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Initiating Research Projects

The Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) bases its activities and decisions on scientific findings. This requires research in every area in which the Office is active: animal health, animal welfare, food safety, nutrition and species conservation in international trade.

One criterion that applies to all projects is that they must meet the research priorities laid down in the FSVO Research Concept 2021–2024.

Research mandates

Research mandates with estimated values over CHF 230,000.00 (excluding VAT) are published regularly by the FSVO on www.simap.ch (the joint electronic platform of the Confederation, cantons and municipalities in the area of public procurement), giving interested institutions or companies the opportunity to bid for the project in question. Prospective bidders are recommended to subscribe to this platform, specifying the topics that interest them.

In the case of mandates with estimated values below CHF 230,000.00 (excluding VAT), the FSVO will no longer publish calls for proposals on its website from 1.1.2021. Instead, it will send emails to least three research institutions inviting them to bid (invitation procedure).

Invitations will be accompanied by the following documents:

a set of specifications giving administrative information and a detailed description of the research mandate
a list of requirements to be met by the bidder (qualification and award criteria)
a form (project description), including a price sheet, to be completed by the bidder

The bids received will be assessed by a team of experts from both within and outside the FSVO. The award decision will be communicated by email and a research mandate (contract) will be concluded with the successful bidder.

Mandates below an estimated value of CHF 150,000.00 may be awarded to research institutions at the FSVO’s discretion. In this case, FSVO staff will contact the relevant research institutions directly.

Contributions to Research

The FSVO has the possibility to grant financial support for scientific projects in its field of activity. The conditions are presented here. Due to the limited availability of resources researchers are requested not to submit spontaneous proposals, rather they should first contact the Head of the Research Commission.

International cooperation

The Federal Department of Home Affairs, represented by the FSVO, participates in the funding of ERA-NET ICRAD (International Coordination of Research on infectious Animal Diseases). The call for proposals was launched on 31 January 2020. The final selection took place in October 2020. Detailed information is published on www.icrad.eu.