Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the reasons are for the time her Department's tendering process has taken for testing cattle for tuberculosis.

Defra Network Procurement followed the procurement process defined in the Public Contract Regulations 2006 amended 2009.

To ensure that all tenderers had sufficient knowledge and information relating to the tender, five supplier engagement days were held in both Wales and England for all registered interested parties. These were held in September 2013, April 2014 and May 2014, which helped the Authority to finalise the contract specification.

In response to feedback from the veterinary profession, the tendering period of the procurement was extended from the normal period of 40 days to 60 days. The Invitation to Tender was published on 7 July 2014.