Environmental Land Management Payment Rate Development and Verification

Lot 1: Payment Rate Development - The Supplier shall provide technical support for the calculation of E.L.M payment rates, including:The production and updating of new building blocks that are needed for E.L.M actions, with clear sources of data and assumptions. Primarily this will be national averages, but some local/bespoke building blocks will be required; Generating assumptions, in collaboration with Defra Group specialists, needed for payment calculations on how an E.L.M action affects a particular farming system.Construction of payment calculations, using the above information, in the Defra payments calculator and ensuring the model can be scaled up in size for new payment calculations. Providing a clear audit trail from data and assumptions through to final payment rates

Lot 2: Payment Rate Verification - The supplier will undertake a wide-ranging role in scrutinising and independently verifying payment rate calculations, including:Ensuring the data and evidence sources used in the creation of building blocks are robust and representative of the target farming or land system. Checking that the assumptions underpinning payment calculations are appropriate for the target farming system and that they are used correctly in the calculation. Providing an assessment, and constructive advice, on how E.L.M. payment rates sit against World Trade Organisation Green box requirements under the Agreement on Agriculture.