Call for Tender for the Provision of Cold meals under the School Meals Scheme to Castlerea Community School - 91493P

AI-generated analysis of the documents. Check the official notice and any amendments for current submission details.

1. At a glance

2. Scope of Work

Castlerea Community School ran this procurement for “Call for Tender for the Provision of Cold meals under the School Meals Scheme to Castlerea Community School - 91493P” as an operational contract requiring implementation and sustained service execution. The extracted pack showed qualification-stage material with references to later ITT technical depth; practical activity therefore centred on building, integrating, and operating the specified service stack with compliant reporting and handover obligations where stated. Constituent activities and named work elements in the supplied extracts:

• in nature, scale and value to the services being sought in this competition - a minimum of two examples of those confirmed must be provided
• rer shall be required to supply its Tax Clearance Access Number and Tax Reference Number to facilitate online verification of their tax status by
• ity and staff ready to commence service on 5th January 2026
• Currently approximately 50 students avail of these study services
• l tender will be expected to provide service on each of the 166 days, other than for exceptional and/or unfo
• Contract for The provision of Catering Services to Castlerea Community School
• 4.1.2 Pre-ordering & Delivery System 10
• 4.1.13 Cashless System 20
• Nature of procurement: The provision of Catering Services to Castlerea Community School
• The school has a large communal area / assembly area towards the front of the school, providing ample space for catering services as well as student seating. Currently there are 40 teachers, 7 Special Needs Assistants and 7 Ancillary staff. There are a number of occasions during the year when catering may be required for school events in the evening, such as open evenings, meetings, graduation ceremonies. The school operates after school evening study and homework club from 4 to 6pm and 4 to 5pm respectively, when students may require catering facilities. Currently approximately 50 students avail of these study services.
• [RFT.docx] A medium size hall approx. 240m2 is available to operate as a canteen area. We require the provision of the sustainable operation of a catering service to supply healthy, balanced and nutritious food to students and staff in Castlerea Community School at affordable prices. The items are to be prepared on or off site and delivered to students in designated eating areas. We require an efficient setup with food well presented. Clean up after service provision is also expected. It is intended to award a contract to a single service provider. A high quality, flexible and responsive service is required combined with continuous improvement and innovation for the 33 weeks of the year in which the school operates (School calendar will be issued to the successful tenderer).
• Castlerea Community School welcomes all proposals on the provision of food and beverages in the school, however it should be noted that the menu must be in line with the School’s Healthy Eating Policy. The provision is to begin on Monday 5th January 2026. Promotion, marketing and educating the customer base is key to the success of the service provision by the service provider. The service provider may also, with notice, provide tea/coffee and/or light snacks for several events that may arise from time to time out of the ‘normal’ hours associated with the school e.g., staff meetings, board meetings, visiting groups, parent teacher meetings, sporting events. Non-binding monetary references in the source were treated as context only and were not used as qualification thresholds.

3. Background & buyer context

The buyer context reflected a formal Irish public-procurement route, with pre-qualification used to control entry into the tender stage.

• 4.1.4 Schools Meals Programme 12
• [4.1.14 Compliance with Statutory & Contracting Authority Policies, Health Safety Policy / Child Protection /Garda Vetting etc
• 4.1.14 Compliance with Statutory & Contracting Authority Policies, Health Safety Policy / Child Protection /Garda Vetting etc 20
• 4.1.24 Existing Canteen Equipment 24

4. Eligibility & selection criteria

• Turnover requirement — — use these verbatim for insurance / turnover. If a category (insurance, turnover) has no entry here, treat it as 'not specified' for THIS tender.
• Insurance — — use these verbatim for insurance / turnover. If a category (insurance, turnover) has no entry here, treat it as 'not specified' for THIS tender.; I confirm that we have the following insurances in place Insurance Type Level in Place Details of Any Excess Expiry Date Employers Liability €12.7m million for any one claim or series of; Public Liability €6.5m million for any one claim or series of
• Certifications — not specified for this tender
• Past experience — not specified for this tender
• Personnel — not specified for this tender
• Geographic / facility constraints — not specified for this tender Additional binding lines surfaced in the deterministic extract:
• — use these verbatim for insurance / turnover. If a category (insurance, turnover) has no entry here, treat it as 'not specified' for THIS tender.
• I confirm that we have the following insurances in place Insurance Type Level in Place Details of Any Excess Expiry Date Employers Liability €12.7m million for any one claim or series of
• Public Liability €6.5m million for any one claim or series of
• Product Liability €6.5 million for any one claim or series of claims a
• Type of Insurance Minimum Indemnity Limit Employer’s Liability €12.7m million for any one claim or series of
• Public Liability €6.5m million for any one claim or series of

5. Award criteria & scoring

6. Submission requirements

• Method statement / response document (template/page limits) — Appendix 1 questionnaire/PQQ response was required.
• CVs (page count, named roles) — not specified in extract.
• Pricing schedule (format/template) — expected at ITT stage.
• Case studies (number/value range) — client references/comparable project evidence was referenced.
• Declarations (ESPD/Bona Fides/Tax/COI) — not specified in extract.
• Mandatory site visit — not specified in extract.
• Submission portal and formatting — eTenders portal and PDF electronic copies were referenced. Submission-related source lines:
• Mandatory Site Visit Dates Thursday 27th November 2025
• Please note that information relating to this Invitation to Tender, including clarifications and changes, will be published on the Irish Government Procurement Opportunities Portal www.etenders.gov.ie . Registration is free of charge and there is no charge for documents. Please note that the Contracting Authority cannot accept responsibility for information relayed (or not relayed) via third parties.
• 4.1.1 Food, Menus, Pricing and Promotion 7
• 5.1.1 Site Visit 25
• APPENDIX 1 - INSTRUCTIONS TO TENDERERS 38
• The successful tenderer must view the site in advance of submitting a tender proposal. The site visit will allow you to propose works/changes to the proposed canteen area, operate and manage the canteen in the school from a start date of 5th January 2026.

7. Key dates & process

8. Contract terms that matter

Contract duration in the extract: 1 years. Payment cycle, SLA/KPI schedule, and penalty regime were not fully disclosed in the snippets unless listed below.

• VERIFIED PHRASES (deterministic regex extract from the documents — treat as authoritative for numerical claims)
• The maximum rate of payment for the mid – morning snack is €0
• The maximum rate of payment for the mid – morning snack is €0.75 per student
• The rate of payment for hot meals is €1.70.
• The rate of payment for hot meals is €3.20.
• The successful tenderer will be paid within 30 days of receipt of invoice
• terms of employment for the relevant staff for a period of 6 months prior to the expiry of this contract
• Contact for Queries Principal: [email protected]

9. Risks, red flags & unusuals

• Qualification gate: the deterministic extract included a turnover threshold line (— use these verbatim for insurance / turnover. If a category (insurance, turnover) has no entry here, treat it as 'not specified' for THIS tender.), which can materially narrow bidder pool composition.
• The two-step process (PQQ then ITT) shifted effort to compliance evidence early, with competitive scoring detail potentially deferred.
• Technical and contractual granularity appeared ITT-dependent, increasing ambiguity at qualification stage for non-incumbent bidders.

10. SME fit assessment

This competition looked most accessible to firms with established public-sector tender capability, documented financial capacity, and direct operational experience in the relevant service category.

• Credible bidder profile — mid-sized to large specialist with formal QA/compliance process.
• Consortium / sub-contracting — not clearly specified in extract.
• Indicative bid-prep effort — 6 to 12 working days for evidence collation, form completion, and review cycles at PQQ level.
• Pwin signal — strongest for bidders with reusable qualification artefacts, comparable references, and low-friction mobilisation capability.

11. Where to dig deeper

• Source RFT/PQQ filenames: RFT.docx, 4.1 Specification of Requirements for Castlerea Community School

[RFT.docx, 4.1.14 Compliance with Statutory & Contracting Authority Policies, Health Safety Policy / Child Protection /Garda Vetting etc

[RFT.docx.

• eTenders CFT / notice reference: not specified in extract.
• Clarification contact / portal: [email protected].
• Key attachments to prioritise: 5.1.4 Economic and Financial

[RFT.docx, RFT.docx] Castlerea Community School,, RFT.docx] Summary 5](#_Toc117768051).