Support to EFSA in the risk assessment of alternative methods for the use and disposal of animal by-products and derived products

EFSA call EUBA-EFSA seeks one or more Article 36 competent organisations to establish a Framework Partnership Agreement to provide preparatory scientific and technical support to BIOHAZ Panel assessments of alternative methods for the use or disposal of animal by-products and derived products. Eligibility is restricted to organisations designated under Article 36, proposals may be single applicants or consortia of Article 36 bodies, teams must include at least four qualified experts covering specified disciplines, and substantive tasks may not be subcontracted. Funding is provided as financing not linked to costs with a total indicative envelope of €300,000 for the FPA (maximum FPA duration four years), with indicative fixed amounts of €37,000 for a full assessment and €13,500 for a partial assessment. Applications must be submitted electronically via the EU Funding and Tenders Portal by 10 December 2026 (17:00 Brussels time) following the published call documents and templates.

What it funds

Scope summary

Grants under this Framework Partnership Agreement finance preparatory work supporting EFSA BIOHAZ Panel evaluations of applications for alternative methods for the use or disposal of animal by-products (ABPs) and derived products. Activities include drafting and updating EFSA scientific opinions, data analysis and integration, responding to public consultation inputs and participation in working-group meetings.

Subcontracting is not allowed. Work is organised via Specific Grant Agreements under a single FPA; tasks are time-bound to meet the legal 6-month deadline for an EFSA opinion on a complete ABP application.

Applications must be submitted via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Applicants must verify inclusion on EFSA's Article 36 competent organisation list before applying. For administrative support contact EFSAProcurement@efsa.europa.eu.

Footnotes

1. 1Call documents, draft Grant Agreement and detailed Guide for Applicants available at the Funding & Tenders Portal topic page Call documents.

Call identifiers and timeline

Objective and scope

Eligible Applicant Types

Only organisations designated as competent organisations in Member States in accordance with Article 36 of Regulation (EC) 178/2002 and Commission Regulation (EC) 2230/2004 (commonly referred to as Article 36 organisations) are eligible to apply. Eligible applicant forms include single Article 36 organisations or consortia composed exclusively of Article 36 organisations. Applicants must check the official Article 36 competent organisation list published and maintained by EFSA before applying.

Funding Type and Financial Modality

Consortium Requirement

Consortium is permitted but not mandatory. The call accepts proposals from a single Article 36 organisation (mono-beneficiary) or a consortium of Article 36 organisations. If a consortium applies, it must nominate a coordinator (applicant) who signs the FPA and subsequent Specific Agreements on behalf of the consortium and who is responsible for communications with EFSA and financial distributions to partners.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility)

Eligible applicants are organisations included on EFSA’s Article 36 competent organisation list. This list is composed of organisations designated by EU Member States (Article 36 of Regulation (EC) 178/2002) and thus the geographic scope is EU Member States. Applicants should consult the Article 36 competent organisation list to verify eligibility.

Target Sector and Thematic Areas

Mentioned Countries

Project Stage Expected

Funding Amounts and Payment Structure

Application Type and Submission

Nature of Support

Beneficiaries will receive monetary support (grants) in the form of fixed lump sums for delivering specified tasks and work packages. The grants constitute financing not linked to costs and therefore are not reimbursements of actual costs; no co-financing or cost statements are required for the FNCL payments.

Application Stages and Evaluation Process

Award Criteria, Scoring and Thresholds

Success Rates

EFSA does not publish fixed success-rate statistics for this call. Selection is competitive and dependent on compliance with Article 36 and scoring against the award criteria. EFSA may place high-ranked proposals on a reserve list and invite the 1st ranked applicant to adapt its proposal prior to contract award. Because the call is restricted to Article 36 organisations and the envelope is limited, the practical success rate will depend on the number of competent organisations applying; no numerical success rate is provided in the call documentation.

Co-funding Requirement

Co-funding is not required for the FNCL grants. The call and grant model explicitly state that the financing is not linked to costs, therefore no co-financing obligation applies and partners do not have to submit estimated cost tables or demonstrate matching funds. The EU Financial Regulation provisions on co-financing, no-profit and non-cumulativity are not applicable to this FNCL form as specified in the call documentation.

Key Eligibility, Selection and Submission Documents (templates)

Submission forms must be uploaded as single consolidated pdf files where requested (e.g., combined declarations and supporting finance documents). All proposals and required annexes are submitted electronically via the Funding & Tenders Portal Submission Service. Hard-copy paper applications are not accepted.

Operational and Technical Requirements (science, team and deliverables)

Rules on Subcontracting, Implementing Contracts and In-Kind Contributions

AI and Data Protection Requirements

Applicants must declare whether Large Language Models or generative AI were used to prepare the proposal. Use of AI in implementation is allowed but must be declared in the proposal, with clear description of purpose, stage of use, added value, risk mitigation, human oversight and quality validation. Use of personal data or EFSA content for AI training requires prior written authorisation. AI use must comply with the AI Act and GDPR/EUDPR requirements. EFSA requires an explicit acknowledgement in deliverables where generative AI contributed to produced material and confirmation of human oversight and validation.

Templates and Application Form Structure

Applicants must submit Part A (administrative data) and Part B (technical proposal) via the Submission Service. The technical proposal recommended maximum length is 30 pages and must address the award criteria. Required annex templates are available to download in the Funding & Tenders Portal after choosing Start Submission for the topic. Annex templates include Administrative Declaration, Declarations on honour (exclusion/selection), Selection criteria evidence (CVs, projects), Award criteria template (technical proposal narratives), and other annexes (Draft Grant Agreement, Draft FPA, Data Sheets). CVs should follow EU CV format where possible.

Evaluation timetable and post-submission

Legal and Administrative Conditions

The call is governed by EFSA Founding Regulation and by Title VIII of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union. The draft grant agreement and the draft FPA are published with the call and contain the full contractual terms, including confidentiality, data protection, conflict of interest, access to documents, audit rights (EFSA, OLAF, EPPO, ECA), record keeping (standard 10-year retention), and publicity obligations (EFSA will publish grant recipient details). The FNCL grant modality is explicitly stated in the draft grant agreement and the Data Sheet.

Constraints, special notes and risks

Subcontracting of tasks is prohibited. All declared conflicts of interest must be managed and individual Declarations of Interests for project team members with influence over scientific outputs must be provided prior to signature of each Specific Agreement. The work may include handling sensitive or confidential information; the draft agreements include specific confidentiality and security provisions. Hungarian public interest trusts under the specified Hungarian Act are currently affected by EU measures and cannot receive legal commitments if Council Implementing Decision restrictions remain in force.

Contact and Support

For technical and administrative support related to submission use the Funding & Tenders Portal Helpdesk and IT Helpdesk. For call-specific clarifications contact EFSAProcurement@efsa.europa.eu. Applicants should consult the Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual and call documents before preparing proposals.

Footnotes

1. 1Call for proposals and Guide for Applicants, Draft Grant Agreement and Draft Framework Partnership Agreement are published on the Funding & Tenders Portal topic page: ec.europa.eu. Applicants must consult the official call documents for full legally binding conditions.

Support to EFSA in the risk assessment of alternative methods for the use and disposal of animal by-products and derived products

The official opportunity page is available at EU Funding and Tenders Portal opportunity. The detailed requirements are set out in the EFSA call for proposals and guide for applicants.

Executive assessment

This opportunity is highly specialised and is not open to general universities, companies, consultancies or research organisations unless they are included on EFSA’s Article 36 list of competent organisations designated by Member States. Applicants must demonstrate established expertise in food microbiology, food technology, biological hazard risk assessment, animal by-products and related processing methods, together with a team of at least four appropriately qualified experts.

The opportunity is best understood as a framework partnership rather than a conventional project grant. EFSA intends to sign one Framework Partnership Agreement with one organisation or consortium. Work will then be commissioned through specific agreements when EFSA receives relevant animal by-product applications. EFSA is not obliged to award any specific agreement, and the number of applications may vary considerably.

The grant uses financing not linked to costs. Payments are based on completion and acceptance of defined work and deliverables, rather than reimbursement of actual expenditure. There is no co-financing requirement, no requirement to submit an estimated cost budget and no requirement to record timesheets for calculating the grant amount.

Key facts

Purpose and policy context

EFSA provides independent scientific advice on food-chain safety. The call supports the EFSA Scientific BIOHAZ Panel and its ad hoc Working Group in assessing applications for alternative methods for the use or disposal of animal by-products and derived products.

The work is connected with the EU regulatory framework for animal by-products, including Regulation (EC) No 1069/2009 and Commission Regulation (EU) No 142/2011. The call responds to increasing interest in circular economy practices, recycling and reuse of animal by-products, alternative processing technologies and the availability of safe feed and raw materials.

The selected partner or partners will contribute to preparatory scientific work. EFSA and its BIOHAZ Panel retain responsibility for the scientific assessment process, panel review and adoption of the final scientific opinion.

Eligible applicants

Applicants must be organisations included on the list of competent organisations designated by EU Member States under Article 36 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 and Commission Regulation (EC) No 2230/2004. Eligibility is assessed on the submission deadline date, so applicants should verify their status immediately before submission.

The current competent organisation list can be checked through EFSA Article 36 competent organisations list.

A proposal may be submitted by one eligible organisation or by a consortium consisting only of eligible organisations. A consortium must identify a consortium leader. Each consortium member must be involved in implementing the action and must satisfy the applicable eligibility and exclusion requirements.

A non eligible organisation may not be used to circumvent the Article 36 restriction. The call does not provide for ordinary commercial subcontracting of the substantive assessment tasks.

Eligibility and formal requirements

The proposal must be submitted electronically through the EU Funding and Tenders Portal before the deadline. Paper submissions are not accepted. The applicant must be registered in the Participant Register and must have a valid Participant Identification Code.

The administrative application must be signed by an authorised representative. The proposal must be complete and include the required supporting documents. Late submissions, incomplete applications or missing mandatory declarations may fail before technical quality is assessed.

Applicants and consortium partners must provide signed administrative declarations and declarations on honour covering exclusion criteria. The applicant must also provide the declaration on honour concerning selection criteria.

Applicants must not be in an exclusion situation under Article 138(1) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509. EFSA may examine financial capacity, operational capacity, legal status and supporting evidence during the procedure.

Required organisational capacity

The applicant, or the consortium considered as a whole, must demonstrate extensive and relevant experience in basic and applied scientific research concerning food microbiology and food technology, including heat treatments, resistance or inactivation of biological hazards, risk assessment or risk management in the field of biological hazards.

The organisation must also demonstrate experience in project formulation and management, preparation of technical and scientific reports, monitoring of progress and deliverables, and collaboration with multiple partners.

Evidence must include at least one recent research project carried out or ongoing within the previous seven years. The evidence should identify the project title, dates, subject matter, the organisation’s responsibilities and links to public reports or publications where available.

Required expert team

At least four experts must be proposed. One expert must be appointed as coordinator. Each expert must have a Master degree corresponding to at least five years of university education, demonstrable post graduate experience in scientific reporting or publications, and at least three years of relevant post graduate working experience. A PhD is accepted as post graduate experience.

Each proposed expert must demonstrate at least three publications as author or co-author during the previous three years. Detailed CVs should include dates, qualifications, relevant experience, publications and projects. EFSA recommends using the EU CV format and requests that photographs are not included.

All experts must have an excellent spoken and written command of English. Non-native speakers may demonstrate this through an official certificate at B2 level or higher, at least three years of work in an English-speaking environment or at least three scientific publications in English.

Scientific and technical activities

The selected beneficiary will support the preparation of draft EFSA scientific opinions concerning applications for alternative methods. EFSA may request either a full assessment or a partial assessment.

Full assessment support includes liaison with EFSA’s science matter unit, preparation and updating of the draft scientific opinion, analysis of the application dossier, scientific evaluation of relevant sections, integration of new information, formatting for the EFSA Journal, participation where necessary in Working Group or BIOHAZ Panel meetings, and integration of public consultation comments.

Partial assessment support includes liaison with EFSA, preparation of the initial draft opinion and integration of public consultation results. The subsequent scientific assessment task is not included in the partial option.

The scientific opinion may address the process description, material treated, hazard identification, level of risk reduction, HACCP plan, risks associated with interdependent processes, risks associated with the intended end use, conclusions and recommendations.

All substantive tasks must be carried out by the beneficiary or beneficiaries. Subcontracting is not allowed for any of the tasks described in the call.

Deliverables and operational deadlines

Deliverables must be prepared in English. EFSA may provide templates, repository links, standard operating procedures, working instructions and information concerning the applicable legal deadlines.

The principal delivery requirements are summarised below.

The legal framework requires EFSA to assess a complete application and issue an opinion within six months of receiving it. The beneficiary must therefore work to demanding interim deadlines, even though each specific agreement may last up to eight months.

Framework partnership and specific agreements

The call aims to conclude one Framework Partnership Agreement. The FPA establishes the long-term cooperation framework and can be implemented through individual specific agreements linked to particular animal by-product applications.

The maximum FPA duration is four years. A specific agreement may last for a maximum of eight months. The FPA may continue to apply to specific agreements already awarded after the FPA itself expires, but the related services must be completed no later than eight months after FPA expiry.

EFSA estimates that the number of applications may range from none to three per year. The launch documentation uses an indicative planning assumption of approximately two applications per year, but this is not a commitment and future demand may increase or decrease.

Funding and payment model

The total financial ceiling for specific agreements under the FPA is €300,000. EFSA states that the amount to be entered in the Funding and Tenders Portal requested grant amount field is the full €300,000 envelope, not merely the value of one expected specific agreement.

The amounts are predefined contributions and are not linked to actual costs. The grant agreement states that the funding rate is not applicable. There is no co-financing requirement, no conventional eligible cost calculation and no need to submit an estimated budget or timesheets.

Payment is linked to acceptance of the required work. The model specific grant agreement provides for 30 percent pre-financing within 30 days of entry into force and payment of the balance after EFSA receives and accepts the deliverables. The formal payment period for the final payment is up to 90 days, subject to any suspension required to obtain additional information or corrections.

EFSA may decide not to award any specific agreement under the FPA and does not owe compensation for work that is not commissioned. Applicants should therefore assess whether the organisation can absorb periods without assignments.

Evaluation and award criteria

The technical proposal should explain the methodology step by step, identify information sources, define work packages and milestones, show how communication with EFSA will operate, allocate responsibilities within the team and explain how deadlines will be protected.

Risk management should address scientific, operational and staffing risks, including absence of key experts, continuity of service, deficiencies in outputs, confidentiality and delivery deadlines. The proposal should include concrete quality assurance procedures, review responsibilities and language checking arrangements.

Proposals meeting the quality thresholds are ranked on a reserve list. The reserve list is valid for six months from the signature of the feedback letter. EFSA may invite the highest ranked applicant to adapt its proposal before taking the final award decision.

Proposal format and supporting documents

The recommended maximum length of the technical proposal is 30 pages covering the three award criteria. The specific templates for the administrative declaration, declarations on honour, selection criteria and award criteria are downloaded from the submission service after starting a draft proposal.

The application package should include the following items.

Consortium considerations

A consortium can be useful where one organisation does not cover all required scientific domains or where workload, language and continuity risks need to be distributed. However, every consortium member must be an eligible Article 36 organisation and must participate directly in implementation.

The consortium leader signs the grant agreement, acts as the communication intermediary, submits deliverables and receives and distributes payments. Consortium beneficiaries are jointly responsible for technical implementation. If one beneficiary fails to perform its part, the others may be required to ensure completion without an increase in the maximum grant amount.

Applicants should agree internal arrangements covering task allocation, decision making, confidentiality, intellectual property, payment distribution, liability, recovery risks and replacement of unavailable experts before submission.

Confidentiality, independence and publication

The work may involve sensitive EFSA material, confidential dossier information and data subject to restricted access. Applicants must be able to manage confidentiality, data protection and secure collaboration. Confidential information must not be uploaded to external tools without authorisation.

Individual declarations of interests will be required for project team members who influence or control scientific outputs before signature of each specific agreement. Applicants should identify and manage potential conflicts of interest early.

Deliverables, minutes and other outputs may be submitted to EFSA panels and Working Groups and may be published at EFSA’s discretion. EFSA may publish grant recipient information, including the beneficiary name, address, grant subject and amount awarded. Outputs may also be made available through EFSA’s Knowledge Junction with attribution to the beneficiary.

Artificial intelligence requirements

Applicants must state whether generative artificial intelligence or other AI systems were used to prepare the proposal. If AI is proposed for implementation, the methodology must explain its purpose, the relevant tasks or deliverables, added value, risks, mitigation measures, human oversight and quality validation.

Personal data and EFSA content must not be used to train or improve AI systems without EFSA’s prior written authorisation. Sensitive and confidential information must be protected and must not be entered into AI tools. Any use of AI must comply with the applicable EU AI, data protection and confidentiality requirements.

Introducing a new AI system during implementation, where it was not included in the approved methodology, requires prior written notification and EFSA approval. EFSA may refuse the change. Deliverables produced with generative AI must acknowledge its use and confirm human oversight and validation.

Key applicant risks

Recommended preparation plan

Overall suitability

This is a strong opportunity for an Article 36 organisation with an established food safety or biological hazard research base, experienced scientific writers, animal by-product expertise and the capacity to respond quickly to dossier-specific assignments. It is not suitable for an organisation seeking flexible research funding, reimbursement of broad project costs or a guaranteed multi-year budget.

The main competitive differentiators are likely to be credible coverage of all scientific disciplines, a practical methodology for converting complex dossiers into high quality draft opinions, demonstrable ability to meet compressed regulatory timelines, robust quality assurance, secure handling of confidential information and a resilient team structure.

Primary sources