The contractor (or lead contractor in the case of a consortium bid) should demonstrate an organisational project management culture and individual project management qualifications or equivalent experience such that they can successfully deliver this project on time and budget.
The successful contractor will conduct sampling and radiological analysis of foods in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The data generated will be used as part of the RIFE Report (Radioactivity in Food and Environment).
The Radiological monitoring programmes are undertaken for monitoring purposes as opposed to research, to enable the FSA to comply with its responsibility to protect contamination of the food chain. These samples are analysed and used to carry out the assessment of dose.
Samples to be collected will therefore be of food and feed from locations around major nuclear sites and several dairies away from nuclear sites across England and Wales. In addition, samples may be required from other locations in the British Isles which would either be agreed through ad hoc arrangements within this contract or by separate contract extensions or variations as appropriate.
The environment agencies and the FSA manage an annual monitoring programme, which gathers data on the levels of radioactivity in food, and the environment (RIFE) (air, water, sediment, gamma dose rate, etc.). These, together with the most up to date habits data, are then used to conduct retrospective dose assessments to check that radiation dose to members of the public, as a result of authorised discharges, are within legal limits. The assessment and report are critical to the FSA’s strategic aim that food in UK is safe to eat.
The contractor (or lead contractor in the case of a consortium bid) should demonstrate an organisational project management culture and individual project management qualifications or equivalent experience such that they can successfully deliver this project on time and budget.
The National Reference Laboratories (NRLs) designated by the FSA and FSS in accordance with Assimilated Law 2017/625 are a critical part of our national infrastructure for delivering a safe and authentic food system. The NRLs play a pivotal role in food safety enforcement by providing support and impartial expert advice to Official Laboratories (OLs) and for the FSA and FSS on testing of food and feed, identifying new areas of research interest and emerging threats, developing novel analytical methods and providing advice and testing capability during an emergency incident.<br/>The appointed laboratory will carry out the provision of services for the UK National Reference Laboratory (NRL) for bacteriological contamination of live bivalve molluscs.
We would like to invite you to a Pre-market Engagement via Microsoft Teams to discuss our outlined specification for the FSA’s new Equipment / Furniture required as a Workplace Adjustment contract. We are looking for a supplier who can provide a variety of different types of equipment and / or furniture, which is required by our employees as a workplace adjustment for them to be able to carry out their role. The scope of the requirements may be further reviewed after this meeting, following your feedback.
The Teams meeting is scheduled on Wednesday 3rd September at 11:0am for 45 minutes, this is to provide an overview of the FSA, the service it requires and why.
If you would like to be invited to this call, please submit a response on Atamis providing email addresses of those who you would like to attend from your organisation.
We would like to invite suppliers on Technology Services 4 Lot 3a to a Pre-market Engagement via Microsoft Teams to discuss requirement for a new Service Desk contract. The scope of the requirements may be further reviewed after this meeting, following your feedback.
The Teams meeting is scheduled on Friday 20th February at 10:0am for one hour for suppliers on the lot.
The current contract is for the provision of a national Launder only service of FSA garments from FSA Approved Meat Establishments (Slaughterhouses) with some home collections for Dairy Inspectors in England and Wales. <br/><br/>This contract will expire on 30 March 2025 and includes up to 750 collections/deliveries of garments per month, with over 10,000 garments in circulation.
The current contract is for the provision of a national Launder only service of FSA garments from FSA Approved Meat Establishments (Slaughterhouses) with some home collections for Dairy Inspectors in England and Wales.
This contract will expire on 30 March 2025 and includes up to 750 collections/deliveries of garments per month, with over 10,000 garments in circulation.
The current Contract for the provision of Official Veterinarians and Official Auxiliaries for the verification of compliance with legislation through inspection and health marking in FSA Approved Meat Establishments in England and Wales, will expire 30th March 2025.
We would like to invite all potential tenderers and key stakeholders, including those that may be able to deliver the service as part of a consortium or sub-contractor to stakeholder engagement days to discuss and provide input to the future requirements.
Further details will be sent to all interested parties in due course, please register your interest in attending by responding through the Atamis portal by Noon on Wednesday 18 October 2023 advising which date and location would be your preference.
The current Contract for the provision of Official Veterinarians and Official Auxiliaries for the verification of compliance with legislation through inspection and health marking in FSA Approved Meat Establishments in England and Wales, will expire 30th March 2025. <br/>We would like to invite all potential tenderers and key stakeholders, including those that may be able to deliver the service as part of a consortium or sub-contractor to stakeholder engagement days to discuss and provide input to the future requirements. <br/>Further details will be sent to all interested parties in due course, please register your interest in attending by responding through the Atamis portal by Noon on Wednesday 18 October 2023 advising which date and location would be your preference.
Background
The Pathogen Surveillance in Agriculture, Food and Environment (PATH-SAFE) programme is a £19.2m Shared Outcomes Fund (SOF) research programme. It aims to develop a national surveillance network, using the latest DNA-sequencing technology and environmental sampling to improve the detection and tracking of foodborne human pathogens and AMR through the whole agri-food system from farm-to-fork. The heart of this ‘virtual’ network will be a new data platform that will permit the analysis, storage and sharing of pathogen sequence and source data, collected from multiple locations across the UK by diverse government and public organisations including the Food Standards Agency (FSA), Food Standards Scotland (FSS), Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and others across the devolved administrations. This single, user-friendly data system will enable rapid identification and tracking of foodborne pathogens and antimicrobial resistance (AMR), improving public health, and minimising the economic and public health impact of outbreaks.
The government has highlighted that the development of new diagnostics and improved access to and use of surveillance data are key levers to tackle this rapid rise and the associated costs of foodborne disease (FBD) and drug-resistant infections through agriculture, food, and the environment.
Rationale:
FBD is a major public health risk with 2.4 million individual illnesses and more than 16,000 hospitalisations per year . The vast majority of human disease is caused by a handful of pathogens which, in most cases, enter the food chain from farmed animals or the environment. In addition to FBD, the agri-food supply chain also poses a risk for the transmission of AMR as it is transmitted through food, animals, humans, or water. The ability to detect and identify pathogens early and to accurately trace FBD outbreaks to their source are critical steps to improve public health and reduce the economic costs associated with them.
For these reasons, various government departments already undertake surveillance activities (i.e., by taking and analysing samples from food, livestock, and humans) to identify the pathogens causing an illness, to assess levels of contamination or trace the source and transmission pathways of FBD pathogens and AMR. These activities are critical to effecting better control strategies, but recent advances in technology and data management offer the opportunity to create a step change in surveillance, to protect public health. Surveillance data can allow monitoring of FBD and AMR through the food chain and aids our understanding of endemic disease, informing the design of suitable interventions: knowing when and where diseases are present in the food chain can help us understand how they got there and how they can be controlled .
Diagnostics tools are available at various stages of deployment for the detection of FBD and AMR in-field. If successful, these tools may overcome the limitations of more conventional methods of detection which can be laborious and slow to provide results. Rapid analysis allows detection of foodborne pathogens at an early stage to prevent outbreaks which can present a severe threat to health.
The FSA requires a research contractor to map the density of fast-food outlets in Northern Ireland utilising data from the FHRS, and to investigate the relationship between fast-food outlets density and deprivation. If possible, the contractor should also investigate the relationship between fast-food outlets density and proximity to secondary schools. All tender bids must range between £0 to £42,000 (Excluding VAT). All proposed deliverables must be complete by March 2025.
Additional information:
This notice is intended to provide prior information to potential tenderers ahead of the tender being published. Once the tender is published, it will be available to view and register interest at this link - https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome.
An 'Opportunity' notice will also be published on Contracts Finder on the same day the tender is published.
The National Reference Laboratories (NRLs) designated by the FSA and FSS in accordance with Assimilated Law 2017/625 are a critical part of our national infrastructure for delivering a safe and authentic food system. The NRLs play a pivotal role in food safety enforcement by providing support and impartial expert advice to Official Laboratories (OLs) and for the FSA and FSS on testing of food and feed, identifying new areas of research interest and emerging threats, developing novel analytical methods and providing advice and testing capability during an emergency incident. The appointed laboratory will carry out the provision of services for the UK National Reference Laboratory (NRL) for bacteriological contamination of live bivalve molluscs.
The FSA requires a research contractor to map the density of fast-food outlets in Northern Ireland utilising data from the FHRS, and to investigate the relationship between fast-food outlets density and deprivation. If possible, the contractor should also investigate the relationship between fast-food outlets density and proximity to secondary schools. All tender bids must range between £0 to £42,000 (Excluding VAT). All proposed deliverables must be complete by March 2025.
Additional information:
This notice is intended to provide prior information to potential tenderers ahead of the tender being published. Once the tender is published, it will be available to view and register interest at this link - https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome.
An 'Opportunity' notice will also be published on Contracts Finder on the same day the tender is published.
The FSA requires a research contractor to map the density of fast-food outlets in Northern Ireland utilising data from the FHRS, and to investigate the relationship between fast-food outlets density and deprivation. If possible, the contractor should also investigate the relationship between fast-food outlets density and proximity to secondary schools. All tender bids must range between £0 to £42,000 (Excluding VAT). All proposed deliverables must be complete by March 2025.