Food crime poses a significant cost to the UK economy, estimated to be between £410 million and £1.96 billion per year . Food crime encompasses a broad range of activities, including adulteration, substitution, misrepresentation, illegal processing and other forms of fraud that undermine food authenticity and integrity. The impacts of food crime extend beyond direct economic losses, affecting consumer confidence, public trust in the food system and the reputation of the UK food sector. Tenderers are invited to submit proposals setting out how they would deliver research to develop a robust, evidence-based framework and methodology for assessing and communicating the impact of the NFCU on an ongoing basis. The proposal should provide a detailed description of the proposed methodological approach and include a set of clearly defined deliverables comprising: • A final research report, setting out a practical methodology for the ongoing assessment of NFCU impact; • An updated and expanded methodological framework; and • A suite of repeatable public-facing impact measures with practical implementation enabling communicable realised impacts.

Renewal: The contract will run for an initial period of 16-18 months from 1 December 2026 to 31 March 2028 / May 2028. The Authority may extend the contract by up to 6 weeks if required. In addition, an interim review will be undertaken during the contract term, and the Authority reserves the right to terminate the contract at that point in accordance with the break clause provisions set out in the contract documentation.

Procurement Act 2023

Below threshold - open competition

Tenders for FSA funded projects must be submitted through the health-family single e-Commercial System (Atamis), using the following link: https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome