Shellfish Sampling Services for the Cornwall Port Health Authority

Tender description

Port Health is a Service of Cornwall Council. The Council has a statutory duty, overseen by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), to carry out official controls in relation to the regulation of the shellfish industry in Cornwall. This entails regular sample testing of shellfish for bacterial and bio-toxin testing across a number of locations, primarily between Looe and the Lizard Peninsula, but those locations could expand to other sites further along the Cornish Coast. This requires the provision, use and maintenance of third party owned and operated vessels, the provision and servicing of between 25-35 (currently 27) individual mooring systems, use of crew members and use of open water diving services. The Authority is anticipating receiving bids from prime contractors, who will take responsibility for providing all aspects of the service requirements either through their own resources or by suitably managing sub contractors, where necessary, and as such collaborative bids would be welcomed, as long as it is clear which organisation is the lead bidder and would be responsible for contracting with the Authority. Cornwall's nutrient rich waters, in river, estuarine and offshore or open water production sites currently supports 38 active shellfish beds with a further 9 beds in various stages of application. It is the responsibility of Cornwall Council to act as a regulator to the shellfish industry to ensure shellfish product entering the food chain is fit for consumption. This means working with industry to - make new applications for shellfish beds and species around the Cornish coast; - implement an extensive programme of official control sampling across all shellfish beds to keep the beds open to harvesting; - ensure only shellfish is harvested from areas under these official controls and lastly, - working with the owners of depuration premises to ensure the product is handled and processed correctly prior to being sold for consumption. Due to its unique riparian geography, Cornwall has the greatest number of classified shellfish production areas of any other Authority. A proposed annual schedule of sampling requirements, from 1st June, 2020, will be made available as part of the ITT Specification information to give a clear indication of the scope of services, as well as other key information relating to the specification details and service requirements. This Contract opportunity is being formally advertised to run for an initial 3 years from 1st August, 2020, with an option to extend for a further 20 months beyond that, up until 31st March, 2025. This opportunity is also being advertised via the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) website and the supplyingthesouthwest.org.uk website. Further interest in this opportunity can also be lodged against project reference DN450435, within the supplyingthesouthwest.org.uk website, and any queries in relation to it should only be raised via the project messaging system.