The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), is Europe’s only intergovernmental laboratory for life science research. Established in 1974 to advance the study and understanding of molecular biology, nurture young talent, new ideas, and technologies, it now performs its activities across six sites in five host nations.

The European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), EMBL’s site in the UK, is Europe’s hub for biomolecular data, and an acknowledged world leader in the management and analysis of big data in biology. Founded in 1994 and located on the Wellcome Genome Campus near Cambridge, it provides freely available molecular databases and analysis tools spanning the full range of molecular biology, from nucleic acid (DNA) sequences to macromolecular structures through to systems biology and open publication platforms.
EMBL-EBI’s data resources are the most comprehensive and widely used data resources in the life sciences worldwide. In 2022, we received over 100 million requests for data a day from 42 million IP addresses annually, across 194 countries encompassing both leaders in research-intensity (the US, China, UK) and Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) with rapidly growing research sectors (such as India, Kenya, Vietnam).

EMBL-EBI data resources achieve global impact through a number of activities including:
• Hosting free-to-access, open data resources to the world
• Participating in major global collaborative projects developing and sharing the core data resources infrastructure to enable locally-led biodata infrastructure
• Promoting capacity building, standards and policies that create an enabling environment to maximise the impact of open life sciences data, globally.

Many of the major data resources hosted by the EMBL-EBI are delivered via international collaborations. For example, the Protein Data Bank in Europe (PDBe) is a part of the worldwide Protein Data Bank (wwPDB) that is delivered with partners in the USA and Japan and was recently extended to China.

In the future, open data resources will need to be built even more fairly and inclusively at a global level to maximise the impact of research. The multifaceted challenge of improving human health will need concurrence and collaboration among diverse stakeholders from diverse geographic regions, requiring a renewed approach to data resource development, capacity building and sustainable delivery distributed among global partners. Currently, partners in the LMICs are underrepresented. EMBL-EBI has received grant funding to help us explore data sharing in LMICs and identify pathways towards the long-term strategic goal of making global data resources more inclusive.

The purpose of the ITT is to identify an organisation that will deliver a report on the landscape of biodata infrastructure in LMICs. The report should address the following fundamental questions:
1. What are the unmet needs for biodata availability and reuse for users in LMICs?
2. What are the barriers for biodata infrastructure provision/partnership in LMICs?
3. Where are the greatest areas of opportunity in LMICs with regard to the development of biodata infrastructure? How do these map to the most significant ‘driver use cases’ in these settings?
4. Which opportunities map best onto EMBL-EBI’s existing resources and areas of institutional strength? Where are the gaps?

Please see the tender documents, attached, inc;
Vol 1 – Introduction, Instructions & Procurement Process
Vol 2 – Invitation to Tender (ITT)
Additional Annexes A-C

If you wish to clarify any aspect about the tender objectives procurement process or legal requirement the query should be submitted in writing using the two email addresses below.
Email: bridgerfp@ebi.ac.uk and tenders@ebi.ac.uk
The deadline for clarifications is Friday 7th June 2024 – All clarification responses will be shared with yourself as well as all other longlisted suppliers.

We look forward to hearing from you

Link to ITT: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dvTZWoBhq5GZ-qhQFr8PAlzGQbAcHxOs/view?usp=sharing
Link to Introductions, Instructions and Procurement Process: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RxH4B0lIlqN_-vJCr2XsaJyGq_hxrtAp/view?usp=sharing
Link to Legal Requirements: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NUWde5OP_z-lMxn4aF634mfP3gvqNzdm/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=113994291115405172397&rtpof=true&sd=true

Link to Introductions, Instructions and Procurement Process: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RxH4B0lIlqN_-vJCr2XsaJyGq_hxrtAp/view?usp=sharing

Link to Legal Requirements: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NUWde5OP_z-lMxn4aF634mfP3gvqNzdm/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=113994291115405172397&rtpof=true&sd=true

Scope of Work

Income setting and use of terminology – Using targeted categories like geographical areas is generally more precise and inclusive than using terms such as ‘Low- and Middle-Income Country (LMIC)’ or ‘global south’, which imply categorisation based on financial resource and potentially perpetuate a notion of ‘otherness’. Despite this, the term ‘LMIC’ is used here because transparency in power and resource imbalances, and subsequent action to mitigate and address these imbalances, are central themes. Therefore, it is relevant in this case to highlight the income status of the country in which users, contributors and collaborators are based

Geographical – Key to this project is ensuring that regional (Africa, SE Asia and Latin America) political and cultural sensitivities are considered. The work is focussed on the LMIC landscape, but will require in depth knowledge of existing biodata infrastructure, in particular the resources delivered by EMBL-EBI and global open data practices and challenges. We anticipate that the selected organisation will have extensive experience in working within LMIC.

Stakeholders – Engaging a geographically diverse range of life sciences researchers, institute leadership, funders, aligned infrastructures, project and community leaders will be essential.

Scientific domain – We are looking to understand the data archiving, sharing, access and usage needs in low/middle-income settings for molecular biology research data in scope for EMBL-EBI.

Approach

The approach will be finalised after discussion with the delivery partner, but will require methodologies that accommodate inclusive and diverse cultural perspectives. This is likely to include many of the below:

– Requests for information or surveys on aspects of data sharing and reuse, with research communities in different regions and fields
– A communications and engagement plan to maximise reach to diverse global communities of users/contributors/biodata delivery organisations.
– Desk research and evidence synthesis
– Case studies of historical successes and/or challenges in LMIC biodata infrastructure use/operation
– Vignettes of high-impact potential use cases for more globally inclusive biodata resources – eg single cell omics to understand pathogen/host interactions, agritech data to support food security under climate stress etc
– Structured interviews with key leaders in the field(s)
– Bringing together LMIC stakeholders to share their experiences and consider future directions.