A Social Farming Network

Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine

Social farming is the practice of offering, on a voluntary basis, farming and horticultural participation in a farming environment as a choice to people who avail of a range of therapeutic day support services. These operations are run in a number of settings ranging from working family farms, local community initiatives through to more institutional frameworks. Social farming is widely practiced across Europe and is considered at an advanced stage of development in the Netherlands, Norway and Italy. It is moderately developed in countries such as France, Finland, Germany and the UK and is still a relatively new concept in Ireland. Experience has shown that well run operations provide an opportunity for inclusion for disadvantaged groups, increase their self-esteem and improve health and well-being. When operating from a working family farm, these initiatives support farm diversification and help farmers connect with the wider community. From a Government perspective, they provide a collaborative framework for different Departments and agencies to work together and is seen as a vital part of the over-arching whole of government strategy aimed at delivering change for people living and working in rural Ireland as outlined in the Governmentโ€™s Action Plan for Rural Development. This tender competition relates to the engagement of services for the development and implementation of a tailored work programme in support of social farming at national level.

Deadline

The time limit for receipt of tenders was 2025-04-28. The procurement was published on 2025-03-21.

Who? What? Where?
  • โ€ข Aฯ„ฯ„ฮนฮบฮฎ โ€บ ฮ’ฯŒฯฮตฮนฮฟฯ‚ ฮคฮฟฮผฮญฮฑฯ‚ ฮ‘ฮธฮทฮฝฯŽฮฝ
  • โ€ข Eastern and Midland โ€บ Dublin
Procurement history
Date Document
2025-03-21 Contract notice
Contract notice (2025-03-21)
Object
Scope of the procurement
Title: A Social Farming Network
Short description:
Social farming is the practice of offering, on a voluntary basis, farming and horticultural participation in a farming environment as a choice to people who avail of a range of therapeutic day support services. These operations are run in a number of settings ranging from working family farms, local community initiatives through to more institutional frameworks. Social farming is widely practiced across Europe and is considered at an advanced stage of development in the Netherlands, Norway and Italy. It is moderately developed in countries such as France, Finland, Germany and the UK and is still a relatively new concept in Ireland. Experience has shown that well run operations provide an opportunity for inclusion for disadvantaged groups, increase their self-esteem and improve health and well-being. When operating from a working family farm, these initiatives support farm diversification and help farmers connect with the wider community. From a Government perspective, they provide a collaborative framework for different Departments and agencies to work together and is seen as a vital part of the over-arching whole of government strategy aimed at delivering change for people living and working in rural Ireland as outlined in the Governmentโ€™s Action Plan for Rural Development. This tender competition relates to the engagement of services for the development and implementation of a tailored work programme in support of social farming at national level.
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Type of contract: Services
Products/services: Social services ๐Ÿ“ฆ
Estimated value excluding VAT: 4 500 000 EUR ๐Ÿ’ฐ
Other restrictions on the place of performance: Anywhere in the given country
Description
Internal identifier: 0
Additional products/services:
Daycare services ๐Ÿ“ฆ
+ 6 more
Country: Ireland ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ช
Duration: 60 months
Title
Lot Identification Number: LOT-0001

Procedure
Type of procedure
Open procedure โœ…
Legal basis: Directive 2014/24/EU
Administrative information
Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate: 2025-04-28 13:00:00 ๐Ÿ“…
Conditions for opening of tenders: 2025-04-28 13:30:00 ๐Ÿ“…
Conditions for opening of tenders (place): https://www.etenders.gov.ie/epps/cft/prepareViewCfTWS.do?resourceId=5327575
Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted: English ๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธ
Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tender: 120 days
Tendering terms
Tenderers may submit more than one tender
Opening date: 2025-04-28 13:30:00 ๐Ÿ“…
Place: https://www.etenders.gov.ie/epps/cft/prepareViewCfTWS.do?resourceId=5327575
Electronic invoicing: Allowed

Contracting authority
Name and addresses
Name: Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine
National registration number: IE4773186Q
Postal address: Agriculture House Kildare Street
Postal code: D02 WK12
Postal town: Dublin
Region: Dublin ๐Ÿ™๏ธ
Country: Ireland ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ช
E-mail: procurement@agriculture.gov.ie ๐Ÿ“ง
Phone: +35316072000 ๐Ÿ“ž
URL: https://www.agriculture.gov.ie ๐ŸŒ
Address of the buyer profile: https://www.agriculture.gov.ie ๐ŸŒ
Type of the contracting authority
Ministry or any other national or federal authority
Main activity
General public services
Communication
Documents URL: https://www.etenders.gov.ie/epps/cft/listContractDocuments.do?resourceId=5327575 ๐ŸŒ
Participation URL: https://www.etenders.gov.ie/epps/cft/viewTenders.do?resourceId=5327575 ๐ŸŒ
Electronic submission: Required

Complementary information
Review body
Name: The High Court of Ireland
National registration number: The High Court of Ireland
Department: The High Court of Ireland
Postal address: Four Courts, Inns Quay, Dublin 7
Postal code: D07 WDX8
Postal town: Dublin
Region: Dublin ๐Ÿ™๏ธ
Country: Ireland ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ช
E-mail: highcourtcentraloffice@courts.ie ๐Ÿ“ง
Phone: +353 1 8886000 ๐Ÿ“ž
Service from which information about the review procedure may be obtained
Same as: Review body
Information about electronic workflows
Electronic invoicing will be accepted
Source: OJS 2025/S 058-186454 (2025-03-21)
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