UK Plant Breeders Rights, National Listing, Seed Certification Contract

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Published March 10th, 2026

Detected March 10th, 2026

Summary

The UK's Animal and Plant Health Agency has published a contract notice for a concession contract with the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB). This contract, valued at £5.55 million including VAT, covers services related to plant breeders rights, national listing, and seed certification.

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What changed

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) has announced the signing of a concession contract with the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) for services related to UK Plant Breeders Rights, National Listing, and Seed Certification. This contract, with a value of £5,553,000 including VAT, covers Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability (DUS) Testing, Seed Certification Services, and Seed Testing Services. The contract start date was July 1, 2025, and includes a possible 12-month extension.

This notice serves as an informational update regarding a procurement process. Regulated entities, particularly those involved in seed production and testing, should be aware that NIAB is the contracted provider for these services. While this is a notice of a contract award and not a new regulation, it confirms the service providers for key agricultural certification processes within the UK. No immediate compliance actions are required for regulated entities based on this notice, but awareness of the contracted service provider is beneficial.

Source document (simplified)

Contract

UK Plant Breeders Rights, National Listing and Seed Certification: NIAB Concession Contract

ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH AGENCY UK7: Contract details notice - Procurement Act 2023 - view information about notice types

Notice identifier: 2026/S 000-021279

Procurement identifier (OCID): ocds-h6vhtk-05f1c2 (view related notices)

Published 10 March 2026, 11:57am

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Scope Contract 1. PVS - NIAB - Concession Contract Other information Procedure Supplier Contracting authority

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Reference

C32756

Description

This notice is published to describe we have signed the concession contract with the National Institute of Agricultural Botany ("NIAB"). As described in our prior notice, the service contract has already been signed.

Link to the contract details notice for the service contract:

https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/016786-2026

The subject matter of both the service and concession contracts is the delivery of plant breeders rights, national listing & seed certification. The services covered by this concession contract are:

Service A: Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability, (“DUS”) Testing Service

Service D - Seed Certification Services. Note: a proportion of Service D is covered by the service contract.

Service E - Seed Testing Services. Note: a proportion of Service E is covered by the service contract.

Please note: the contract start date was 1st July 2025.

Contract 1. PVS - NIAB - Concession Contract

Supplier

Naib

Contract value

£4,627,000 excluding VAT
£5,553,000 including VAT Above the relevant threshold

Date signed

3 March 2026

Contract dates

1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027
Possible extension to 30 June 2028
2 years Description of possible extension:

12 month extension option

Main procurement category

Services

CPV classifications

Agricultural services

Contract locations

UK - United Kingdom

Key performance indicators

| Name | Description | Reporting frequency |
| --- | --- | --- |
| KPI-11 | Service E – Seed Testing Services: Reports for samples failing to meet the relevant quality standards to be sent to APHA within 5 Working Days of the test result | 3 months |
| KPI-12 | Service E – Seed Testing Services: Audit of LSTSs: At least one audit visit per year and non-compliance reported to APHA within 5 Working Days of visit. | 12 months |
| KPI-08 | Service D – Seed Certification Services: Check inspections not meeting crop category and level entered: (a) 98% to be followed up with applicants within 5 Working Days of date of inspection and...

Show full description | 12 months |
| KPI-15 | Service G – Management of IT Systems: Replies to requests for investigation of issues, maintenance, reporting, testing and training from the Authority to be provided in writing within 5 Working...

Show full description | 12 months |
| KPI-16 | Service H – DUS Quality Assurance System: Deliver the annual report to APHA within 20 Working Days of completion of the audit | 12 months |
| KPI-09 | Service D – Seed Certification Services: Exam results to be reported to APHA within 5 Working days of the examination, or 10 Working Days for cereals and pulses | 3 months |
| KPI-03 | Service A: DUS Test Centre meetings must be held, minutes agreed, and DUS summary reports sent to APHA at least 10 Working Days before the relevant NLSC meeting | 12 months |
| KPI-06 | Service C – Independent Review of VCU data: Summary report for each crop to be provided ten (10) Working Days before the relevant NLSC meeting | 12 months |
| KPI-04 | Service B – VCU Testing: Tests sown by agreed date | 3 months |
| KPI-05 | Service B – VCU Testing : Inform APHA within 5 Working Days of any trial’s failure | 3 months |
| KPI-07 | Service D – Seed Certification Services: (a) 98% of Official Inspections reported to applicants within 3 Working Days. (b) 100% within 10 Working Days. | 3 months |
| KPI-10 | Service E – Seed Testing Services: Monitoring of the quality of final generation seed:

(a) Samples started within 5 weeks of receipt

(b) Samples started within 8 weeks of receipt