EU-OSHA open tender procedure EU-OSHA-PRU/2015/P/05
Tender specifications
Foresight on new and emerging occupational safety and health risks associated with information and communication technologies and work location by 2025
- FRAMEWORK CONTRACT FOR SERVICES -
OPEN TENDER PROCEDURE
No. EUOSHA-PRU/2015/P/05
(OJ No S 082-144961 of 28/04/2015)
TENDER DOCUMENTS ARE AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD AT:
CONTRACTING AUTHORITY:
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work
12 Santiago de Compostela
(Edificio Miribilla), 5th Floor
E-48003 Bilbao – Spain
E-mail:
Internet:
Tel.: (+34) 944 358 400
Fax: (+34) 944 358 401ENGLISH LANGUAGE ORIGINAL
CONTENTS
1Purpose and context of the CONTRACT
1.1The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work
1.2Background
2Subject of the contract
2.1Objective
2.2 Overview of services to be provided
2.6Geographical coverage
2.8Budget
2.9Project management
3TENDERING PROCESS
3.1Participation in the tendering procedure
3.2Communication
3.3Price
3.4Payment terms
3.5Contractual framework
3.6Documentation for tenderers
3.7Submission of tenders
3.8Structure of tenders
4Assessment of the tender
4.1Procedure
4.2Exclusion criteria
4.3Selection criteria
4.4Award criteria
4.5Awarding of the contract
ANNEX I – FORMS
Consortium form
Subcontractors form
Legal entities form
Financial identification form
Exclusion criteria declaration
Tender submission checklist
ANNEX II - DRAFT FRAMEWORK SERVICE CONTRACT
1Purpose and context of the CONTRACT
1.1The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work
Structure and function
The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) is an agency of the European Union and one of the decentralised community bodies. Its role is to contribute to the improvement of working life in the EU by developing, analysing and disseminating information on occupational safety and health (OSH). As a tripartite organisation, EU-OSHA works closely with governments, employers’ and workers’ representatives.
In its role as a reference point for OSH information, EU-OSHA commissions, collects, analyses and publishes new scientific research and statistics on OSH risks. It shares good practice and communicates information in a variety of ways to reach workers and workplaces. EU-OSHA runs awareness-raising campaigns, including the European Week for Safety and Health at Work, and also provides information on its website, via its electronic newsletter ‘OSHmail’, and in a range of printed publications.
Through its European Risk Observatory (ERO), EU-OSHA looks out for risks which may only be emerging due to the fast pace of change in the workplace. In order to do this, the ERO provides an overview of safety and health at work in Europe, describes trends and underlying factors, and anticipates changes in work and their likely consequences for safety and health. Additionally, it aims to stimulate debate and reflection among EU-OSHA's stakeholders, and to provide a platform for debate between policy-makers at various levels.
EU-OSHA’s vision is to be the European centre of excellence for OSH information, promoting a preventive culture to support the goal of making Europe’s current and future workplaces safe, healthy and productive.
Aims and objectives
EU-OSHA has six priority areas in its 2014-2020 strategy:
- Priority Area 1: Anticipating change and new and emerging risks to OSH.
- Priority Area 2: Facts and figures.
- Priority Area 3: Tools for OSH management.
- Priority Area 4: Raising awareness.
- Priority Area 5: Networking knowledge.
- Priority Area 6: Networking and corporate communications.
And in working towards these goals, EU-OSHA aims to be:
- Pan-European: creating a common approach to OSH,
- Relevant and responsive to user needs,
- Reliable and transparent, providing accurate and unbiased information,
- Tripartite: working with employers, employees and government, and
- Partnership- and network-based.
1.2Background
Working environments are continuously changing with the introduction of new technologies, substances and work processes, changes in the structure of the workforce and the labour market, and new forms of employment and work organisation. New work situations bring new risks and challenges for workers and employers, which in turn demand political, administrative, technical and regulatory approaches to ensure high levels of safety and health at work.
The two previous Community strategies 2002-06 and 2007-12 emphasised the need “to provide forward-looking information for policy-makers” and called on EU-OSHA to do so. Improving the prevention of work-related diseases by tackling existing, new and emerging risks is one of the challenges of the EU Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2014-2020[1] and specific attention should be given to anticipating potential negative effects of new technologies and changes in work organisation on workers’ health and safety.
The strategic objective of anticipating changes is to provide credible and good quality data on new and emerging OSH risks that meet the needs of policy-makers and researchers and allow them to take timely and effective action. EU-OSHA will build upon the foresight studies that it has already piloted and will continue anticipating new and emerging risks and challenges to OSH through a series of foresight projects to improve the timeliness and effectiveness of preventive measures.
The specific objective of the foresight activities is to produce high quality information on new and emerging OSH risks and challenges and to stimulate discussion on the issue. As a result, it aims to provide policy-makers, researchers and workplace intermediaries, at EU and national levels, with ways of addressing such risks, as well as a basis for priority setting for OSH research and actions.
EU-OSHA's 2010-2012 pilot large-scale foresight “Green jobs and occupational safety and health: Foresight on new and emerging risks associated with new technologies by 2020”[2], showed a high level of engagement and interest from the target group in the project.
EU-OSHA “Scoping study for a foresight on new and emerging occupational safety and health (OSH) risks and challenges”[3] describes the methodology and findings of a study examining emerging trends and areas of future concern in OSH and their potential for a future large-scale foresight study. The recommendations from the scoping study have informed the decision on the scope of EU-OSHA’s new large-scale foresight, taken in consultation with EU-OSHA’s stakeholders, i.e. new and emerging OSH risks associated with information and communication technologies (ICT) and work location.Opportunities and risks of new ICT in the world of workis also listed as a research need in the report “Priorities for OSH research in Europe: 2013-2020”[4].
Globalisation is linked to the development of new technologies, in particular of ICT innovations. The rapid spread of ICT and the Internet is changing working conditions, work organisation and the way in which companies organise production. Often these changes can have a positive effect for workers in terms of improved quality of work; however, these same changes and demands can also lead to the emergence of new hazards (Eurofound, 2008b).
The use of ICT innovations such as advanced interfaces, automation, ambient intelligence or the greater use of robotic, may bring about varied, potentially increasing health and safety risks associated with exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs), fixed body postures and physical inactivity at work, inadequate or ergonomically unadapted equipment, etc.
However, it is also the ICT-related changes in work location and not only the technology itself that may bring about not only great opportunities but also a certain number of OSH issues.The spread of ICT has contributed to the development of the 24/7 economy, which requires flexible work organisation, high flexibility in working hours and quasi-continuing availability. The enabling potential of ICT no longer requires people to be located in the same place to communicate and exchange documents and information and public spaces, homes and temporary office environments are used as work environments by an increasing group of workers so-called ‘e-nomads’. These workers are likely to face increasing workload and task complexity, excessive working hours, personal relations being substituted by virtual contacts, difficult work-life balance, etc.
2Subject of the contract
2.1Objective
The proposed foresight aims to carry out a comprehensive evaluation of the potential impact that the spread of ICT and changes in work location may have on workers’ health and safety and what new and emerging OSH risks this may bring. The foresight will have a ten year time horizon and will be produced by means of the scenario-building method. Scenarios are not predictions, they are plausible hypotheses about how elements or parts of the future may look like. Scenarios help people think critically about potential future outcomes.
The basis of foresight is an understanding that the future can evolve in different directions, which can be shaped by the actions of various players and the decisions taken today. Scenario developmentwill be used as a tool for building visions of possible futures that actions today can help avoid or make happen. The process encourages the involvement of a wide range of views in order to assemble different versions of the future.
The process requires multidisciplinary input, including policy makers and OSH experts as well as experts from other disciplines,to derive future perspectives and to explore application and implications of the foresight findings.
The primary target groupof this foresight comprisespolicy makers (including social partners) at EU and Member States level, as well as researchers and expert audiences. In view of the foresight results, the beneficiaries may take decisions so as to shape the future of OSH in the use of ICT and changes in work location towards safer and healthier workplaces. The outcome of the foresight should help them:
- To have a better understanding of longer-term developments affecting workers using ICT and how these may result from current policy decisions; and
- To better assess what decisions they need to consider in order to prevent the occurrence of the possible new and emerging risks identified or to minimise their possible impact in the future.
A further target group includes international partners and other EU level networks or associations.
Scenario-building is a participatory approach that will allow to adapt the process and the scenario tools to the needs of the target audience. Their participationin the scenario development process is essential.
2.2 Overview of services to be provided
Throughout the duration of the framework contract, the following work packages may be commissioned, each through a request for services leading to a separate specific contract.
Work package (WP)
/Workpackage title
WP 1 / Key trends and drivers of changeWP2 / Scenario development and testing
WP 3 / Dissemination and promotion workshop
It should be noted that execution of work packages 2 and 3 will be conditional on satisfactory completion of the prior work package and also availability of the necessary budget appropriations on the part of EU-OSHA.
Work package 3 could be commissioned, through separate specific contracts, up to three times in 2017 and three times in 2018.
2.3 Work package 1. –Key trends and drivers of change
Objective
This work package aims at identifying and describing the key trends and driving factors of change that could contribute to creating new and emerging occupational safety and health (OSH) risks associated with the impact of information and communication technologies (ICT) and work location within ten years, in order to support the scenario development in work package 2.
Description of the services to be provided
Task 1 – Review of existing information on trends and drivers of change
The contractor will carry out a comprehensive review of existing literature that, as well as covering scientific literature, will also include ‘grey literature’ from other reliable sources. The review should provide an overview of the trends and the drivers of change that could contribute to creating new and emerging OSH risks associated with ICT and work location by 2025. Relevant drivers of change may relate to socio-cultural, economic, environmental, political and regulatory and, specially, technological (ICT innovations) contexts.
The work must be based on a sound scientific review methodology. The focus should be on relevant literature published in the last five years to maintain a current/recent perspective.
At the end of task 1, a working report (maximum 30 pages) will be produced. The report will include details of the methodology and sources used, an appropriate analysis of the information collected together with a clear presentation of the findings. The working report will be summarized in a 10-page document to be used in task 2.
In their offers, tenderers should explain the methodology that will be implemented, the type of sources that will be used (which may include foresight, forecast, studies, surveys, scientific reviews, bibliographic databases, scenarios literature, ‘grey literature’, statistics at national or European level, etc.), which languages will be covered and composition of the staff team that will be allocated to task in terms of days of work and seniority.
Task 2 – Consolidation of the list of trends and drivers of change
The contractor will consolidate the results from the review of task 1 using the expertise of key people who are aware of trends and drivers of change that may not yet be described in published material and that may therefore not be accessible with the methodology described in task 1. The 10-page document produced in task 1 will be the basis for discussion with the experts. A group of 15-25 participants should be adequate.
The contractor will organise and run the events such as structured interviews, surveys, etc., necessary for this consolidation step as proposed in their tender. A DELPHI element could be included at this stage.
EU-OSHA reserves the right to accept or reject the experts proposed by the contractor, as well as to propose additional ones to those identified by the contractor.
At the end of task 2, a short working report (maximum 20 pages) will be produced. The report will present the methodology applied for consolidation and the consolidated list of drivers of change. The drivers of change will be presented with enough, clear information in order to enable the selection of key drivers described in task 3.
In their offers, tenderers should indicate the tools (interviews, surveys, etc.) that will be used to reach this knowledge not found in published material. Tenderers should also indicate the disciplines that should be covered by the participants, what profile and expertise they should have, how many participants they intend to involve and how they will ensure the effective involvement of these experts in the project. Tenderers must provide the composition of the staff team that will be allocated to task in terms of days of work and seniority.
Task 3 – Identification of key drivers
Key drivers are those that are actively involved in shaping the changes in the future. The key drivers will be selected from the list established in task 2.
In this task, the contractor will analyse the key trends shaping the context of the topic and identify the key drivers. Those drivers should be validated though cross-impact analysis or other methods proposed by the tenderer.
The key drivers selected will be presented in a report (maximum 50 pages) describing the methodology implemented throughout task 1, task 2 and task 3. The report should include a comprehensive description of the drivers.
In their offers, tenderers should explain the method and criteria according to which the key drivers will be selected and validated. They will indicate a minimum and maximum number of key drivers of change which they aim to describe and the composition of the staff team that will be allocated to task in terms of days of work and seniority.
Deliverables
Deadlines for deliverables will be specified in the request for services and resulting specific contract for this work package.
Task 1 - Review of existing information on trends and drivers of change
D1.Fourmonths after signature of the contract (December 2015): Working report (maximum 30 pages), presenting the review methodology applied, sources used, an analysis of the information collected and the relevant drivers of change identified in the literature review.
D2.Fourmonths after signature of the contract (December2015): Short working document (maximum 10 pages) summarizing the working report. This document will be the basis for the discussion with the experts.
Task 2 – Consolidation of the list of trends and drivers of change
D3.Sixmonths after signature of the contract (February 2016): Short working report (maximum 20 pages) presenting the methodology applied to consolidate the findings of task 1 and the consolidated list of drivers of change.
Task 3 – Identification of key drivers
D4.Eightmonths after signature of the contract (April 2016): Final report of work package 1 (maximum 50 pages) describing the methodology implemented throughout task 1, task 2 and task 3, and a comprehensive description of the key drivers selected as well as of the issues that may impact on their state by 2025. This report will be the basis for the scenario development in work package 2.
Schedule overview
The specific contract is planned to be signed August 2015. This date assumes no substantial delays during the procurement process. All deliverables should be finalised and submitted by eightmonths later.
Budget
The maximum budget available for this workpackage is €100,000. Tenderers must not exceed this amount in their financial offer.
2.4 Work package 2. –Scenario development and testing
Objective
The objective of this work package is to develop different scenarios describing possible and plausible visions of the future in relation to the impact of the use of ICT and changes in work location in workers’ safety and health by 2025. The scenarios will be developed on the basis of the key drivers identified in work package 1.
Description of the services to be provided
Task 1 – Development of base scenarios
The base scenarios should be developed by creating a logical framework based on the key drivers identified in work package 1. The various possible ways in which each key driver may evolve by 2015 will help identifying the axes along which the base scenarios can be constructed. A consistency analysis approach should be used to validate the co-existence of the state proposed for the different key driver into the base scenarios proposed.