Step 1: Decide the request type:
When you request a data search you will first need to decide on the type of request. This will depend on the type of customer and the intended use of the data. Please refer to the list below, these are the typical examples, but this is not an exhaustive list and as such if you are uncertain which category your request fits into, please email NBIS, as above.

• Commercial – Consultants, agents, solicitors, and other professionals acting on behalf of those wishing to gain planning consent •Public sector planning searches •Land management (grant funded)
• Ecological Consultant SLA – Prepaid agreement for regular commercial customers
• Partnership – •Service Level Agreement (SLA) (e.g. local authority, govt body) •Data Agreement •Funded and unfunded partnership projects [Some listed are chargeable/pre-paid]
• Public – •Complete species lists for your site •Full record searches for non-sensitive species •School/college/university coursework
• Non chargeable planning – Neighbourhood and Parish plans •Planning objections
• Education, research and conservation – •Research: Academic, PhD/dissertations, research bodies •Teaching and adult learning •Professional development •County Recorders and natural history requests •Conservation / Land management (unfunded)

Organisations are encouraged to approach NBIS at the earliest opportunity if they are intending to put in a funding bid for a project that is likely to involve the use or provision of data from our database. Any funding bid should factor in the costs of extracting NBIS data for the project where possible, in order to ensure that we have the resources necessary to support the project when requested.

Step 2: Decide on the package that meets your needs:

Summary of commercial request type packages we offer:

• Package A1 – from £149 + VAT: Standard 2km Package – 2km Species of Conservation Concern and Invasive Non-native Species, habitats, veteran trees and local sites; 5km National Sites; 8km International Sites

• Package A2 – from £200 + VAT: Standard 2km package plus additional bats at 6km – 2km Species of Conservation Concern and Invasive Non-native Species, veteran trees, habitats and local sites; 5km National Sites; 6km Bats; 8km International Sites

• Package B1 – from £245 + VAT: Standard 5km Package – 5km Species of Conservation Concern and Invasive Non-native Species, veteran trees, habitats and local sites; 10km National Sites; 30km International Sites

• Package B2 – from £296 + VAT: Standard 5km Package plus additional Bats at 10km – 5km Species of Conservation Concern and Invasive Non-native Species, veteran trees, habitats and local sites; 10km Bats and National Sites; 30km International Sites

• Package C1 – from £93 + VAT: European Protected Species (EPS) Licence - GCN – 2km: GCN only, 1 package per licence

• Package C2 – from £123 + VAT: European Protected Species (EPS) Licence - Bats – 6km: Bats only, 1 package per licence

●Due to licensing restrictions, searches with a radius of 5km or greater, or a search area over 100km2 will not contain BTO bird data. Customers requesting these packages may wish to approach the BTO directly for access to this data HERE, particularly when undertaking ECiA type work.

The quoted charge will be calculated based on the total area of the search requested, i.e. site of interest plus smallest buffer.

Full details of all our standard packages are HERE along with further details on custom and daily rates available to commercial customers.

Custom searches will be accepted at NBIS discretion, if they adhere to Best Practice guidelines and ecological conditions and are quoted separately. This table also contains details of charges, consultant Service Level Agreements for regular customers and other relevant charging information.

Key things to note but also read our Terms and Conditions:
●If your search is around a multi-part site see our guidance: [Multipart guidance]
●We will continue to apply the cross-boundary search procedure as detailed in the East of England region Standard Data Enquiry Service. Please note, only the standard search components within a 2km buffer of the search site will be provided by the adjacent record centre(s). Any data beyond a 2km radius (including extra bat records and site boundaries) will be provided for Norfolk only. Any extra data required will need to be requested directly from the adjacent record centre(s) and may incur an extra charge. The adjacent records centre(s) will return results for their area to their timescales but always to maximum of 10 days.

Step 2: Decide on the package that meets your needs:

Summary of non-chargeable request type packages we offer:

• Package D1 – No Charge: Standard 2km package – Species of Conservation Concern (SoCC), Non-native invasive species, designated sites, veteran trees, and habitats - all within 2km buffer of site/area of interest

• Package D2 – No Charge: 2km All Species, Sites and Habitats – All species records (inc Non-native invasive species), designated sites, veteran trees and habitats - all within 2km buffer of site/area of interest

• Package D3 – No Charge: Within site search – Species of Conservation Concern (SoCC), Non-native invasive species, designated sites, veteran trees, and habitats - within the site/area of interest

• Package D4 – No Charge: Within site All Species, Sites and Habitats – All species records (inc Non-native invasive species), designated sites, veteran trees and habitats - within the site/area of interest

Key things to note:
●Some not-for-profit customers (planning and partnership), can also request packages A-C listed in step 2, free of charge.
●All Public request type users will need to submit a D package or custom search and will not receive sensitive species at full resolution.
●Custom searches - Non-standard requests which meet the ecological best practice and standards will be allowed, as per chargeable, at NBIS discretion
●Bespoke requests that involve significant time input from NBIS staff, such as projects, may need to be charged for, even if non-for-profit outcomes.
●Due to licensing restrictions, searches with a radius of 5km or greater, or a search area over 100km2 will not contain BTO bird data.

Step 3: Receiving your quote:

Acceptance of a quote (or agreement to commence work on a not-for-profit search request) means that you are agreeing to our terms and conditions and in the case of commercial searches that you will be liable for payment of the agreed quote on completion of works.

●For consultant SLAs or other agreements, a quote will be replaced by “This is a non-chargeable request”.
●Any queries regarding data enquiries should be emailed to: enquiries.nbis@norfolk.gov.uk

Commercial request types:
Standard packages - Instant quote on submission of an online request.
Custom searches/daily rate works - All requests for quotes will be responded to within 2 days*. This will mostly include a quote, but for more complex searches/requests we will agree timescales for quotes on an individual basis.

Quotes will be based on the area of search and package options chosen. Data requests will be made only when a quote is accepted.

Non-chargeable request types:
Quotes do not apply to non-chargeable requests but we will agree timescales for receiving your results on an individual basis. For most requests this will be less than 10 days.

*These timings apply based on a 9-3pm weekday (excluding bank holidays and Christmas closure). Requests received after 3pm will be treated as arriving at 9am the next working day.

Step 4: Timescales for receiving your results:

Commercial request types:
Standard packages - Results received 2 days* after confirmation**
Custom searches - Results received 4 days* after confirmation**
Daily rate works requests - Agreed on an individual basis

Non-chargeable request types:
Standard packages - Agreed on an individual basis, but less than 10 days
Custom requests - Agreed on an individual basis, but less than 10 days
Bespoke requests - Agreed on an individual basis

*These timings apply based on a 9-3pm weekday (excluding bank holidays and Christmas closure). Request received after 3pm will be treated as arriving at 9am the next working day.
**Should in exceptional circumstances we be unable to meet these turnaround times, we would notify you of this with your quote for custom requests or with a follow up email for automatic quotes.

Data requests will be dealt with on a ‘first come – first served’ basis

Step 5: Viewing and downloading your results:
You will be emailed an unique hyperlink, which will allow you to access interactive results displayed in “eMapper”.
Key benefits include:
●Search results can be filtered, interrogated and visualised on various background maps or photos - Species records can be filtered by year, distance, resolution, species list and more.
●Maps can be printed directly from eMapper, with the displayed data customised beforehand.
●Results can be downloaded to an Excel spreadsheet, with the displayed data customised beforehand or as GIS Shapefiles if you include a valid OS MasterMap licence number with your request.

Packages A-D will include the following data, displayed as detailed in our Data enquiry products document

As a result of customer feedback, we will now be providing combined species records in our data enquiry outputs where the species name and grid reference are identical, to provide an improved user experience. All other data fields will be concatenated to include data from all the combined records, so no information will be lost, and the records spreadsheet will be more concise.

Examples of our data request products can be viewed below. Using eMapper you have the ability to customise your own reports in Excel or Shapefile format, using all the data or a filtered subset.

For chargeable data requests an invoice will be sent by email from our host organisation Norfolk County Council once the request has been fulfilled. If you wish the invoice to be sent to someone other than yourself (e.g. Accounts Payable Department) you can "create a billing contact" as part of the data request. If your company uses a specific email address to which invoices should be sent (e.g. Invoices@), please ensure this is specified in your request.

If your company uses Purchase Order Numbers, please ensure that you obtain this before making your request.

If your company requires us to be set up as a supplier prior to requesting data, the following details should be used:

Norfolk Biodiversity Information Service
c/o Community and Environmental Services.
Norfolk County Council
6th Floor, County Hall, Martineau Lane, Norwich. NR1 2SG

VAT Number: GB 106 9951 52

Bank Details
Barclays Bank PLC
Account Name: Norfolk County Council - County Fund Account
Account Number: 00675261
Sort Code: 20-62-61

If your company requires us to complete a Supplier Form, please send these to cashiers@norfolk.gov.uk

Our Payment Terms are 30 Days from the invoice date. When making payment please state the Invoice Number as your reference.

Debt Recovery Policy
Once an invoice has been recorded in the Council’s financial system and sent to a customer this should lead to payment. Where this is not the case the Credit Control Team under delegated authority from the Executive Director of Finance and Commercial Services will instigate a process to recover all debts which have been outstanding for more than 30 days.
1. Payment Terms
1.1 All accounts raised are due for immediate payment. If any other payment terms are required these must be presented to the Credit Control Team, with a business case, to seek agreement.