Nature and Biodiversity Footprint Phase 1: Scope Development

8 week phase 1 project to develop a scope for a follow-on phase 2 project that will deliver that scope. Phase 2 to be contracted separately. The scope provided on completion of phase 1 must therefore be clear and comprehensive enough for the future successful supplier to independently bid and deliver on. Location: contractors premises, with MS Teams weekly progress meetings. About the project: The Environment Agency (EA) intends to undertake a comprehensive assessment of its nature and biodiversity footprint. This project aims to identify and quantify the impacts of the EA's operations and supply chain on nature and biodiversity, forming the foundation for targeted, science-based management and disclosure reporting. The footprint will be used to support the EA's commitment to sustainability and compliance with emerging international frameworks such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD). The first phase of this project is to develop a clearly defined scope for the footprint. As an output the project scope itself must set out: 1. The background to the footprint exercise and overarching methodological framework it will align to and why this is the best fit for the Environment Agency. 2. The scope/operational boundary of the footprint. 3. The measurement framework and metrics that will be used, based on analysis of strengths and weaknesses of the various alternatives. 4. Data plan, detailing: a. The existing datasets that will be used. b. Any necessary transformations that will be required to unify and standardise the data. c. Data gaps that will need to be filled and a plan to fill them. This should be a prioritised and phased plan. d. A plan for ongoing data management. 5. A draft outline delivery plan for the project. We will also need a final report of all findings that explains the rationale behind the scope and evidence base for decisions made in scoping. We welcome ideas from the supplier on any additional content of the scope and on the content and format of t