Programme Category
Programme Name
Programme Description
Build the European food safety knowledge ecosystem, ensuring safe food as the basis for healthy diets and sustainable food systems.
Identifier Code
Call
Summary
The objective of this call is to prepare experimental and statistical protocols to quantify key survey parameters, Method Sensitivity, Relative Risk and Design Prevalence, for their estimation in the process of designing delimiting surveys for the EU priority pests.
Detailed Call Description
The aim of this call is to develop and validate protocols that can be used by Member States in the case of outbreaks of pests to estimate these parameters for their specific conditions and so assist with the planning of the delimiting surveys.
The method sensitivity is the probability that a truly positive inspection unit will be confirmed as positive.
The method sensitivity has two components:
- Sampling effectiveness i.e. the probability of selecting an infested sample from an infested inspection unit (for example, for a plant pathogen, infection may be distributed heterogeneously within a plant and the sampling effectiveness will depend on how many leaf samples are taken and where they are taken from). Also called field detection method sensitivity.
- Diagnostic sensitivity i.e. the probability that a truly positive sample will test positive, which is a characteristic of the laboratory test used in the identification process (this typically depends on the laboratory processes and techniques that are used to process a sample).
Method sensitivity = sampling effectiveness x diagnostic sensitivity.
- There are existing approaches to obtain and estimate the diagnostic sensitivity.
Approaches to quantify sampling effectiveness are less well studied and are thus the focus of the current call. However, the organization awarded the grant should work in line with the recommendations and specifications provided by the EU Reference Laboratories in Plant Health designated by the European Commission, in consideration of the Diagnostic protocols developed by EPPO (European and Mediterranean, Plant Protection Organization) and the ISPM 27 (International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures) from the IPPC (International Plant Protection Convention) to identify appropriate approaches to obtain the diagnostic sensitivity for any proposed protocol so that the full method sensitivity can be determined.
The relative risk is an important parameter in the design of risk-based surveys. Many risk factors involve the distance to a particular risk location e.g. an entry point or an infested zone. To apply a risk factor in the survey design it is necessary to characterize the relative risk (compared to a baseline level of risk in the population) and the proportion of the overall target population in the survey area to which it applies. This depends crucially on the local spread capacity of the pest, which is a function of the dispersal ability of the pest, the host population and the environmental conditions for spread.
The design prevalence refers to the prevalence that the survey is designed to detect if the pest is present in the survey area. The design prevalence must be set in advance by the risk manager. In general, the lower the design prevalence the stronger the evidence for pest freedom but also the greater the survey resource required. The choice of design prevalence is thus a balance between resources available and the aim of the survey. A logical aim of a survey for a quarantine pest is to apply a design prevalence below which the pest can be eradicated. This may be determined using pest occurrence data and/or spread modelling approaches that capture different interacting factors which govern eradication success.
The objective of this call is to select a consortium of Art 36 partners to support EFSA with the preparation, testing and validation of experimental and statistical protocols to estimate the sampling effectiveness/field detection method sensitivity, Relative Risk and Design Prevalence for regulated pests in the EU. The parameters are defined in the EFSA general guidelines for pest surveillance.
Call Total Budget
Thematic Categories
- Agriculture - Food
- Environment and Climate Change
- Research, Technological Development and Innovation
Eligibility for Participation
- International Organisations
- Legal Entities
- Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
- State-owned Enterprises
Eligibility For Participation Notes
To be eligible, applicants must be on the list of competent organisations designated by the Member States in accordance with Article 36 of Regulation (EC) 178/2002 and Commission Regulation (EC) 2230/2004. This list is regularly updated by EFSA Management Board and is available for consultation using this link https://efsa.force.com/competentorganisations/s/.
In order to achieve the main objective of the call, proposals can be submitted by one eligible organisation or by a consortium of eligible organisations. In case of a consortium, one of the partners must be identified in the proposal as the consortium leader. The applicant (consortium leader) is responsible for identifying consortium partners.
If you are searching for consortium partners, please contact your Focal Point at the following address: https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/partnersnetworks/eumembers (section: Focal Points members and observers).
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: For proper understanding of this call it is important to have clarity on the terminology regarding involved organisations and their roles.
Proposals submitted by a sole applicant: The Applicant submits the proposal to EFSA. There can be only one applicant in the proposal.
As soon as the grant agreement is signed, the applicant becomes the beneficiary. The beneficiary is liable for the technical implementation of the project as described in the proposal which becomes Annex 1 of the grant agreement.
The beneficiary:
- Communicates with EFSA;
- Receives and answers all claims EFSA might have in relation to the implementation of the project;
- Requests and reviews any documents or information required by EFSA and verifies their completeness and correctness before passing them to EFSA;
- Informs EFSA of any event that is likely to substantially affect the implementation of the project;
- Submits the deliverables and reports to EFSA;
- Requests and receives payments from EFSA.
Proposals submitted by consortium:
- The Applicant submits the proposal to EFSA on behalf of the consortium. The applicant is the leading entity of the consortium.
- The Partner is the other entity in the consortium. There can be a minimum of one partner or more partners.
Once the grant is awarded, the grant agreement is signed between EFSA and the applicant (leading entity of the consortium).
Partners do not sign the grant agreement directly but instead sign a mandate (template provided by EFSA) authorising the applicant to sign the grant agreement and any future amendments on their behalf.
As soon as the grant agreement is signed, the applicant becomes the Coordinator and partner/s become co-beneficiary/ies. The coordinator and co-beneficiary/ies are referred to as the beneficiaries.
The beneficiaries are jointly and severally liable for the technical implementation of the project as described in the proposal which becomes Annex 1 of the grant agreement. If a beneficiary fails to implement its part of the project, the other beneficiaries become responsible for implementing that part.
The coordinator has the following important roles:
- Takes part in implementing the project;
- Monitors the action is implemented properly;
- Act as intermediary for communication between the consortium and EFSA;
- Receives and answers all claims EFSA might have in relation to implementation of the project;
- Requests and reviews any documents or information required by EFSA and verifies their completeness and correctness before passing them to EFSA;
- Informs EFSA and the partner/s of any event that is likely to substantially affect implementation of the project;
- Submits the deliverables and reports to EFSA;
- Requests and receives payments from EFSA and distributes the funds to partner/s without unjustified delays.
The coordinator may not delegate the above-mentioned tasks to the co-beneficiary/ies or subcontract them to any third party.
The other beneficiary/ies:
- Take part in implementing the project;
- Forward to the coordinator the data needed to draw up reports, financial statements and other documents required under the grant agreement;
- Inform the coordinator of any event or circumstances likely to substantially affect or delay the implementation of the project.
Call Opening Date
Call Closing Date
EU Contact Point
For help related to this call, please contact: EFSAProcurement@efsa.europa.eu