (mapping, proof-of-concept tests and operational approach). The contractor is not expected to deliver final production-ready IT systems, but to design, test proof-of-concepts, assess feasibility and propose operational strategies and follow-up deployment work.

Funding Amount / Scale:Total available budget: €400,000 (maximum). Tender offers exceeding this amount will be excluded. Payments: interim payment of 40% upon approval of initial deliverables (Deliverables 1 and 2), balance upon approval of subsequent deliverables. Duration: up to 24 months.

Application Type:Open call for tenders (published on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal and TED). Submission is electronic via eSubmission (EU Login required). Clarifications and Q&A conducted on the F&T Portal Q&A tab only.

Nature of Support to Beneficiaries:Financial support in the form of a paid service contract (money paid to the contractor). The contractor will deliver services, reports, proof-of-concepts and technical outputs; EFSA acquires ownership of results and IPR as defined in the draft contract.

Application Stages:Single-stage tender submission to eSubmission. Post-submission evaluation includes eligibility/exclusion checks, selection criteria assessment, compliance with tender specifications, technical quality evaluation (award criteria) and financial evaluation for price-quality ratio. Public virtual opening session announces received tenders and checks formal submission compliance. Project internal milestones include interim meetings corresponding to interim deliverables and a final meeting/deliverable schedule.

Number of Evaluation / Contract Stages:Effectively 1 formal submission stage followed by an internal multi-step evaluation process: (1) eligibility & exclusion checks; (2) selection criteria verification; (3) compliance check with specifications; (4) technical quality scoring and thresholds; (5) financial price verification; (6) price-quality ranking and final award decision.

Success Rates:Not published for this tender. EFSA does not provide a stated success rate for this specific procurement. Typical public procurement success rates vary by competition intensity and number of submitted tenders; applicants should assume competitive selection based on best price-quality ratio and must meet all mandatory thresholds to be considered.

Co-funding requirement:No co-funding from applicants is required by EFSA. The contract is a paid service contract within the available EFSA budget. The contractor bears all its own preparation and implementation costs and must price accordingly.

Application materials, templates and how to prepare your tender

All procurement documentation is published on the Funding & Tenders Opportunities Portal for this procedure: Invitation to Tender, Tender Specifications (with full Annexes) and Draft Direct Service Contract. EU Login and registration in the Participant Register (PIC) are mandatory for eSubmission. Tenderers must upload completed and signed Declarations on Honour (sections A, B and C as required) and provide the requested evidence for selection criteria and technical offer. Please consult the tender specification for the exact document list and naming conventions; eSubmission accepts files up to 50 MB per attachment and up to 200 files per submission.

Structure and templates to prepare your offer (high-level outline):The Tender Specifications form Annex I of the draft contract and describe in detail the required content. Use the following core structure when preparing your submission and map all parts to the Tender Specifications and award criteria: (A) Administrative forms and Declarations on Honour (exclusion and selection) including PIC; (B) Technical offer covering approach and methodology, workplan, deliverables, team composition, CVs and proof-of-capacity evidence, data protection and conflict of interest declarations; (C) Financial offer using EFSA’s financial template (annexed) showing all-inclusive total price in EUR (must not exceed €400,000) and optional breakdown per deliverable; (D) Annexes such as CVs, project references, publications, ethical approvals and environmental management form (Annex 3). The draft contract (Annex II) must be reviewed and any contractual comments raised in clarifications prior to submission.

1. 1Administrative package: signed Declaration on Honour sections A, B and C; Business Partner Form/Participant Register PIC information.
2. 2Technical offer: methodology mapped to award criteria A, B and C (methodology, organisation & QA, risk management), detailed work plan with milestones and meetings, description of proof-of-concept design, data sources and proposed tools, and ethics/data-protection approach.
3. 3Team information: one-page team summary mapping names to roles, full CVs, list of relevant publications and projects, and statement on English language capacity.
4. 4Financial offer: completed EFSA Financial Offer Template (Annex 1) stating the all-inclusive total price in EUR and optional breakdown per deliverable.
5. 5Declarations and annexes: environmental management information (Annex 3 optional), confidentiality statements and any additional supporting documents referenced in the offer.

Tenderers must ensure the Declaration on Honour forms are signed and dated by authorised representatives and attached as scanned signed PDFs if hand-signed, or signed using a qualified/advanced electronic signature. If the tender involves AI systems in preparation or delivery, the technical offer must explicitly describe the use, risks and mitigation measures and how human oversight and quality validation will be ensured. EFSA requires explicit disclosure where generative AI (LLMs) was used in preparing tender text or deliverables.

Evaluation and award

Evaluation follows a sequential process:eligibility and exclusion checks; selection criteria verification; compliance with specifications and minimum requirements; technical evaluation across three quality award criterion groups (Methodology 60 points; Organisation & QA 25 points; Risk management & timely delivery 15 points) subject to minimum thresholds per criterion; financial verification to ensure the price is within the maximum budget; final ranking using a price-quality formula where price contributes 30% and quality 70% to the final score. Minimum overall quality threshold: tenders must achieve at least 70% of maximum quality points and meet minimum thresholds per sub-criterion, otherwise they are eliminated from price evaluation.

Technical requirements, confidentiality and data protection

The contract will require handling of EFSA confidential information in some tasks (including non-public dossiers). Subcontracting is explicitly prohibited for tasks involving processing of EFSA confidential information. The contractor must comply with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 and implement technical and organisational measures for data security; personal data processing is restricted to EU/EEA or adequacy countries. The draft contract contains clauses on ownership of results and IPR: EFSA acquires ownership of results produced under the contract; pre-existing rights incorporated into deliverables must be declared and licensed to EFSA under the terms in the draft contract. EFSA expects deliverables to be published (at EFSA discretion) on its Knowledge Junction (Zenodo) with attribution.

Use of Artificial Intelligence in proposal drafting and service delivery

If the tenderer used Large Language Models or other generative AI in preparing the tender, this must be explicitly stated. Proposals that plan to use AI in service delivery must describe the purpose, stages of use, expected added value, risks and mitigation measures, compliance with the AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689), compliance with data protection (GDPR/EUDPR), and how human oversight and validation will be guaranteed. Any deliverables produced with generative AI must include explicit acknowledgement of AI use and confirmation of human oversight.

Contract implementation and meetings

Contract duration:up to 24 months, starting at the kick-off meeting. Meetings: kick-off (one day), four interim half-day meetings to review interim reports, final meeting (one day). Additional biweekly 2-hour checkpoint meetings are to be included in the workplan if needed. Minutes must be taken using EFSA templates and approved by EFSA within five working days. Payments are linked to deliverables and EFSA approval: interim payment 40% (linked to Deliverables 1 and 2); balance payment after approval of remaining deliverables; EFSA payment term 90 days following approval of invoices and deliverables, with defined mutual timelines for final report approval and payment.

Risks, restrictions and notable contractual clauses

Key contractual and operational risks to consider when preparing the tender:handling of confidential EFSA dossiers (subcontracting prohibited for these tasks), strict IPR regime transferring ownership of results to EFSA with licensing terms for pre-existing rights, stringent data protection and territorial localisation requirements for personal data (EU/EEA or adequacy countries), explicit rules on use and disclosure of AI in service delivery, and the requirement to sign confidentiality and possibly individual declarations of interest for project team members. Tenderers must declare absence of professional conflicts of interest and provide individual Declarations of Interest for project team members prior to contract signature.

Practical advice for applicants

1. 1Carefully map EFSA requested tasks and deliverables to your proposed methodology and highlight proof-of-concept test cases that use realistic EFSA scenarios (pesticides CAGs, contaminants, additives, flavourings).
2. 2Assemble a multidisciplinary team covering project management, toxicology, computational toxicology/cheminformatics and data science/ML/NLP. Provide CVs and recent relevant publications/projects (last 5 years emphasized).
3. 3Declare and document any use of AI/LLMs in tender drafting or proposed use in implementation, including risk mitigation and human oversight procedures.
4. 4Ensure personal data processing and storage arrangements comply with EUDPR (Regulation (EU) 2018/1725) and that processing locations are within EU/EEA or adequacy countries.
5. 5Follow eSubmission naming and file format rules and register PICs in advance. Test eSubmission well before the deadline and ensure EU Login 2-factor authentication is prepared for access.

What is this opportunity about and how would you explain it?

This is a research and technical services procurement by EFSA to design, test and recommend operational solutions to make chemical grouping for mixture risk assessment faster, more consistent, transparent and scalable across EFSA domains. The contractor will map EFSA’s internal practices and needs, inventory external tools and data, propose implementable solutions (including evaluating automated and AI-assisted approaches where appropriate), run proof-of-concepts in realistic use cases, and deliver an operational strategy and recommendations for follow-up projects. The final outputs are intended to enable EFSA to implement harmonised, reproducible chemical grouping workflows that support human health assessments of combined exposures to multiple chemicals, using appropriate automation, quality assurance and human oversight.

Footnotes

1. 1The tender specifications (Annex I) contain the definitive list of tasks, deliverables, timelines and detailed evaluation criteria. See EFSA Funding & Tenders Portal tender page for the full documents: Invitation to Tender, Tender Specifications and Draft Direct Service Contract F&T Portal – Call Details.

Opportunity Overview

This is an open procedure call for tenders (EFSA/2026/OP/0004) issued by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to award a direct service contract for research and development services. The project focuses on streamlining and harmonising chemical grouping strategies to support human risk assessment of combined exposure to multiple chemicals across EFSA domains, including pesticides, contaminants, food additives, food contact materials, and flavourings.

Key objectives include mapping EFSA's current and future needs, identifying relevant data types and sources (traditional toxicological data, emerging technologies, AI-driven extraction), compiling a compendium of approaches, and recommending an operational strategy with automated solutions for consistent chemical grouping.

Contract Details

Estimated Value:€400,000 (maximum budget; offers exceeding this are excluded).

Duration:Maximum 24 months from kick-off meeting.

Nature:Services contract, performed at contractor's premises.

Award Criteria:Best price-quality ratio (70% quality, 30% price). Quality sub-criteria: Methodology (60 points), Project organisation & Quality Assurance (25 points), Risk management & Timely Delivery (15 points). Minimum thresholds apply.

Key Dates

• TED Publication: 13/04/2026
• Clarification Deadline: 27/05/2026 23:59 (Rome time)
• Tender Submission Deadline: 04/06/2026 14:30 (Rome time)
• Public Opening: 05/06/2026 14:30 (Rome time)
• Evaluation Results Notification: Estimated September 2026
• Contract Signature: Estimated October 2026

Eligibility and Who Can Apply

Open to economic operators established in EU/EEA countries or countries with EU adequacy decisions for data processing. Joint tenders and subcontracting allowed (subcontracting prohibited for confidential tasks like non-public dossier handling). Exclusion criteria apply per Financial Regulation Article 138 (e.g., bankruptcy, fraud). No Hungarian public interest trusts.

Economic and Financial Capacity

• Annual turnover >= €400,000 in each of last 2 years (2023-2024)

Technical and Professional Capacity

Organisational experience in project management, human health risk assessment/chemical grouping, data science. Team of at least: Project Manager (5+ years), Toxicologist (MSc/PhD + 5 years), Computational Toxicologist/Cheminformatics Specialist (MSc/PhD + 3 years), Data Scientist (MSc/PhD + 3 years ML/NLP, 1 year genAI/LLMs). All with strong English proficiency.

Project Scope and Deliverables

Five objectives:(1) Map EFSA practices/needs; (2) External landscape/data inventory; (3) Identify/prioritise solutions + proof-of-concept design; (4) Test solutions + draft operational approach; (5) Finalise approach + follow-up recommendations. 5 interim/final reports, 6 meetings (kick-off, 4 interim, final).

Payments

1. 1Interim (40%): After D1+D2 approval
2. 2Balance (60%): After D3+D4+D5 approval

Submission Requirements

Electronic via eSubmission on Funding & Tenders Portal. Requires EU Login (2FA mandatory from 30/06/2026), PIC registration. Documents: Declarations on Honour (exclusion/selection), CVs, project lists, technical/financial offers. Max 200 files <50MB each. English working language.

Full documents:Invitation to Tender, Tender Specifications, Draft Contract available at EFSA Tender Portal. TED Notice: TED Notice.

Key Conditions and Risks

• All-inclusive price (no VAT, travel etc. extra).
• EFSA owns results/IPR; pre-existing rights must be licensed.
• Strict confidentiality (esp. non-public data); no subcontracting for confidential tasks.
• AI use allowed if detailed in offer (purpose, risks, human oversight per AI Act).
• 2FA required for EU Login by 30/06/2026.

Strategic Context

Supports EFSA Strategy 2027 (cumulative exposure assessment). Builds on EFSA guidance (2019/2021) and RACEMiC Roadmap. Focuses on human health; extensible to animal/environmental. Emphasises automation/AI for efficiency without redefining criteria.

Applicants should review EFSA outputs on pesticides CAGs, contaminants (PFAS), flavourings (FGE) for domain-specific practices¹.

Footnotes

1. 1EFSA domains: EFSA Topics. Guidance: 2019, 2021.