Deer & Other Wildlife Management Services

Tender description

Forestry & Land Scotland (FLS) undertakes deer and other wildlife management on Scotland’s National Forest and Land (SNFL) to protect tree crop and designated sites from the adverse impacts of grazing/browsing herbivores. This protection increases the volume and quality of timber brought to market, enables woodland creation and protects and enhances biodiversity through habitat protection. The aim of this contract is to procure deer and other wildlife management services. These services will assist FLS in reducing and maintaining deer and other wildlife at sustainable densities across the SNFL through culling in a humane, safe and cost effective manner. These services are to be delivered in conjunction with the culling duties of FLS Wildlife Staff. Carcasses of deer and some other animals are sold into the human food chain and therefore the lardering of carcasses must be undertaken in accordance with Scottish Quality Wild Venison Assurance Scheme (SQWVAS) standards. The scope of this contract is primarily for deer culling. The culling of feral pig, feral goat and feral sheep is required on an opportunistic basis only. FLS reserves the right to deliver or procure a targeted feral pig, feral goat and/or feral sheep cull. Culling must be by centre fire rifle. Shotguns are not permitted. The contract term is 12 months commencing 1st July 2023. Regulation 72(1): FLS may modify the Contract, irrespective of the monetary value of those modifications, within the scope permitted under Regulation 72(1)(a) of The Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 should Operational reasons require it. Actual requirements can vary due to changes in: Deer ingress; Significant weather patterns impacting deer density; Forest block acquisition or disposal within the lot boundary; Taking responsibility for an FLS Staff block; Any disease or tree health issue; A change in Scottish Government or FLS strategies; Scottish Governments response to the Deer Working Group and any associated changes to published best practice and legislation; Any collaborative culling agreement; Receipt of additional funding; Standards associated with the preparation of carcasses and sale of bi- products to meet FLS business need; NatureScot legislative, regulatory or collaborative requirements; Scottish Governments response to COVID-19. Lot 1: The service required is deer and wildlife management on Scotland’s National Forest & Land. This includes the culling, gralloching, transporting and lardering of deer in accordance with the specification requirements. Contractors must provide the managerial oversight required to ensure delivery and full compliance with all specification requirements by any direct employees and/or Subcontractors. Managerial oversight of contract performance is regarded as a critical task which must be performed directly by the bidder and not subcontracted. The service must be provided throughout the year. Contractors must be prepared and equipped to deliver culling services over difficult terrain and in adverse weather conditions. All land assigned as Contractor responsibility for any given year of the contract term must be attended frequently for the purposes of service delivery. Minimum Guaranteed Annual Cull Target: 3251 Additional information: Economic operators may be excluded from this competition if they are in any of the situations referred to in Regulation 58 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.