Agricultural, farming, fishing, forestry and related products

Tender description

The Farm Business Survey (FBS) is a long-standing annual survey collecting data from a representative sample of all farm types in England. The FBS collects information on the financial, physical and environmental performance of farm businesses to inform and evaluate policy decisions. The FBS is intended to serve the needs of farmers, farming and land management interest groups, government, government partners and researchers. It currently also meets an obligation to supply data to the EU Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN). This follows the PIN (PIN Reference 2016-041680 issued on 31st August 2016 (https://defra.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login,html?_ncp=1441867266908.34013-1). Defra is seeking to appoint a contractor to undertake the Farm Business Survey (FBS) in England. The FBS is an annual survey collecting detailed physical and financial data from the specified, stratified sample of representative “commercially viable” farm businesses in England. Participating farms are full-time or part-time commercial undertakings. Data collected by the contractor as part of the “core” FBS will cover all aspects of: — the farm business; both financial i.e. output value and costs relating to all farming enterprises, — diversified activities, — revenue from agricultural support and agri-environment schemes and physical as well as labor and geographical characteristics. The FBS methodology has been established over a number of years based on sound management accounting principles and in line with the requirements from the European Commission’s Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN). The contractor will use data collected to construct a “Farm Account” (management account) for each farm comprising a profit and loss account, balance sheet and net worth reconciliation. Annual data will be required for three surveys, covering accounting periods 208/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21. The contractor will be required to establish and maintain a survey sample large enough to deliver “complete” and validated records for at least 1750 “eligible” farm businesses in England for each year of the contract. This will include a minimum of 120 and a maximum of 160 “organic farm” records. If required, Defra will provide the contractor with a list of names and contact details of farm businesses (“address list”) drawn from the June Survey of Agriculture and Horticulture. Farmers’ participation in the FBS is entirely voluntary and the contractor will be required to gain the full written consent from each participating farmer. The contractor will need to have or put in place a suitable IT infrastructure capable of handling and producing Farm Account data and the contractor will be responsible for providing all of the hardware required to deliver the contract. The contract for core FBS services will commence on 26 February 2018 and will end on 31 January 2022 with the potential to extend for a further 12 months. However, Defra reserves the right to exercise an option under the contract to require the provision of additional services across 12 potential work streams as set out in the procurement documents. It should be noted that there is no guarantee of this further business and Defra is not obliged to exercise this option. The exercise of the option for additional services by Defra is dependent upon the successful contractor delivering the initial services under the Contract to Defra’s satisfaction, the availability of further capital funding and whether Defra considers that any or all of the additional services are necessary.