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## PART 1 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS - WHAT DOES EFSA NEED TO BUY THROUGH THIS PROCUREMENT PROCEDURE? 

## 1.1 BACKGROUND 

1.1.1 About EFSA 

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is a European Agency funded by the European Union that operates independently of the European legislative and executive institutions (Commission, Council, Parliament) and EU Member States. The EFSA’s  overall mission is two-fold: to deliver independent, high-quality and timely scientific advice on risks in the food chain, from farm to fork, in an integrated manner and to communicate on those risks, in an open manner to all interested parties and the public at large. EFSA works with Member States, European bodies, international and third country organisations to share information, data and best practices, identify emerging risks and develop coherent communications on risks in the food chain. As the risk assessor, EFSA produces scientific opinions and advice that form the basis for European policies and legislation. Its remit covers food and feed safety, nutrition, animal health and welfare, plant protection and plant health. EFSA also considers, through environmental risk assessments, the possible impact of the food chain on the biodiversity of plant and animal habitats. 

Grants and procurement calls are launched by EFSA as part of EFSA’s scientific cooperation strategy. These calls for external support help the Authority to respond more effectively and flexibly to its growing workload, particularly in the core areas of data collection, provision of scientific advice and evaluation of regulated products. 

1.1.2. About this procurement 

Article 30 of the General Food Law (Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 2 ) lays down the requirement of EFSA exercising vigilance to identify at an early stage, any potential source of scientific divergences between its scientific opinions and those issued by other European bodies carrying out similar tasks with the aim to resolve such divergences. 

Article 32d of the “Transparency Regulation” ( Regulation (EU) 2019/1381 of the European Parliament and of the Council 3 ) states that the European “ Commission, in exceptional circumstances of serious controversies or conflicting results, may request the Authority to commission scientific studies with the objective of verifying evidence used in its risk assessment process. The studies commissioned may have a wider scope than the evidence subject to verification ”. EFSA´s grant and procurement budget embeds for this purpose verification studies on an annual basis from 2021 onwards. However, in the absence of a specific request under Article 32d of Regulation (EU) 2019/1381 by the European 

