Published date: 20 August 2024

Last edited date: 11 September 2024

This notice was replaced on 21 November 2024

This notice does not contain the most up-to-date information about this procurement. The most recent notice is:

Awarded contract (published 21 November 2024)

Closed opportunity - This means that the contract is currently closed. The buying department may be considering suppliers that have already applied, or no suitable offers were made.


Contract summary

Industry

  • Research services - 73110000

Location of contract

United Kingdom

Value of contract

£1 to £33,000

Procurement reference

NE200824FACMAR

Published date

20 August 2024

Closing date

18 September 2024

Closing time

5pm

Contract start date

2 October 2024

Contract end date

28 February 2025

Contract type

Service contract

Procedure type

Open procedure (below threshold)

Any interested supplier may submit a tender in response to an opportunity notice.

This procedure can be used for procurements below the relevant contract value threshold.

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

No

Description

PLEASE NOTE: The closing date for this notice has been extended to 18/09/2024.

DNA-based methods have the potential to significantly change how we monitor and assess ecosystems. These methods are now being used more widely within Natural England, particularly the detection of ecological communities using environmental DNA (eDNA). This is often conducted by employing metabarcoding assays which target specific species assemblages (e.g. fish, mammals) or broader taxonomic groups (e.g. vertebrates, invertebrates, bacteria). It is difficult for Natural England staff to understand, interpret, and determine confidence in the results of different metabarcoding assays or assess the risk of false positive or false negative results.

This project aims to address some of these challenges through the development of an eDNA metabarcoding assay validation framework. This will include: establishing key criteria to enable the classification of metabarcoding assays based on their taxonomic coverage, taxonomic resolution and detection sensitivity for different groups; and assessing the suitability of metabarcoding assays for different sample types and environments. This will enable end-users to determine the recommended scenarios for application of a given assay and improve assay performance with further validation.

More information

Attachments

Additional text

To apply for this opportunity you must submit your quotation meeting the requirements detailed in the Request for Quotation (RFQ) attached.
Your response must be sent to monitoring.innovation@naturalengland.org.uk by 17:00 on 18th September 2024.

If you have any clarification questions linked to this opportunity or the procurement process please submit these via email to monitoring.innovation@naturalengland.org.uk. Please note that, unless commercially sensitive, both the question and the response will be circulated to all tenderers.

About the buyer

Contact name

Lynsey Harper

Address

Natural England
Electra Way, Crewe Business Park
Crewe
CW1 6GJ
England

Email

monitoring.innovation@naturalengland.org.uk