Veterinary services

Tender description

The authority is seeking to appoint a contractor to act as a managed service provider to deliver a five (5) year, farmer-delivered badger vaccination pilot in East Sussex. This pilot is one part of Defra’s evolving strategy for preventing the spread of TB from wildlife. The Pilot will support Defra’s future policy of using badger vaccination as an exit strategy from culling after widespread culling. This pilot is required to deliver a large scale, farmer-delivered badger vaccination service over a five (5) year period. The appointed contractor will act as a managed service provider and establish subcontracting arrangements with farmers to deliver vaccination services on a 250 km sq contiguous area of East Sussex. This pilot aims to deliver a form of badger control in East Sussex, an area that is unlikely to take part in a future cull and provide information to support vaccination as a badger control tool. Key objectives are as follows: — service provision via a bespoke vaccination delivery model that ensures farmers are at the forefront of vaccination services; — to learn from and refine the delivery model to ensure farmer-delivered vaccination Services (vaccination and cage-trapping for the prevention of TB) are a success; — work alongside key stakeholders over the five (5) year period to demonstrate that badger vaccination can be delivered at scale; — driving efficiencies over the five (5) year period to make farmer-led badger vaccination more cost effective.