---
title: "Procurement of (Pan-Defra) Research and Development Evidence Portal"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-068c18"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-068c18"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-068c18.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-068c18.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Planning"
buyer: "DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS"
published: "2026-05-18"
---

# Procurement of (Pan-Defra) Research and Development Evidence Portal

Buyer: DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS  
Current stage: Planning  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-068c18

[View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-068c18)  
[Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-068c18.json)

## Summary

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in the United Kingdom is engaging in a procurement process for a project titled "Procurement of a (Pan-Defra) Research and Development Evidence Portal". This initiative is in the planning stage and aims to modernise Defra's technology services for research dissemination and evidence synthesis across the Defra Group, which includes entities like Natural England and the Animal and Plant Health Agency. The procurement process is engaging the IT services and software development industry, with a focus on research and development services. Scheduled milestones include a pre-market engagement notice with a Request for Information (RFI) due by 3rd June 2026. The contract is set to begin on 2nd November 2026, with a duration until 1st November 2031, and may extend further.

This tender represents a significant opportunity for businesses specializing in IT consultancy, software development, and data management services, particularly those with offers that include modern research data management solutions. Companies that can provide interoperable technology services which significantly aid in the open access dissemination and exploitation of research and development outputs would find this tender particularly well-suited. The project's gross value is estimated at £600,000, and it places importance on accessibility and modernity, opening doors for competitive SMEs to showcase innovative solutions capable of supporting government and public sector objectives to foster growth in the green economy and enhance rural communities.

## Notice

Defra is the UK government department which is responsible for improving and protecting the environment. Defra aims to grow a green economy and sustain thriving rural communities, and also support the UK's world-leading food, farming and fishing industries. The Defra Research Evidence Portal project has been established to modernise the technology services that enable the delivery of the Defra organisations requirements to publish Defra's research and development information and capabilities for open access publication, to support integrated discovery and exploitation of Defra Group R&D (Research and Development), facilitating evidence synthesis and to also manage publications and knowledge curation activity where required for staff only. Defra also has a requirement to publicly release its Research and Development (R&D) reports to modern, accessibility and timeliness standards, for open access dissemination and exploitation and reuse. Currently there are multiple assurance, publication processes and document storage facilities in use across the Defra group, many reliant on legacy technologies. Modern Research Data Management technology services offer publication capabilities and interoperability with data and analytics services to maximise the dissemination and potential exploitation of R&D both by Government, industry and publicly to speed innovation for growth and societal benefits. The Defra Library provides scientists, researchers, and policy makers, in Defra, Natural England and APHA (Animal and Plant Health Agency) with specialist library services. It also provides services to customers in other Defra group organisations on a call-off basis. The Defra Library provides a wide range of print and digital assets to users. A range of technology services are used to deliver these, however currently, the technology used is fragmented and incudes several legacy technology services and has not been historically associated with the assurance and publication of Defra produced R&D outputs (historically positioned within the Central Science Division, under the Chief Scientific Adviser, (CSA)).

### Planning Information

The purpose of this notice is for Defra to make known its requirement to explore future opportunities in the market and to commence the market engagement process to seek the expertise from market leaders and other experts on any potential future solution.
Following the initial notice for the Market Engagement session, this is a Pre-Market Engagement notice for a Request for Information (RFI) for the Procurement of a (Pan-Defra) Research and Development Evidence Portal. Please contact both rajan.dey@defra.gov.uk and louise.redding@defra.gov.uk for further information and access to the RFI documents.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/045405-2026 |
| Notice type | UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Not Specified |
| Procurement method details | Not specified |
| Tender suitability | SME |
| Awardee scale | Not specified |
| All stages | Planning |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 18 May 2026 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | 1 Jul 2026 |
| Award date | Not specified |
| Contract period | 2 Nov 2026 - 1 Nov 2031 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | £500,000 |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Planning |
| Lots status | Planning |
| Awards status | Not specified |
| Contracts status | Not specified |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS |
| Locality | LONDON |
| Post town | South West London |
| Postcode | SW1P 4DF |
| 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 |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 48 - Software package and information systems
- 72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support
- 73 - Research and development services and related consultancy services

### Codes

- 48000000 - Software package and information systems
- 48160000 - Library software package
- 48900000 - Miscellaneous software package and computer systems
- 48931000 - Training software package
- 72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support
- 72320000 - Database services
- 73000000 - Research and development services and related consultancy services
- 73110000 - Research services

## Release History

- 18 May 2026 at 14:02 - PlanningUpdate - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/045405-2026
- 15 May 2026 at 16:19 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/045114-2026
- 28 Apr 2026 at 09:25 - PlanningUpdate - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/038375-2026
- 27 Apr 2026 at 17:25 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/038250-2026

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/045405-2026
  18th May 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/045114-2026
  15th May 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/038375-2026
  28th April 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/038250-2026
  27th April 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- https://defra-family.force.com/s/Welcome
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents

## 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-068c18. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-068c18.json.