Provision of Hot Meals under the School Meals Scheme

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

This tender seeks a contractor to provide hot meals to students at Scoil Mhuire Moylagh under the Department of Social Protection's School Meals Scheme. The contract is for a duration of three years, with an estimated annual value of €54,745.60, leading to a total estimated contract value of €164,236.80. The school operates for 182 days per year, and the contractor must provide service on each of these days, excluding exceptional circumstances.

The scope of work includes:

• Service Delivery: Providing hot meals prepared from raw ingredients, with a minimum of 10% organic ingredients by value where possible, in line with the "Buying Greener" strategy.
• Meal Provision: The contractor must propose a food plan that includes meat and meat alternatives, seasonal fruit and vegetables, and other food items. The plan must accommodate students with food intolerances, allergies, and religious observances, offering lactose-free, gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, and halal options. This plan should be varied and adaptable over the contract term.
• Food Standards: Maintaining high standards of food quality, freshness, and nutritional content. This includes ensuring correct food temperatures from delivery to serving, in compliance with food legislation.
• Ordering System: Implementing a food ordering system (e.g., app, website, email) that allows for meal ordering and adjustments, with defined time limits for orders and changes. Imagery of the ordering system must be provided.
• Food Service and Packaging: Individual packaging and labelling of meals, with provision of cutlery and napkins. Imagery of individual packaging and labelling is required.
• Green Procurement and Sustainability:
• Waste Minimisation: Detailing an approach to waste prevention, with a focus on food waste reduction, aligning with Ireland's commitment to reduce food waste by 50% by 2030.
• Packaging: Utilising environmentally friendly, recyclable, compostable, or biodegradable packaging materials where possible, reducing plastics and non-recyclable materials.
• Waste Management: Outlining a waste management plan for the school campus, including packaging and food waste collection, and pest control measures for relevant areas.
• Sustainable Purchasing: Detailing a purchasing policy that contributes to environmental and social sustainability, favouring local suppliers, seasonal produce, and waste reduction in purchasing decisions.
• Contract Management: Assigning a Key Account Manager (KAM) with proven experience to oversee service delivery. A nominated back-up KAM is also required.
• Complaint/Incident Management: Establishing a clear approach to managing and resolving complaints and incidents, including product recalls, food contamination, customer complaints, medical incidents (foodborne illness, allergies), and food quality issues.
• Staff Resourcing: Ensuring continuous resourcing with skilled, knowledgeable, and trained individuals. This includes measures for resource management, staff training, and succession planning.
• Organic Ingredient Requirement: A minimum of 10% by value of food must be certified organic in categories such as cereals, fresh beef, lamb, pork, poultry, fish, vegetables, and dairy products, where possible.

The contractor must confirm attendance at a mandatory site visit.

3. Background & buyer context

This procurement is conducted by Scoil Mhuire Moylagh to secure a provider for hot meals under the Department of Social Protection's School Meals Scheme. The scheme aims to provide nutritional meals to students in designated schools. The current contract is being tendered to ensure continued provision of this service. The estimated value of the contract is below the €750,000 EU procurement threshold, indicating a standard open procedure is being followed. The tender documents reference the "Buying Greener" strategy, highlighting a commitment to sustainability and organic sourcing within public procurement.

4. Eligibility & selection criteria

Bidders must meet the following mandatory requirements to be considered:

• Turnover requirement: A minimum average annual turnover of €54,745.60 for each of the three financial years immediately preceding the tender publication date. This can be met by combined turnover if submitting as a consortium. Audited financial statements with an unqualified audit report are required.
• Insurance: The successful tenderer must hold the following insurances:
• Employer’s Liability: €13 million limit per claim.
• Public Liability: €6.5 million limit per claim.
• Product Liability: €6.5 million limit per claim.
• Motor Cover: Minimum €1.3 million for third-party property damage per accident.
• Crime Insurance: €100,000 per claim.
• Cyber Liability: €1 million per claim.
• Professional Indemnity: €6.5 million limit (only relevant for Service Delivery Models 2, 3, or 4, which are not detailed here but imply potential fit-out works).
• Certifications: Registered as a Food Business Operator (FBO) with the HSE, local authority, or DAFM. A copy of the notification or approval certificate is required.
• Past experience: Details of at least three previous hot catering service contracts (public or private sector) operated within the last three years. These contracts must collectively demonstrate successful delivery of services of a similar nature, scale, and value. The average number of meals produced/delivered per day across these contracts must be 60% or more of the number of meals required in this tender. Written references from three referees are mandatory.
• Personnel: Key Account Manager (KAM) must hold a Food Safety/HACCP qualification and have a minimum of 2 years of experience in a similar role. CVs for the proposed KAM and a nominated back-up KAM (max 2 A4 pages each) are required.
• Geographic / facility constraints: Not specified.

5. Award criteria & scoring

The tender will be evaluated based on a combination of qualitative and price factors. The total marks available for qualitative assessment are 1,000. The weighting between price and quality is not explicitly stated but implied by the qualitative scoring structure.

A minimum score of 70% is required for each indicated sub-criterion or sub-sub-criterion. Failure to achieve this threshold in any criterion will lead to elimination.

6. Submission requirements

Bidders must submit their tender response using the provided Tender Response Document (TRD). Key submission components include:

• TRD Completion: All sections of the TRD must be completed accurately.
• Mandatory Site Visit Declaration: Confirmation of attendance at the mandatory site visit and submission of a separate declaration (Appendix 1 of CFT).
• Independent Preparation Declaration: A signed declaration on company letterhead confirming the tender was prepared independently and without collusion.
• Turnover Table: Completion of the table with turnover figures for the last three financial years.
• Financial Statements: Copies of audited financial statements for the last three years, including an unqualified audit report.
• Previous Contract Examples: Details of three previous contract examples, completed in Section 9 of the TRD.
• References: Three client references for the submitted contract examples.
• FBO Registration Confirmation: Copy of acknowledgement of notification or approval certificate from the competent authority.
• Award Criteria Responses: Completed responses to all qualitative award criteria, sub-criteria, and sub-sub-criteria within the TRD.
• CVs: Submitted CVs for the proposed KAM and nominated back-up KAM (max 2 A4 pages each).
• Tenderer’s Statement: A statement to be printed on the tenderer's headed notepaper and signed (See Appendix 3 of CFT).
• Checklist: Completion of the Tender Submission Checklist.

The submission must be made via the eTenders platform.

7. Key dates & process

8. Contract terms that matter

• Term: The contract duration is three years.
• Payment: Payment will be made on a 30-day arrears basis. The fee is €3.20 (VAT exempt) per student per day for each hot meal provided.
• Service Credits/Penalties: Not explicitly detailed in the provided extract, but the award criteria include performance management and complaint resolution, suggesting potential service level agreements.
• Termination: Either party may terminate the contract with 14 days' notice if a breach continues for 14 calendar days. Specific clauses for termination due to breach are also mentioned, requiring a 30-day notice period for remediable breaches.
• Sub-contracting: Not explicitly detailed, but the TRD includes sections for "Other parties (if any) involved in this Tender submission" and "Subcontractor/Consortium Member" details, indicating it may be permitted.
• Parent Company Guarantee/Bond: Not specified.

9. Risks, red flags & unusuals

• Mandatory Site Visit: A mandatory site visit is stipulated, with failure to attend resulting in tender elimination. The date for this visit is not specified in the provided metadata, requiring bidders to check the full CFT.
• Organic Ingredient Target: The requirement for a minimum of 10% organic ingredients by value, while aligned with sustainability goals, may present sourcing challenges or cost implications for some bidders.
• Specific Service Delivery Models: While not detailed in the provided text, the mention of "Service Delivery Models 2, 3 or 4" in relation to Professional Indemnity insurance suggests there might be specific operational models that bidders must adhere to or choose from, which could impact suitability.
• Tight Deadline for Insurance: The successful tenderer will be required to provide formal confirmation of insurance from their broker/company prior to award. Failure to do so within the specified timeframe will render them ineligible.

10. SME fit assessment

This tender is likely open to small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with established catering operations.

• Credible Bidders: A viable bidder would be an existing catering company with a proven track record in providing hot meals, ideally to institutional clients like schools or similar organisations. They must demonstrate compliance with food safety regulations (FBO registration) and possess the financial standing to meet the turnover requirement (€54,745.60 average annual turnover). Experience in managing contracts of a similar scale and complexity is crucial.
• Consortium/Sub-contracting: The tender documents indicate that consortium bids are permissible, and the turnover requirement can be met by combined turnover. This allows smaller firms to partner to meet the criteria. Sub-contracting is also implied by the structure of the TRD.
• Indicative Bid-Prep Effort: Preparing a compliant bid will require significant effort. This includes gathering financial statements, contract evidence, references, developing detailed responses to award criteria (food plans, operational procedures, sustainability approaches), and compiling CVs. An estimated bid-prep effort could range from 10-20 days for a well-prepared SME, depending on their existing documentation and resources.
• Pwin Signal: The tender is conducted under an Open Procedure, suggesting it is open to competition. However, the specific requirements for experience and the mandatory site visit may favour incumbent providers or those with established relationships in the public sector catering space. The clear structure of the award criteria means a well-prepared bid with strong qualitative responses has a good chance of success.

11. Where to dig deeper

• Source RFT Filename: [TRD Scoil Mhuire Moylagh.docx]
• eTenders CFT ID: Not specified in the provided metadata.
• Contact / Clarification Portal: Via the eTenders platform.
• Most Important Attachments:
• [TRD Scoil Mhuire Moylagh.docx] (Tender Response Document)
• Appendix 1 (Mandatory Requirement Declaration)
• Appendix 3 (Tenderer's Statement)
• Appendix 5 (Services Contract - Schedule D: Service Level Agreement)