Request for Information for Vacant & Derelict Land Lead Delivery Partner approach, and invitation for 1:1 discussion with Defra

• Defra is developing plans for a Vacant and Derelict Land contract by initiating a Request for Information (RFI) on 25 November 2021. Dependent on feedback to the Request for Information, Defra may then issue an Invitation to Tender.

• Interested parties are encouraged to submit structured word-limited written submissions to this RFI via Bravo. Interested parties should clarify where information is commercially sensitive. Written submissions should be provided by no later than midday (12:00) 14 December 2021. Parties should not expect individual responses to written submissions.

• This is an urgent call for information, with a short timeframe.

• In combination with this RFI, Defra are also inviting interested parties to have individual meetings with the Defra VDL team to talk through the proposal. Interested parties can book a meeting in addition to submitting a written response to the RFI, or the meeting can be taken up as a separate offer of market engagement on this proposal. 1 hour appointments are available on the 14th December. Please use Bravo to message the team to arrange a mutually convenient time. Questions asked of Defra, and their responses, will be shared publicly as part of this market engagement (excluding any information deemed commercially confident) during 20-24 December.

• Clarifications from the RFI will also be publicly broadcast unless interested parties can provide a commercial in confidence qualification (these submissions will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis with Defra's decision on what constitutes 'commercially sensitive' as final). Defra cannot commit to answering all questions but will use best endeavours.

• Information gathered through written submissions will be reviewed by the project team, who will use this to inform an Outline Business Case, and to shape the commercial approach to developing the contract.

• Thank you in anticipation of your engagement.

Additional information:

This notice is to call for market engagement. Interested parties should navigate to opportunity reference project_34838 on the Authority's e-tendering portal to access the request for information pack.

link to the Authority's e-tendering portal: https://defra.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.html

Additional information: please see additional attachments with new information applicable for this project. You will see Defra responses to questions raised during the pre-market engagement exercise.