Marrakech – The National Office for Food Safety (ONSSA) has launched a national tender for the design, development, and operation of an information technology platform for reporting and managing health alerts, valued at nearly MAD 875,400 ($87,540) including taxes.
According to official documents, the opening of bids for this national tender will take place on October 2, in the meeting room at ONSSA headquarters in Rabat.
The first article of the special conditions document states that this contract aims to design, develop, deploy, and implement a health alert information and management platform (SIAS) for food products and animal feed under production, for the benefit of ONSSA.
The third article of the specifications indicates that the goal is to provide ONSSA with a reliable, effective, secure, and scalable IT platform for reporting and managing health alerts related to food products and animal feed.
Services to be executed under this contract include defining the functional and technical framework of the project, design, development, testing, final acceptance, recovery of existing systems, deployment, implementation, user training, and project guarantee.
Regarding the tender file, the fourth article specifies that the contract documents consist of the commitment contract, current special conditions (CPS), technical offer, total price schedule, breakdown of the total amount, and the general administrative conditions applicable to state service contracts.
The provisional guarantee amount has been set at MAD 17,500 ($1,750), while the final guarantee is 3% of the original contract amount. If the contractor fails to complete the final guarantee within 30 days of notification of contract approval, the provisional guarantee becomes the property of the project owner.
Amid increasing risks, ONSSA launches SIAS system
ONSSA stated that the SIAS system aims to improve response speed, tracking, and communication in health risk management. The platform will enable “early detection of health hazards” and enhance the speed and effectiveness of responses when health alerts occur.
“The globalization of food exchanges has led to an increased risk of introducing and spreading health hazards, requiring enhanced monitoring and rapid response,” argued the food safety office. It added that “the food supply chain has become more complex, involving a large number of actors (producers, processors, distributors, importers, and others).”
“Therefore, an effective information system is essential to ensure tracking and coordination between these actors,” ONSSA said, adding that “national and international food safety regulations have become more stringent.” The SIAS must enable ONSSA to comply with these requirements and ensure consumer safety.
In the case of a health alert, the agency pointed out the necessity of “communicating quickly and transparently with competent authorities, professionals, and the general public to limit risks and maintain consumer confidence.”
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The SIAS system aims to modernize and improve health alert management processes within the agency by automating certain tasks, centralizing information, and enhancing coordination between different services.
The specifications document states that the SIAS system should strengthen health monitoring through early detection of health hazards by improving data collection and analysis, while also enhancing alert response speed.
Automation of notifications and standardization of information “will contribute to faster and more effective intervention when a health alert occurs.” The public portal of the SIAS system will inform consumers about health alerts and measures taken by ONSSA.
This initiative comes amid a dire food safety crisis in Morocco, where food poisoning represents 17% of all poisoning cases annually, ranging from 1,000 to 1,600 cases, according to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Health and Social Protection.
The current regulatory vacuum has created what experts describe as a “tsunami” of poisoning incidents, with street food becoming a “deadly poison” threatening Moroccan lives due to flagrant violations of health standards and ONSSA’s failure to properly monitor food products of animal origin.
