Provision of an Official Veterinary Service for the Imported Food Office (LHR)

Checks on imports from the EU were originally due to commence from 1 July 2022. However, prior to that, in April 2022, the Brexit Opportunities Minister released a statement advising that all plans for EU-Transition-related imported food clearances had been put on hold until 2023 to allow time for the development of a target operating model which would set out a revised approach to these controls. The subsequent Border Target Operating Model (TOM) was released by the Cabinet Office on 29 August 2023. This Target Operating Model changes the approach that the Council’s Imported Food Office (IFO) follows, not only for imports from the EU, but also for those from the rest of the world. The new checks are currently scheduled to be introduced from April 2024. For the Council to maintain its statutory obligations for the inspection and clearance of imported products of animal origin (POAO), it is necessary to have in place a contract for the provision of veterinary services. What remains unknown at this stage is the number of consignments that the IFO is likely to receive from the EU. Therefore, until this information is received, it is difficult to determine what the full impact will be on checks at London Heathrow Airport. It is also not known at this stage what changes there will be to trade patterns once checks on EU imports are introduced. For this reason, a single tender action was recommended to make a direct award to Senlac Associates, the Council’s current provider of veterinary services for a two-year proposal provided by Senlac Associates.