The training programme is called Stepping Up:
‘Stepping Up’ is an award-winning diversity leadership positive action talent programme designed for those from EM and lower socio-economic background
This notice is published to describe we have signed the concession contract with the National Institute of Agricultural Botany ("NIAB"). As described in our prior notice, the service contract has already been signed.
Link to the contract details notice for the service contract:
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/016786-2026
The subject matter of both the service and concession contracts is the delivery of plant breeders rights, national listing & seed certification. The services covered by this concession contract are:
Service A: Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability, (“DUS”) Testing Service
Service D - Seed Certification Services. Note: a proportion of Service D is covered by the service contract.
Service E - Seed Testing Services. Note: a proportion of Service E is covered by the service contract.
Please note: the contract start date was 1st July 2025.
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) is seeking to engage a supplier to support the production and delivery of a Tier 2 National Exercise and supporting agencies. Tier 2 National Exercises are a) led by a Lead Government Department with involvement from key stakeholders (including other departments), b) may take the form of Tabletop or Live Exercises or elements of both and c) include likely participation of COBR (Civil Contingencies Committee).<br/><br/>The primary purpose of the Tier 2 National Exercise will be to test the Government’s Contingency Plans and established policy, for the control of an outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD). Its aim is not to provoke new policy developments but rather to explore current policy and the arrangements for its implementation. It will also test APHA’s operational response arrangements and expose communications, resilience and capability to<br/>scrutiny.<br/><br/>The supplier will have experience of managing and delivering exercises of a similar scale. They will be expected to create and deliver an Exercise Package capable of testing the preparedness and effectiveness of Defra framework response plans, Contingency Plans for Governmental administrations and APHA Operational response plans.
Several newly emerged pestivirus species were introduced into cattle and pigs as well as wild ruminant populations during the last decades. These new pestiviruses are associated with abortion, still birth, health problems of offspring. Emerging pestivirus diseases frequently challenge prevention and control strategies in the swine and cattle industry. This PhD proposal will explore pestiviruses in sheep and goat in the UK and its transmission between different animal host species in a multispecies grazing farm system.
Several newly emerged pestivirus species were introduced into cattle and pigs as well as wild ruminant populations during the last decades. These new pestiviruses are associated with abortion, still birth, health problems of offspring. Emerging pestivirus diseases frequently challenge prevention and control strategies in the swine and cattle industry. This PhD proposal will explore pestiviruses in sheep and goat in the UK and its transmission between different animal host species in a multispecies grazing farm system.
Several newly emerged pestivirus species were introduced into cattle and pigs as well as wild ruminant populations during the last decades. These new pestiviruses are associated with abortion, still birth, health problems of offspring. Emerging pestivirus diseases frequently challenge prevention and control strategies in the swine and cattle industry. This PhD proposal will explore pestiviruses in sheep and goat in the UK and its transmission between different animal host species in a multispecies grazing farm system.
Supply of reagents and associated goods for use in Loop Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) testing on Genie lab equipment in GENIE rooms across four main sites in South East England
Supply of reagents and associated goods for use in Loop Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) testing on Genie lab equipment in GENIE rooms across four main sites in South East England
APHA has a number of busy postmortem rooms that supports APHA's surveillance and statutory activities. APHA's postmortem rooms must have suitable equipment to handle a wide range of animal species and the capacity to perform multiple postmortems at once.
APHA has an immediate requirement to purchase six postmortem tables at three sites (Bury, Carmarthen and Weybridge) which have reached the end of their lives.
This Contract will however be in place for a total of five years and during this period any APHA site may purchase postmortem tables via this contract for other sites, subject to business need and budgetary approval.
Note on start date: the contract start date was 16/01/2026.
Provision of Hive Side Training as part of the Healthy Bees Plan.
Through the provision of hive side training the awarded contractor will provide training to intermediate hobbyist beekeepers to teach beekeepers how to recognise pests and diseases and ensure good husbandry practices.
The requirement is separated into three lots covering three regions:
Lot 1: North of England and Midlands.
Lot 2: South of England.
Lot 3: Wales
Note on start date: the contract start date was 9/1/26
An open framework for the provision of agricultural valuation services to Defra, APHA, Scottish Government & Welsh Government for the period of 2026 - 2034.
This requirement covers three types of services referred to as "Lots":
- Lot 1 [routine] Agricultural Valuation Services;
- Lot 2 Expert Valuation Services; and
- Lot 3: Monitor Valuation Services.
This open framework can be used by: Defra, APHA, Welsh Government & Scottish Government.
Due to system limitations in publishing the full volume of contracts and supplier information, all relevant details are provided in the following link: https://atamis-9529.my.salesforce.com/sfc/p/#8d000003VQwd/a/Tu000006z7p7/Lio3DGPCYRXpoklHb3txzVFI11Kh3hYlUwHW4hb2Uzs
Please ensure that you click the 'download' option to get the full text of the notice. The information contained in the link has been shared with tendering suppliers as detailed.
APHA Service and Maintenance Contract for Media Claves and Jet Dispensers provision of preventative and corrective maintenance services over a five (5) year term for specialist lab equipment used at its Weybridge and Newcastle sites.
Provision of Scanning Surveillance Activities for APHA including PMEs. Scanning surveillance plays a vital role in protecting animal health and food safety. It helps identify potential food safety risks, ensures compliance with national and international disease reporting requirements, and highlights animal welfare concerns and possible adverse reactions to medicines. In addition, it provides valuable insight into patterns and emerging trends in endemic diseases, enabling early intervention and informed decision-making.
APHA's Veterinary Investigation Centres (VICs) already provide PMEs and surveillance data, forming a core part of the national disease monitoring network. However, their coverage is limited and their capacity is constrained. To maintain a comprehensive and resilient surveillance service across England and Wales, APHA needs additional support from external providers. These supplementary contracts will ensure that when
Produce and supply specified Poultry Rate Cards on a regular basis to reflect the market value of breeding, laying and meat production birds at various stages in their lifecycle, including consideration of age in days/weeks. The Poultry Rate Cards may be used where the Authority is required to or chooses to pay compensation for poultry or other captive birds.
APHA is the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) reference laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) testing and requires the appropriate technology to provide accurate and timely veterinary AMR surveillance and clinical requirements. AMR testing can be accomplished by Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC), disk diffusion and molecular analysis. APHAs current requirement is for the disc diffusion method. However, no one method can determine accurately antimicrobial resistance completely therefore flexibility is required. These are very specialist machines that require complete compatibility with APHAs Laboratory Information Management System (LIMs). They must also be easily configurable to integrate into the dataflow and align to existing methods specific to veterinary surveillance. Giles Scientific are the only manufacturer of the Biomic3 system and there are currently no other suitable alternative readers available on the market. Please note that this contract started on the 01 August 2025 not the 15 August 2025 as advertised.