Meals Pre-Prepared Off-site and Delivered Ready to Eat under the School Meals Scheme

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1. At a glance

2. Scope of Work

This tender seeks a contractor to provide pre-prepared meals, delivered ready to eat, to SN Bhríde, Lackagh, under the Department of Social Protection's School Meals Scheme. The service operates on each of the school's 182 annual days, excluding exceptional circumstances. The contractor will be responsible for the entire process from food preparation off-site to delivery to the school.

Key activities and requirements include:

• Meal Preparation: Meals must be prepared off-site from raw ingredients, with a minimum of 10% organic ingredients by value in specified categories (cereals, fresh beef, lamb, pork, poultry, fish, vegetables, dairy).
• Delivery: Meals are to be delivered to the school, ready to eat.
• Service Model: The specified service delivery model is "Meals Pre-Prepared Off-site and Delivered Ready to Eat".
• Nutrition Standards: Meals must comply with the "Nutrition Standards for Hot School Meals" and include options for students with food intolerances, allergies, and religious observances (lactose-free, gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, halal).
• Ordering System: Tenderers must detail their proposed food ordering system (e.g., app, website, email), including ordering and adjustment time limits. Imagery of the ordering system is required.
• Food Service: This includes individual packaging and labelling, provision of cutlery and napkins. Imagery of individual packaging and labelling is required.
• Food Plan: A food plan must be proposed, offering variety and accommodating dietary needs, available daily, weekly, and seasonally.
• Food Standards: The contractor must ensure food quality, freshness, and preservation of nutritional content, with a plan to mitigate menu fatigue.
• Temperature Control: Strict adherence to food legislation for temperature control from delivery to serving is required.
• Cross-Contamination Prevention: Measures to avoid cross-contamination for allergies and intolerances must be detailed.
• Contract Management: A Key Account Manager (KAM) with relevant experience must be assigned, along with a nominated back-up KAM.
• Complaint/Incident Management: A comprehensive approach to managing and resolving complaints and incidents, including product recalls, food contamination, customer complaints, medical incidents, and food quality issues, is required.
• Staff Resourcing: Continuous resourcing with skilled, knowledgeable, and trained staff is necessary, with plans for quality and continuity, staff training, and succession planning.
• Waste Minimisation: A plan for minimising all waste, particularly food waste, and reducing plastics and non-recyclable materials is required.
• Waste Management: A plan for daily collection of food waste and packaging, and pest control measures for relevant areas, must be provided.
• Sustainable Purchasing: A purchasing policy contributing to environmental and social sustainability, favouring local, seasonal, and low-waste products, is required.
• Reporting: Monthly status reports detailing key information are required.

3. Background & buyer context

This procurement is conducted by SN Bhríde, Lackagh, under the Department of Social Protection's School Meals Scheme. The scheme aims to provide nutritious meals to students in primary schools, particularly those in disadvantaged areas. This tender is a direct procurement for the school's specific needs. The estimated contract value falls below the EU threshold of €750,000, indicating a standard national procurement procedure. The school operates 182 days per year, defining the service period.

4. Eligibility & selection criteria

To be considered, bidders must meet the following mandatory criteria:

• Turnover requirement: A minimum average annual turnover of €134,534.40 for each of the three financial years preceding the tender publication date. Consortium turnover can be combined.
• Insurance:
• Employer’s Liability: €13 million limit per claim.
• Public Liability: €6.5 million limit per claim.
• Product Liability: €6.5 million limit per claim and in aggregate.
• 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 and in aggregate.
• Certifications: Registered as a Food Business Operator (FBO) with the relevant competent authority (HSE, local authority, or DAFM).
• Past experience: Successfully delivered three previous hot food contracts of similar nature, scale, and value within the last three years. Each contract must have involved an average of 60% or more of the required daily meal volume and a value of 60% or greater of the current tender's contract value.
• Personnel: A Key Account Manager (KAM) with a minimum of 2 years of experience in a similar role and a Food Safety/HACCP qualification is required. A nominated back-up KAM is also required.
• Geographic / facility constraints: Not specified for this tender.

5. Award criteria & scoring

The contract will be awarded based on a combination of quality and price, using the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT) principle. A total of 1,000 marks are available for qualitative assessment.

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