Agricultural and horticultural products

Tender description

Support and maintenance services for SITI Agri which masters Defra basic payment scheme customers’ entitlements register used to determine payment quantities and values and the audit trail of processing checks made due to internal processing and external checks (inspections). SITI Agri calculates the claim values and passes the final figures across to DAX to make payment. SITI Agri holds all countryside stewardship agreements submitted and approved since 2015, along with the audit trail of processing checks and inspection findings. There are numerous compatibility and eligibility matrices maintained within SITI Agri used to confirm agreements are valid and that subsidies are paid after the correct controls are applied. It is SITI Agri that presents the screens to our customers to submit wildlife offer applications, capital claims and revenue claims online reducing the need for paper submissions Defra are seeking a new support and maintenance contract (which will also cover system re-development activity) for a legacy system providing payment services to the rural community. This contract is a replacement for an existing contract with Abaco SPA. The SITI Agri system has been developed over a number of years to deliver basic payment scheme and countryside stewardship. In light of the UK leaving the European Union and the Government confirming that the rural community will continue to benefit from these payment services, the system needs to be kept operational and continue to have annualised development programmes to continue to simplify its use and to support critical requirements throughout the agricultural transition period in England. The agricultural transition period is planned to last for 7 years from 2021 and conclude in 2027. This includes further development of the system, changes to business rules, and simplification to aid transition arrangement.