The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is aiming to implement a new platform for monitoring satellite data.
It has published a prior information notice for potential suppliers to begin a market engagement and indicating that it plans to publish a tender around November.
The notice highlights the importance of satellite data to the RPA’s business, saying it provides risk assurance in the delivery of the Farming and Countryside Programme schemes that use the agency’s Rural Land Register.
Currently, the monitoring processes for the schemes are manual, inefficient and produce high fraud and error rates, the notice says. They rely on field visits, paperwork and subjective assessments that lead to delayed evaluations, increased administration and only capture a small percentage of the population.
“To overcome these challenges, RPA requires an advanced technological solution capable of streamlining national monitoring processes,” the notice says.
No prospective value has so far been made public.
The RPA also make payments on behalf of Natural England and manages over 40 schemes to support England’s rural economy and communities.
