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PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITY

FCP: Rural Payments Service Continuity Project

DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS · compiled

Tender information last checkedLast checked 29 Sept 2026, 19:32.

Opportunity overview

Defra is responsible for responsible for improving and protecting the environment. We aim to grow a green economy and sustain thriving rural communities. We also support our world-leading food, farming and fishing industries. For further information please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs<br/><br/>The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is an executive agency, sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. We pay out over £2 billion each year to support a thriving farming and food sector, supporting agricultural and rural communities to create a better place to live. The Rural Payments service (RPS) is Defra’s online registration system for farmers, animal keepers and rural traders and businesses.<br/><br/>At its core is the payments policy and rules engine application ABACO Agri (previously known as SITI Agri). This has been developed over a number of years and delivers > 80% of the large, complex, reoccurring land-based grants/schemes offered by Defra such as Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), Countryside Stewardship (CS), Combined Offer (CO), Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) among others for more than 90,000 farmers.<br/><br/>As part of Defra’s digital strategy this application will be replaced with a new solution/service as part of the Farming Countryside Programme (FCP) that is also delivering major policy changes over the next few years.<br/><br/>To provide sufficient time to implement, transition and migrate to a new solution/service, the Authority requires a contract for the support, maintenance and development of schemes/grants on Defra’s existing deployment of ABACO Agri for up to 3 years.

Awarded to

Amounts belong to published awards or contracts. Where several suppliers share one value, it is labelled as shared and is not a supplier-specific allocation.

ABACO(UK) LIMITED

Match pending…
Contract value
£27m
Awarded
Not supplied
Contract signed
31 Oct 2024
Award ID
009603-2025-1
Status
active
Identifier
14444842
Location
London, UK, EC4N 1TX, United Kingdom

Classification

  • CPV72000000 — IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

Lots

  • Defra is responsible for responsible for improving and protecting the environment. We aim to grow a green economy and sustain thriving rural communities. We also support our world-leading food, farming and fishing industries. For further information please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs<br/><br/>The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is an executive agency, sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. We pay out over £2 billion each year to support a thriving farming and food sector, supporting agricultural and rural communities to create a better place to live. The Rural Payments service (RPS) is Defra’s online registration system for farmers, animal keepers and rural traders and businesses.<br/><br/>At its core is the payments policy and rules engine application ABACO Agri (previously known as SITI Agri). This has been developed over a number of years and delivers > 80% of the large, complex, reoccurring land-based grants/schemes offered by Defra such as Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), Countryside Stewardship (CS), Combined Offer (CO), Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) among others for more than 90,000 farmers.<br/><br/>As part of Defra’s digital strategy this application will be replaced with a new solution/service as part of the Farming Countryside Programme (FCP) that is also delivering major policy changes over the next few years.<br/><br/>To provide sufficient time to implement, transition and migrate to a new solution/service, the Authority requires a contract for the support, maintenance and development of schemes/grants on Defra’s existing deployment of ABACO Agri for up to 3 years.Value not stated

Published notice details

Additional information from the published procurement release. Fields appear only when supplied by the source; check the original notice and tender documents before acting.

Scope, procedure and submissions

Id
C27326
Status
complete
Has Recurrence
Yes
Procurement Method
open
Main Procurement Category
services
Procurement Method Details
Open procedure

Covered By

GPA

Bid Opening

Date
31 Jul 2024, 16:00

Legal basis

Id
32014L0024
Scheme
CELEX

Expected award period

Starts
31 Jul 2024, 16:00

Tender Period

Ends
30 Aug 2024, 12:00

Classification

Id
72000000
Scheme
CPV
Description
IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

Submission terms

Languages

en

Bid Validity Period

Duration In Days
180

Submission Method

electronicSubmission

Lots and requirements

Entry 1
Id
1
Status
cancelled
Has Options
No
Has Renewal
No
Description
Defra is responsible for responsible for improving and protecting the environment. We aim to grow a green economy and sustain thriving rural communities. We also support our world-leading food, farming and fishing industries. For further information please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs<br/><br/>The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is an executive agency, sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. We pay out over £2 billion each year to support a thriving farming and food sector, supporting agricultural and rural communities to create a better place to live. The Rural Payments service (RPS) is Defra’s online registration system for farmers, animal keepers and rural traders and businesses.<br/><br/>At its core is the payments policy and rules engine application ABACO Agri (previously known as SITI Agri). This has been developed over a number of years and delivers > 80% of the large, complex, reoccurring land-based grants/schemes offered by Defra such as Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), Countryside Stewardship (CS), Combined Offer (CO), Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) among others for more than 90,000 farmers.<br/><br/>As part of Defra’s digital strategy this application will be replaced with a new solution/service as part of the Farming Countryside Programme (FCP) that is also delivering major policy changes over the next few years.<br/><br/>To provide sufficient time to implement, transition and migrate to a new solution/service, the Authority requires a contract for the support, maintenance and development of schemes/grants on Defra’s existing deployment of ABACO Agri for up to 3 years.

Award criteria

Criteria

Criterion 1
Name
Technical
Type
quality
Description
60
Criterion 2
Name
Sustainability
Type
quality
Description
10
Criterion 3
Name
Commercial
Type
cost
Description
30

Contract period

Ends
31 Jan 2028, 23:59
Starts
1 Feb 2025, 00:00

Submission terms

Variant Policy
notAllowed

Items and delivery

Item 1
Id
1
Related Lot
1

Delivery locations

Entry 1
Region
UK
Entry 2
Region
UK
Entry 3
Region
UK

Published documents

Entry 1
Id
economic
Document Type
economicSelectionCriteria
Entry 2
Id
technical
Document Type
technicalSelectionCriteria

Buyer, suppliers and contacts

Organisation 1
Id
GB-FTS-118855
Name
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS (Defra Network eTendering Portal)

Roles

buyer
reviewBody
mediationBody

Address

Region
UK
Locality
London
Postal Code
SW1P 4DF
Country Name
United Kingdom
Street Address
Seacole Building, 2 Marsham Street

Details

Classifications

Entry 1
Id
MINISTRY
Scheme
TED_CA_TYPE
Description
Ministry or any other national or federal authority, including their regional or local subdivisions
Entry 2
Id
05
Scheme
COFOG
Description
Environmental protection

Identifier

Legal Name
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS (Defra Network eTendering Portal)

Contact

Name
Navid Ghamsari
Organisation 2
Id
GB-FTS-139505
Name
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Roles

buyer
reviewBody

Address

Region
UK
Locality
London
Postal Code
SW1P 4DF
Country Name
United Kingdom
Street Address
Seacole Building, 2 Marsham Street

Details

Classifications

Entry 1
Id
MINISTRY
Scheme
TED_CA_TYPE
Description
Ministry or any other national or federal authority, including their regional or local subdivisions
Entry 2
Id
05
Scheme
COFOG
Description
Environmental protection

Identifier

Legal Name
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Contact

Name
Navid Ghamsari
Organisation 3
Id
GB-FTS-140826
Name
ABACO(UK) LIMITED

Roles

supplier

Address

Region
UK
Locality
London
Postal Code
EC4N 1TX
Country Name
United Kingdom
Street Address
5th Floor, Aldermary House 10-15 Queen Street, C/O Pirola Pennuto Zei & Associati Ltd, London

Details

Scale
large

Identifier

Id
14444842
Legal Name
ABACO(UK) LIMITED

Contact

Telephone
+44 7757038203

Award information

Award 1
Id
009603-2025-1
Status
active

Suppliers

Supplier 1
Id
GB-FTS-140826
Name
ABACO(UK) LIMITED

Related lots

1

Contracts and changes

Entry 1
Id
009603-2025-1
Status
active
Award ID
009603-2025-1
Date Signed
31 Oct 2024, 00:00

Value

Amount
27,000,000
Currency
GBP

Recorded locations

  • Buyer location · London · UK · SW1P 4DF · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UK

Notice and amendment history

1 published notice version reviewed by ProcuraAxis.

1 VERSION
  1. ocds-h6vhtk-048671-2025-03-17T11:25:32Zcompiled ·