The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has issued a request for tenders for the provision of training services in animal health and biosecurity for on-farm advisors.
These training services will be part of the delivery of an animal health and biosecurity advisory measure that the department is to set up, which will see veterinarians providing advice on certain animal health issues on-farm.
The department issued the request for tenders on November 19.
The request states that the department intends to procure, by competitive process, certain services provided for under the EU Rural Development Programme measure entitled ‘Targeted Advisory Services on Animal Health’.
The request for tenders includes two key elements.
These are the deliver of animal health advice to farmers through specialist training of professional advisors (in this case, veterinarians); and an on-farm advice scheme on specific animal health issues, which will see the advice actually being rolled out to farmers at individual farm level by those professional advisors.
The value of the tender for provision of these training services and the on-farm advice measure is listed as €388,000.
The deadline for the receipt of tenders is December 20. The duration of the contract with the selected supplier of services will 12 months and the location where the service will be provided is listed as Dublin.
The animal health issues for which the training will be provided include bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD); Johne’s Disease; infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR); somatic cell count (SCC); animal health and welfare matters related to pig and poultry farming; bovine TB risk reduction; parasite control across various sectors; and general animal health and welfare matters relating to several sectors.
The actual measure to provide the on-farm advice service will require the provider of the service to maintain a database of approved trained advisors; process applications from farmers requesting advice; and matching advisors to farmers depending on the specific animal health issue arising on the farm.
The department is seeking one service provider to provide both the training and the on-farm advice measure.