Supply of BVD-free Foetal Bovine Serum to APHA

Concepts

• laboratory reagents
• seradigm ultimate grade foetal bovine serum
• bovine viral diarrhea
• bovine serum
• seradigm ultimate grade foetal
• bvd-free foetal bovine serum
• apha
• free
• foetal
• bovine

Location

Addlestone, Surrey

Description

This is a voluntary ex ante transparency (VEAT) notice, indicating that Defra (on behalf of the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA)) intends to enter into a contract with VWR International Ltd to purchase a 300-litre batch (600 x 500ml) of gamma irradiated, frozen, sterile, PCR-tested Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD) free, filtered Seradigm Ultimate Grade Foetal Bovine Serum (FBS). Defra intends to award a contract to VWR International Ltd following the expiry of a voluntary standstill period, 10 days from the date of publication of this notice.

Award Detail

CPV Codes

• 33696500 - Laboratory reagents

Indicators

• Award on basis of price and quality.

Legal Justification

Based on the information detailed below, the conclusion would be that VWR is the only supplier able to provide this superior quality-certified product, in the required quantity, to APHA at this time.Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD) is endemic in cattle globally, therefore it is extremely challenging to identify a source that is 100% free of the virus (i.e., most cattle herds are at risk of infection). The vast majority of the FBS produced world-wide will contain traces of BVD but for most laboratories this is not a problem (as it does not interfere with use for the serum). However, due to the unique nature of APHA’s work, diagnostic testing and research on BVD would be compromised if there was BVD (virus and antibodies) in the FBS product. The Defra veterinary pathway plans pledge to tackle BVD which costs UK industry between £14 to 36 million per year. To fulfil this objective, APHA must maintain testing capability of the highest quality in order to produce accurate disease management statistics to underpin this objective.• APHA conducted comprehensive in-house sample testing several years ago due to repeated quality issues with previous FBS batches (documented as BVD-free but subsequently found to contain small traces). Only one (1) supplier (VWR) met all the required criteria (including BVD-free and sourced from an approved USDA country which has no history of BSE).• APHA requires the FBS from the same supplier (as the previous batch) because they have ongoing confidence in their ability to supply APHA with a high-quality standard reagent (FBS) that will not compromise onward testing capability.• Based on APHA’s extensive experience, due to the superior quality standards and the high volume of product required it is highly unlikely that another supplier would be able to meet this requirement at this time.