---
title: "Specialist Science and Contingency Services - Food Contingency Laboratory"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-04ee8b"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-04ee8b"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04ee8b.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04ee8b.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "FOOD STANDARDS AGENCY"
published: "2025-03-18"
---

# Specialist Science and Contingency Services - Food Contingency Laboratory

Buyer: FOOD STANDARDS AGENCY  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-04ee8b

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## Summary

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has completed the award stage of its procurement process for the provision of Specialist Science and Contingency Services related to food contingency laboratory services. Under the title "Specialist Science and Contingency Services - Food Contingency Laboratory," this contract falls within the industry category of Research and Development services. The contract, which has been negotiated without prior publication to ensure continuity of essential services, is set to commence on 1 April 2025 following the expiration of the current contract on 31 March 2025. The awarded supplier for this service is Fera Science Limited. The initial contract duration is five years, with the possibility of extending it for an additional five years. The location for this service is across the UK.

This tender creates significant opportunities for businesses specializing in high-quality scientific services, particularly those with capabilities in research laboratory services and emergency response capabilities related to food and the environment. Companies with a proven track record in delivering reliable scientific services within strict timeframes, who can also demonstrate vision and commitment to enhance scientific capabilities, are well-suited to compete for such contracts in the future. Furthermore, this market engagement highlights the need for businesses to stay informed about potential procurement notifications and build robust capacities to qualify for such critical service provisions.

## Notice

This notice is for information only and is not a call for competition. FSA would like to notify the intention to directly award a service contract for Food Contingency Laboratory Services as part of the Specialist Science and Contingency Services Agreement tendered by Defra. We have identified no alternative provider following extensive market engagement who have the capability and capacity to deliver the service.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

The existing Long Term Service Agreement under which these services are provided will expire on 31 March 2025. Defra as the commercial lead, sought a replacement commercial arrangement to provide critical scientific evidence and contingency services to support its policy making and operational responsibilities including emergency response capabilities in relation to the food and the environment. The overarching contract is also used by other Government Departments, including Food Standards Agency. This contract specifically covers FSA and Defra's food contingency requirements. The supplier has the ability to deliver reliable, high quality scientific services competitively; well-proven transition and transformational capabilities within challenging timeframes; and possesses a vision and commitment to enhance relevant scientific capability into the future. The seamless continuation of services is essential to maintain the governments food incident response capability. The contract is awarded for an initial five years and has an option to extend for an additional five years (+2+1+1+1).

### Procurement Information

Detra intends to direct award a contract using the negotiated procedure without prior publication, in accordance with Regulation 32(2){b){ii) (competition absent for technical reasons) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. The current contract will expire on 31 March 2025 and this contract must be made to ensure critical statutory specialist science and contingency services continue to be provided. This contract will be awarded to Fera Science Limited for the provision of specialist science and contingency services. To inform its decision-making, Detra has undertaken three rounds of market engagement with interested suppliers. Before each round, it has published a prior information notice (PIN), ensuring that all interested suppliers are aware of the re-procurement and have had the opportunity to express interest and provide evidence of their capacity and capabilities to perform all or part of the services. Three elements of the specification were identified: (a) those aspects where there is no competition, eg, those parts of the specification that relate to the required specialist facilities for this contract; {b) those parts where there may be genuine competition. (c) those parts where competitors have expressed an interest in supplying all or part of the requirement, but have not provided sufficient information when requested to establish that they have, or could develop in the time available, the necessary capacity or capability. In relation to {b) there are some services for Government Departments, FSA, HSE, Welsh Government and DAERA where reasonable alternatives in the market were identified, as such, those services have been disaggregated and those respective Departments will identify a route to market outside of this contract. Some research and development requirements that are not related to (a), will be procured through Detra's existing RDE Framework or such other route to market. As such these services no longer form part of the specification for this contract. In relation to (a) and (c), the market engagement has identified that currently there is no candidate who is able to deliver the requirements of the specification and competition is absent for technical reasons. As such this contract will be awarded by direct award in accordance with Regulation 32(2){b)(ii).

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/009941-2025 |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Limited |
| Procurement method details | Negotiated without publication of a contract notice |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 18 Mar 2025 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 17 Mar 2025 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £3,589,260 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Not specified |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | FOOD STANDARDS AGENCY |
| Locality | LONDON |
| Post town | South West London |
| Postcode | SW1H 9EX |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLI London |
| ITL 2 | TLI3 Inner London - West |
| ITL 3 | TLI35 Westminster and City of London |
| Local authority | Westminster |
| Electoral ward | St James's |
| Westminster constituency | Cities of London and Westminster |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | FERA |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 73 - Research and development services and related consultancy services

### Codes

- 73000000 - Research and development services and related consultancy services
- 73111000 - Research laboratory services

## Release History

- 18 Mar 2025 at 15:11 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/009941-2025

## Notice URLs

- https://www.food.gov.uk/

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-04ee8b. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04ee8b.json.