IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

Tender description

Defra fullfils an important role in collecting information on what livestock there are in the UK, where they are, and who owns them. This information is critical to protecting against animal disease and food chain contamination, as well as maintaining consumer confidence in British meat products, particularly in terms of exporting such products globally. Defra currently operate a number of different IT solutions used to collect that information from livestock keepers, markets, abattoirs and meat processing facilities. There are separate systems used for each type of livestock species that information is needed for, primarily cattle, pigs, equines, poultry, sheep & goats. The data collected is then used to trace the location and movement of livestock. This in turn, provides Defra with the data it needs to quickly control and prevent the spread of a disease in the event of an outbreak, such as Foot & Mouth or Mad Cow's Disease. Defra is looking to procure a ‘common off-the-shelf’ (COTS) IT product that can be configured to meet Defra's needs for the recording livestock locations and movements in England. The product will need to interface with other solutions operated by devolved governments in Wales, Scotland and N. Ireland and will need to conform to standards set by the Government Digital Service. Defra is interested in products that are currently used either by other governments or by industry to record and store livestock information, and that offer simple to use, digital interfaces that encourage the livestock supply chain to make greater use of digital channels to submit livestock data. Suitable products will need to be flexible in design to accommodate the introduction of new legislation, requiring electronic identification of cattle from 2019/20. Capital investment is available to fund a system procurement and configuration over the next two years and run the resulting service in subsequent years.