Farm Business Survey - Provision of Agricultural Business Data Services

Concepts

• agriculture, fishing and forestry
• fbs
• collection of data
• financial data
• fbs collects data
• environmental performance of farm businesses
• required data
• data collection starts
• data collection contractor
• viable farm businesses

Location

United Kingdom:

Description

DEFRA is seeking to appoint a contractor to undertake the Farm Business Survey (FBS) in England. The FBS is a long standing annual survey involving the collection of 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 data is also used as reference material by organisations, including academic institutions. The FBS is intended to serve the needs of farmers, farming and land management interest groups, government, government partners and researchers.

Total Quantity or Scope

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 labour and geographical characteristics. 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. The survey establishes data from face to face interviews with farmers, with Research Officers visiting their farms to carry out the collection of data. The data is sensitive in its nature as it relates to a financial subject matter, it is recognised that it is difficult to establish and maintain participation with farmers. The services required from the contractor are set out in the procurement and contract document and will include: • recruitment of farms into the FBS, so that the data collection contractor can deliver to DEFRA a minimum of 1750 completed, reconciled, and validated “Core FBS Farm Accounts” in an agreed format from eligible farms that meet the quota by the 30 September in each contract year; • collection and delivery of all required physical, financial, and environmental data from each eligible participating farm business, including the production of fully reconciled farm accounts and balance sheets; • provision of information to enable the effective monitoring and management of the contract; • attendance at three project board meetings per year and three additional meetings per year to progress development, methodology and implementation of the FBS, and ensure consistency of approach with other administrations within the UK. The FBS collects data during March – February reporting period to cover the previous financial year data. However preparatory work is needed before the data can be collected and so the survey cycle has a duration of around 18 months and the contractor must work on two survey cycles simultaneously over the autumn months. Recruitment activities commence in the summer prior to the reporting period and are the focus over the winter months. Data collection starts at the end of the reporting period and continues over the summer months. The main dataset is submitted to DEFRA at the end of September with additional datasets delivered over the proceeding months. The current contract is due to end on 31 January 2023. The incumbent provider will submit all the required data to the specified deadlines within the survey cycle March 2022 to January 2023. A new contract is required to commence on 1 July 2022 to allow sufficient time for a handover. This start date will allow the new contractor to set up processes and recruitment activities in the autumn/winter 2022 in preparation for collecting the data from March to August 2023, to then submit the main dataset on 30 September 2023. The Contractor will be required to establish and maintain a survey sample large enough to deliver complete and validated records for farm businesses in England for each year of the contract. DEFRA reserves the right to withdraw certain part(s) of the services for the scope of this procurement, including, for the avoidance of doubt, the services of recruitment of farms into the FBS services. Exercise of this reserved right is at DEFRAs discretion and the relevant services may be subject to a separate procurement or taken in-house. DEFRA will notify bidders if this right is exercised.

Renewal Options

Option to extend for 12 months

CPV Codes

• 77000000 - Agricultural, forestry, horticultural, aquacultural and apicultural services

Indicators

• This is a recurring contract.
• Renewals are available.

Other Information

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