Provision of Food for DCU Sport

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

Dublin City University ran this procurement for “Provision of Food for DCU Sport” 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:

• Weighting: Pass/Fail Minimum requirement to remain eligible in the competition: Tenderers should refer to instances within the last three years which demonstrate that they have successfully delivered services of a comparable nature and sc
• Weighting: Pass/Fail Minimum requirement to remain eligible in the competition: Tenderers should provide information on the measures in place to ensure the delivery of a quality service, for example by way of an externally certified syste
• deliver the required services to the satisfaction of DCU; DCU reserves the right to award the
• September 2025 for the academic year concluding in May 2028. The provision of a service
• that is both strong in price competitiveness and quality of food and service will ensure the
• Contract will be an academic year contract but the requirement for service will only
• On a typical night, service would be between 30-240 individual meals, depending on
• control systems to ensure the food remains at the correct temperature throughout
• various expected norms in the food service industry.
• identifying the carbon footprint of goods and services consumed by our university and to work
• The contractor must demonstrate the use of sustainable and traceable supply chains
• The contractor must have in place systems which to measure, reduce and report on 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.

• DCU is a research-intensive University and is home to a number of SFI-funded Research
• It is the policy of DCU to promote participation by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) on

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.; Insurance Confirmation of the following insurances being in place: Insurance Type Required Level Employer’s Liability €13 million Public Liability €6.5 million Product Liability €6; 5 million Motor Insurance €1 million Declaration Complete th
• Certifications — not specified for this tender
• Past experience — not specified for this tender
• Personnel — not specified for this tender
• Geographic / facility constraints — 57 of Directive 2014/24/EU as implemented by Regulation SI 284 of May 2016 and as contained in the Tender Response Motor Insurance €1 million Declaration Complete th 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.
• Insurance Confirmation of the following insurances being in place: Insurance Type Required Level Employer’s Liability €13 million Public Liability €6.5 million Product Liability €6
• 5 million Motor Insurance €1 million Declaration Complete th
• 57 of Directive 2014/24/EU as implemented by Regulation SI 284 of May 2016 and as contained in the Tender Response Motor Insurance €1 million Declaration Complete th
• Insurance Confirmation of the following insurances being in place: Insurance Type Required Level Employer’s Liability €13 million Public Liability €6.5 million Product Liability €6
• 5 million Motor Insurance €1 million Declaration Complete the Declaration

5. Award criteria & scoring

6. Submission requirements

• Method statement / response document (template/page limits) — not specified in extract.
• 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) — ESPD/declaration/statement-of-confirmation language was present.
• Mandatory site visit — not specified in extract.
• Submission portal and formatting — eTenders portal and PDF electronic copies were referenced. Submission-related source lines:
• 5 million Motor Insurance €1 million Declaration Complete th
• 57 of Directive 2014/24/EU as implemented by Regulation SI 284 of May 2016 and as contained in the Tender Response Motor Insurance €1 million Declaration Complete th
• 5 million Motor Insurance €1 million Declaration Complete the Declaration
• [DCU-25016_Provision_of_Food_for_DCU Sport -ITT - Final 01.05.25. Final.pdf] or damage arising as a result of reliance
• 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.

7. Key dates & process

8. Contract terms that matter

Contract duration in the extract: 6 months. 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)
• Weighting: Pass/Fail Minimum requirement to remain eligible in the competition: Tenderers must demonstrate compliance with all the relevant Health & Safety legislation
• Weighting: Pass/Fail Minimum requirement to remain eligible in the competition: Tenderers must demonstrate compliance with all the relevant Environmental legislation and guidelines
• The number and duration of extensions will be 2 (two) and a 12-month duration of any extensi
• may be required to be served to a venue within 100km of DCU for away games, this may be on a maximum of 15 occasions during the term of the contract
• ch annual period will be multiplied by a notional figure of 5,000 meals per year and added together to calculat
• re parts of the contract may be performed that are in force 7 days prior to the deadline for receipt of te
• minate the Contract at any time during the Term upon giving 30 days’ notice in writing to the Supplier]

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 — allowed or addressed in the extracts (Appendix references and reliance provisions).
• 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: DCU-25016_Provision_of_Food_for_DCU Sport -ITT - Final 01.05.25. Final.pdf, DCU-25016_Provision_of_Food_for_DCU Sport -ITT - Final 01.05.25. Final.docx, ITT - Final 01.05.25. Final.pdf] or damage arising as a result of reliance.
• eTenders CFT / notice reference: not specified in extract.
• Clarification contact / portal: [email protected].
• Key attachments to prioritise: ITT - Final 01.05.25. Final.pdf] is among the world’s top 2% globally. DCU is, ITT - Final 01.05.25. Final.pdf] fair and equal basis., ITT - Final 01.05.25. Final.pdf] and a 12-month duration of any extensions..