---
title: "Biosecurity for England - MOA"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-06e5df"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06e5df"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06e5df.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06e5df.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS"
published: "2026-08-17"
---

# Biosecurity for England - MOA

Buyer: DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-06e5df

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## Summary

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs commissioned environmental services to continue Biosecurity for England, a seabird-island protection programme. The work is intended to prevent accidental introductions of invasive predatory mammals such as rats and mice, and to detect and respond rapidly to incursions. It supports biosecurity and island restoration measures for important seabird islands in England, helping sustain improvements in marine-bird environmental status and address pressures on seabird populations. The programme follows the UK-wide Biosecurity for LIFE project and its legacy regional programmes. The buying organisation is Defra, a central government department, and delivery is focused on England’s seabird islands.

This procurement is complete and was awarded by direct award on 17 August 2026. The stated reason for using this route was that the selected supplier already had the required expertise and infrastructure; the process used a single-supplier technical-reasons rationale. One lot was completed. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds was awarded the environmental services contract for £300,000 excluding VAT, or £360,000 including VAT. The contract period runs from 1 September 2026 to 31 March 2029. A contract signature was scheduled for 28 August 2026. The award is above the relevant threshold. The procurement was assessed on the basis of the supplier’s required expertise and infrastructure, rather than through a competitive tender.

This award demonstrates demand for specialist seabird-island biosecurity and environmental conservation services within Defra’s programmes. A credible future competitor would need practical expertise in preventing, detecting and responding to invasive mammals on remote or ecologically important islands, together with the infrastructure to maintain those measures over a multi-year programme. Relevant experience would include delivering biosecurity, island restoration or seabird conservation work at regional or national scale, and understanding how interventions support marine environmental objectives. The selected supplier’s position reflects established expertise and infrastructure, as well as continuity from leading the earlier Biosecurity for LIFE project. Organisations with comparable field capability, conservation knowledge and programme-management capacity would be best placed to compete if this requirement returns.

## Notice

Seabird islands are vulnerable to invasive predatory mammals (e.g., rats and mice) which can cause severe impacts on breeding seabird populations. Biosecurity measures to prevent accidental introductions, and to detect and respond rapidly to incursions, appear to be proving effective in improving the UK Marine Strategy (UKMS) indicator for marine birds on the presence of invasive mammals on important seabird islands. However, seabirds continue to fail to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES), with pressures exacerbated by sustained outbreaks of avian influenza, declining prey abundance, spatial squeeze from offshore developments, and bycatch. The UKMS update specifically highlights improvements in the invasive mammal indicator as largely due to the UK-wide Biosecurity for LIFE (B4L) project (2018-2023), led by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) with Defra contributing via the EU LIFE fund, and now continuing via legacy regional programmes including Biosecurity for England (B4E). Defra's obligations under the UKMS are to achieve and maintain GES; continuation of seabird island biosecurity is therefore important to sustain progress and avoid regression. Biosecurity and island restoration measures are also identified as a priority action in the England Seabird Conservation and Recovery Pathway (ESCaRP) report. Defra funding for B4E ended at the close of financial year 2025/26; this MoA supports continued delivery of seabird biosecurity work in England for FY 2026/27, FY 2027/28 and FY 2028/29.

### Procurement Information

The supplier has the required expertise and infrastructure in place.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/078237-2026 |
| Notice type | UK6 - Contract Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Direct |
| Procurement method details | Direct award |
| Tender suitability | SME |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 17 Aug 2026 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 17 Aug 2026 |
| Contract period | 1 Sep 2026 - 31 Mar 2029 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | £300,000 |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

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

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS |
| Locality | LONDON |
| Postcode area | 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 |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 90 - Sewage, refuse, cleaning and environmental services

### Codes

- 90700000 - Environmental services

## Release History

- 17 Aug 2026 at 16:01 - Award - UK6 - Contract Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/078237-2026
- 17 Aug 2026 at 15:58 - Award - UK5 - Transparency Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/078232-2026

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/078237-2026
  17th August 2026 - Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/078232-2026
  17th August 2026 - Transparency 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-06e5df. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06e5df.json.