Contract Notice

 Invitation to Tender

 Tender Specifications

 Draft Contract

 Contract Award Notice

Questions and Answers

Question 1
What date is the work expected to start?
Answer
Beginning of September.
 
Question 2
Training is mentioned in 2.4.1, 2.5.1 and 2.6.1:  “…provides feedback, support and training to the sending laboratory…” What form of training is meant here?
Answer
The form of training is mainly hands-on training to individual laboratories bases on their needs and ensure the acceptable quality of performance
•  Identify, document and offer expert advice and trouble-shooting services to the laboratories not able to achieve acceptable level of performance in the EQA exercise.
• Assist the laboratories not able to achieve acceptable level of performance in the molecular typing (PFGE and MLVA) EQA exercise by providing trouble-shooting services and advice for repeated testing.

Question 3
Is it expected that an EQA for each of the mentioned methods is performed each year of the 4-year period? Will this include all mentioned deliverables each year, for example including a peer-reviewed article covering all methods each year?
Answer
Yes, all deliverables shall be performed each year. The peer-reviewed articles summarise the main results and finding of the EQAs but the content of the article is flexible (e.g combining pathogens or methods)  and should be negotiated with ECDC.
 
Question 4
There is a need for a BioNumerics database in order to evaluate normalization and band assignment of the participating laboratories. Will this be provided centrally from ECDC or will we have to build our own EQA database?
Answer 4
Contractor needs to built their own EQA database.
 
Question 5
If the answer to Q4 is that we should build our own database. Who will then provide the experiment setting files and manual for normalization and band assignment? These are of course crucial in order for the participating laboratory to do the normalization and band assignment (BioNumerics analysis).
Answer 5
ECDC will provide the manual.

Question 6
With my colleagues, we have noticed that ECDC has recently issued 2 calls for tender in your field of activity (organization of EQA and database curation). In the (short) description of each of them, we have  not seen that they are related to (only) human strains, whereas we have understood it was your purpose. Not mentioning it may be interpreted that the projects could deal with not only human but also food strains, and in this case, it would introduce confusion with our role of EURL Listeria monocytogenes and may create an overlapping of activities. Can you please clarify this?
Answer
The EQA schemes are targeted to the national reference level laboratories in the EU/EEA countries, acceding country and candidate countries. The list of these laboratories will be provided to the EQA organiser according to the point 2.3.2. The list will consist of public health laboratories, which have nominated experts to collaborate with ECDC for the respective pathogens. The tender covers funding for participation of one public health laboratory per country but allows any other laboratory to participate at their own cost. Thus, the tenders provide support mainly to the public health laboratories.