The prices to be paid by farmers for cattle ear tags will be the biggest single influence on which company wins the next, lucrative contract to supply tags and register calf births.
Cattle and dairy farmers will pay the winner up to €18m over the coming three years for these services. The supplier companies now competing under a public tender will be ranked on tag quality, service quality and prices for tags and applicators – but prices have the heaviest weighting.
The Department of Agriculture has now opened an EU-wide tender for the next contract which includes supplying farmers with conventional, tissue and electronic tags, applicators, electronic boluses and replacement tags. It runs for three years but can be extended by two further 12-month periods.
The contract will be awarded to one single supplier. Firms can band together to submit tenders. But tenderers, whether single firms or groups, must have generated turnover of at least €3m in each of the three preceding years.
In addition, tenderers must have the capacity to deliver a minimum of 2m tag sets, approximately 400,000 replacement tags and 2m registration forms annually.
When the tender closes on 27 June the competing firms will be scored under three categories with a maximum 1,500 marks available. The categories and their maximum marks are:
Quality of tags – 500. Quality of proposed service – 400.Price to farmers for tags – 600. Under the tag quality heading, the main issues include security features against tampering, loss rate and applicator effectiveness. “Full marks will be awarded for less than 5% loss rates and half marks will be available for loss rates between 5% and 7%,” the tender document states. The maximum loss rate tolerated is 7%.
The main items under service are the quality of help desk for responding to farmer requests and queries, and user-friendliness of the ordering system.
The 600 marks available under prices break down as:
Price for one conventional and one tissue tag – maximum 250 marks, awarded for the lowest price tendered.For pair of conventional tags – maximum 200. For one conventional replacement tag – maximum 60.For pair conventional replacement tags – maximum 60.Price of applicator (if two applicators are needed the two prices are totalled) – maximum 30.The prices quoted by the successful tenderer, for tags and applicators, become the “contracted price” for each item and must operate for the contract period.
The prices to be paid by farmers for cattle ear tags will be the biggest single influence on which company wins the next, lucrative contract to supply tags and register calf births.
Cattle and dairy farmers will pay the winner up to €18m over the coming three years for these services. The supplier companies now competing under a public tender will be ranked on tag quality, service quality and prices for tags and applicators – but prices have the heaviest weighting.
The Department of Agriculture has now opened an EU-wide tender for the next contract which includes supplying farmers with conventional, tissue and electronic tags, applicators, electronic boluses and replacement tags. It runs for three years but can be extended by two further 12-month periods.
The contract will be awarded to one single supplier. Firms can band together to submit tenders. But tenderers, whether single firms or groups, must have generated turnover of at least €3m in each of the three preceding years.
In addition, tenderers must have the capacity to deliver a minimum of 2m tag sets, approximately 400,000 replacement tags and 2m registration forms annually.
When the tender closes on 27 June the competing firms will be scored under three categories with a maximum 1,500 marks available. The categories and their maximum marks are:
Quality of tags – 500. Quality of proposed service – 400.Price to farmers for tags – 600. Under the tag quality heading, the main issues include security features against tampering, loss rate and applicator effectiveness. “Full marks will be awarded for less than 5% loss rates and half marks will be available for loss rates between 5% and 7%,” the tender document states. The maximum loss rate tolerated is 7%.
The main items under service are the quality of help desk for responding to farmer requests and queries, and user-friendliness of the ordering system.
The 600 marks available under prices break down as:
Price for one conventional and one tissue tag – maximum 250 marks, awarded for the lowest price tendered.For pair of conventional tags – maximum 200. For one conventional replacement tag – maximum 60.For pair conventional replacement tags – maximum 60.Price of applicator (if two applicators are needed the two prices are totalled) – maximum 30.The prices quoted by the successful tenderer, for tags and applicators, become the “contracted price” for each item and must operate for the contract period.
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