UK Public Sector Contracts & Tenders

Sage Intacct implementation, License & Support.

Efforts to manage Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are critical to the UK government’s Environmental Improvement Plan, focusing on reducing harmful chemical emissions and advancing a circular economy. Building on our assessment of Government’s progress towards its Environmental Improvement Plan, this project will assess stockpiles, incinerator capacity, economic and environmental impacts, and required government actions to support regulatory/strategy coherence and upstream actions such as safe and sustainability by design.

The objectives of this work are to improve the OEP’s understanding of the importance of management, including but not limited to the composition and handling, of animal feeds and manures on farms, in contributing towards the EA21 long-term and interim agriculture water targets. Furthermore, the OEP seeks to understand the barriers and enablers to action needed to manage inputs. In our last England Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) progress report1, we assessed the prospects of meeting the Environment Act 2021 (EA21) long-term2 and interim agriculture water targets3 to be largely off track, given current policies and measures deployed by the government. Our assessment of the prospect of achieving the EA21 agriculture water target shows that, in the long term, this target will be difficult to achieve without substantial increases in compliance with farming regulations and further changes in how land is used and managed. We consider a number of spatially targeted actions are important in supporting delivery and progress towards meeting the target. Namely: High uptake of Agri-Environment Scheme measures which tackle diffuse pollution effectively. High levels of compliance with farming regulations relevant to agricultural diffuse pollution. Changes in how land is utilised, as illustrated through Government’s land-use consultation. Reducing nutrient inputs into farms. The OEP is seeking to further evaluate the feasibility and outcomes of reducing nutrient inputs into farming systems (action 4), particularly by managing animal feeds and thereby affecting associated levels of nutrients in livestock manures distributed onto farmland. Work we have commissioned previously4 assumed that dietary inputs of nutrients for pigs, poultry and cattle could be reduced by a few percent through targeted actions. We are looking to further test the underlying assumption of our previous work, by reviewing wider evidence associated with managing animal feeds and affecting the associated levels of nutrients in livestock manure. This review would then be used to re-assess the contributions these specific measures make towards the long-term and interim agriculture water targets.

The objectives of this work are to provide a critical appraisal of the synergies and trade-offs of potential pathways towards achieving both the 2050 target for woodland and trees outside woodland, as well as increasing the sustainable management of woodlands and trees. These pathways will be appraised to determine the extent to which they support the achievement of wider key targets and commitments for biodiversity, net zero and timber production.

The OEP is interested in understanding and advising how government might best act in order to improve prospects of meeting its targets and commitments for improving the natural environment, particularly the Environment Act 2021 species abundance targets. The objective of this work is to support our scrutiny of the role of river habitat improvements, and changes in the scale, pace and feasibility of such improvements, in order to meet these long-term targets.

About the project – Media Monitoring - The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) is seeking expressions of interest for the provision of a media cuttings service to support our communications and engagement work across England and Northern Ireland. This service plays a vital role in our daily media briefings, providing timely and relevant insights into topics aligned with our operational priorities, as well as direct coverage of the OEP when it arises. - We require a solution that offers robust analytics and statistics across broadcast, digital and print media. We also require a service to provide performance metrics for our own social media channels. - Our social platforms are used as broadcast channels, and we are primarily interested in understanding how our content performs, rather than broader media sentiment or coverage. While there may be future scope to explore how our content is used by stakeholders, our current focus is on targeted, strategic insights that inform our communications and policy engagement. We do not deliver campaigns or engage with followers outside of sharing posts to promote specific work or when we are attending events or committee meetings in parliament. - Additionally, we are looking to enhance our political monitoring capabilities through horizon scanning, enabling us to identify where and how our work is referenced in political discourse.

Farmers must balance multiple objectives, making decisions that consider economic, environmental, and business planning needs for their land whilst navigating a complex regulatory and policy context. The current farming advice context in England is fragmented, difficult for farmers to navigate, and sometimes inconsistent in its objectives. One to one advice – from public bodies to farmers – has declined due to budget cuts. There is an increasing reliance on written guidance, risk-based targeting of inspections, and the private sector or non-government organisation provision of agri-environment advice. One to many advice at a local scale – involving multiple holdings, common farming and ecological contexts, and a shared set of priorities – can be an important bridge between farmers and public bodies. Such locally tailored advice improves compliance with environmental regulations and improves the outcomes of agri-environment schemes. Our EIP progress report 2023-241 identified effective farming advice as essential for successful delivery of key environmental policies and compliance with regulations that will improve nature on land. We set out seven attributes of effective farming advice and recommended Government improve the use of spatial targeting and localised advice provision. One of the recommendations in the National Audit Office’s 2024 review of Defra’s Farming and countryside Programme2 was to “develop a comprehensive and unified package of advice for farmers that will best support them in making the changes needed and help them to progress towards activity that delivers greater environmental benefit.” Government is in the process of developing responses to these recommendations and as part of that is reviewing and working on ways to improve the farming advice sector. They are also continuing with ongoing work on spatial prioritisation of land management3 in England. This project will provide valuable evidence and insights that the OEP can use to support and influence government’s work in these areas. Since these recommendations were made, there have been relevant announcements and developments affecting farmers, public bodies and Defra that this project will need to be sensitive to e.g., The two-year budget for farming has been allocated (including £150m for advice, pilots and technical support) and as a result the Sustainable Farming Incentive has closed to new applications. A revised offer will be announced in summer 2025.4 The Corry review of Defra’s regulatory landscape included relevant themes and findings such as untangling green tape and working with trusted partners to improve compliance and be more innovative.5 Defra and other departments are in the process of completing a comprehensive spending review, which will be completed in summer 2025 and will determine budgets for the next 3 years.

The objectives of this work are to: Develop a monitoring framework and assess trends in performance metrics for key nature markets Gather perspectives from nature market participants and systematically appraise the barriers and enablers to nature markets operating efficiently and effectively Develop transferable lessons on how to make nature markets and wider environmental offsetting schemes efficient and effective, prioritising key issues and solutions