Official UK procurement notice
Environmental Surveillance: OSMA and OSD
Authority: The Food Standards Agency (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe FSA has awarded a contract for delivery of a research and evidence project to strengthen the FSA’s environmental surveillance capability for foodborne disease (FBD) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The project will generate robust, transferable evidence to support a One Health approach to environmental surveillance, demonstrating the feasibility, operational value and cost effectiveness of combining a One Sample Many Analyses (OSMA) approach with targeted On Site Diagnostic (OSD) technologies, using environmental samples that are already collected across government.
The requirement is to deliver a structured, phased programme of work that enables the FSA to determine where and how OSMA and OSD approaches provide added value relative to existing laboratory based, single organisation surveillance models, and where they do not. The emphasis is on evidence generation, evaluation and decision support, rather than deployment at scale.
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedProcedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Direct award
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Notice status
- Awarded without competition
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Direct award (no call for competition)
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 8 Jul 2026, 10:02 BST
- Last source update
- 3 Sept 2026, 14:33 BST
- Authority reference
C446646- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-083525- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06c5e6Find a Tender
- Why no open competition
- Single Suppliers Technical Reasons
- Published justification
The direct award route is compliant with the Procurement Act 2023. Schedule 5, Paragraph 6 – Technical Reasons / Absence of Competition
- Risks
Risks associated with a scientific services project of this nature may include (but not limited to) delays in project delivery, budgetary pressures, changes in scope or requirements, difficulties in obtaining representative samples, sampling plan amendments, sample quality or availability issues, laboratory capacity constraints, analytical method development and validation challenges, equipment failure, data quality concerns, regulatory or legislative changes, stakeholder availability, and delays in the provision of information, materials or approvals. There is also a risk that research findings or analytical results may not generate the expected outcomes, requiring additional investigation, testing, or revisions to the proposed approach. Suppliers will be expected to identify, manage and mitigate such risks throughout the contract lifecycle to ensure delivery of the agreed objectives, timelines and outputs.
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
20 Jul 2026 → 3 Sept 2026 · 2 dates- Standstill ends97 days ago20 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST
- Notice published52 days ago3 Sept 2026, 14:33 BST
Notice history
4 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 8 Jul 2026- Transparency notice published8 Jul 2026, 10:02 BSTUK5
- Contract award notice published8 Jul 2026, 10:17 BSTUK6
- Contract signature expected21 Jul 2026, 23:59 BSTscheduled
- Contract details notice published3 Sept 2026, 14:33 BSTUK7
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fera Science Ltd1 Aug 2026 – 31 Mar 2029 · up to 30 Jun 2029Extensions: 3 month optional extension | £1,575,934same award published again · counted once | 8 Jul 2026standstill to 20 Jul 2026 | Standstill |
| Fera Science Ltd | £1,575,934 † | — | Awarded |
Contracts
Environmental Surveillance: OSMA and OSD · Fera Science Ltd
- Signed
- 17 Aug 2026
- Value
- £1,575,934
- Period
- 17 Aug 2026 – 31 Mar 2029 · up to 30 Jun 2029 with extensions
- Status
- active
- Extensions
- 3 month optional extension
- Options
- Break clauses for each phase
2 agreed KPIs: Deliverables carried out on time · Invoicing carried out as per completion of Deliverables and Schedule of Payments
- Deliverables carried out on time, Good = KPI Performance Measure (at least 98% at all times) Approaching Target = 90 – 98% Requires Improvement = 80 – 90% Inadequate = Below 80%
- Invoicing carried out as per completion of Deliverables and Schedule of Payments, Good = KPI Performance Measure (at least 98% at all times) Approaching Target = 90 – 98% Requires Improvement = 80 – 90% Inadequate = Below 80%
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
2 commercial parties on the notice- Fera Science LtdAwarded supplier
- Fera Science LtdAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract details notice Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Transparency notice Transparency notice on Find a Tender