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 under the School Meals Scheme to Camcloon National School. The contract is for a duration of three years. The estimated value of the contract is €104,832, with an estimated annual value of €34,944. The school operates for 182 days per year, and the contractor must provide service on each of these days, barring exceptional circumstances.

The core service involves the provision and delivery of hot meals to students. The contractor will be paid €3.20 (VAT exempt) per student per day for each hot meal provided and delivered. The meals must comply with the "Nutrition Standards for Hot School Meals" and meet specific requirements outlined in Appendix 1 of the tender documents.

Key activities and requirements include:

• Meal Preparation and Delivery: Meals can be pre-prepared off-site and delivered, or fully prepared on-site. The chosen service delivery model is specified in section 1.2 of the tender documents.
• Ordering System: Tenderers must describe their proposed food ordering system (e.g., app, website, email), including details on how to order, time limits for ordering and adjustments, and must provide imagery of the ordering system.
• Food Service: This includes individual packaging and labelling of meals, provision of cutlery and napkins, and distribution to students. Imagery of individual packaging and labelling must be provided.
• Food Plan and Standards: Tenderers must propose a food plan that is varied, healthy, and nutritious, accommodating dietary needs such as intolerances, allergies, and religious observances (lactose-free, gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, halal). The plan must include options available daily, weekly, and seasonally.
• Food Quality and Safety: Maintaining high standards of food quality, freshness, and nutritional content is required. This includes ensuring correct food temperatures from delivery to serving, complying with food legislation, and preventing cross-contamination, particularly for allergens and dietary requirements.
• Contract Management: A Key Account Manager (KAM) must be assigned with proven experience in similar roles. CVs for the KAM and a nominated backup KAM (max 2 A4 pages each) are required.
• Complaint/Incident Management: Tenderers must detail their approach to managing and resolving complaints and incidents, including product recalls, food contamination, customer complaints, medical incidents (foodborne illness, allergies), and food quality issues. Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are detailed in Schedule D of the Services Contract (Appendix 5).
• Staff Resourcing: Ensuring the service is continuously resourced with skilled, knowledgeable, and trained individuals is mandatory. This includes plans for service continuity, staff training, and succession planning.
• Green Procurement and Sustainability: Tenderers must detail their approach to waste minimisation (especially food waste prevention, aligning with national targets) and waste management, including plans for collection, pest control, and storage. A sustainable purchasing policy is also required, favouring local, seasonal produce, minimal waste, and reduced transport miles.
• School Days: Service must be provided on each of the 182 school days per year.

3. Background & buyer context

Camcloon National School is procuring catering services for its students under the Department of Social Protection’s School Meals Scheme. This procurement is conducted as an Open Procedure, indicating that it is open to all eligible economic operators. The estimated contract value falls below the EU procurement threshold of €750,000, allowing for a simplified procedure. The school is located in Ballydangan, Athlone, Co. Roscommon. The tender aims to secure a reliable and nutritious hot meal service for the school's pupils.

4. Eligibility & selection criteria

Bidders must meet the following mandatory criteria to be considered:

• Turnover requirement: A minimum average annual turnover of €34,944 for each of the three financial years immediately preceding the tender publication date. For consortia, this can be a combined turnover. Audited financial statements with an unqualified audit report are required.
• Insurance: The successful tenderer must hold the following insurances for the contract term:
• 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.
• Professional Indemnity: €6.5 million limit per claim (only relevant for specific service delivery models involving fit-out works).
• Certifications: Tenderers must be registered as Food Business Operators (FBOs) with the relevant competent authority (HSE, local authority, or DAFM). Proof of registration or application acknowledgement is required.
• Past experience: Tenderers must demonstrate successful delivery of three previous hot food contracts within the last three years. Each contract must meet specific criteria:
• Nature: Must be a hot food contract.
• Scale: Average daily meals delivered must be 60% or more of the number of hot meals required in this competition.
• Value: Contract value must be 60% or greater of the value sought in this competition.
• Supporting documentation includes contract examples and referee contact details, along with a satisfactory written reference from each referee.
• Personnel: A 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 KAM and a backup KAM are required.
• Geographic / facility constraints: Not specified.

5. Award criteria & scoring

The contract will be awarded based on a combination of quality and price, following the MEAT (Most Economically Advantageous Tender) principle. 1,000 marks are available for qualitative assessment. Price is not explicitly scored but is implicitly considered in the overall value.

Tenderers must achieve a minimum score of 70% for each indicated sub-criterion or sub-sub-criterion to pass. Failure to meet this threshold in any criterion will result in elimination.

6. Submission requirements

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

• Tenderer Details: Full legal name, address, contact information, company registration number, and country of registration. Details of any subcontractors or consortium members.
• Mandatory Requirement Confirmation: Confirmation of attendance at the mandatory site visit and submission of the required declaration.
• Declaration of No Conflicts of Interest: A signed declaration on company letterhead confirming independent tender preparation and no collusion.
• Insurance Declaration: Confirmation that required insurances will be in place upon contract award.
• Selection Criteria Documentation:
• Turnover figures for the last three financial years.
• Audited financial statements for the last three years.
• Confirmation of FBO registration with supporting documentation.
• Details of three previous contract examples (Section 9) and client references.
• Award Criteria Responses: Detailed responses to all qualitative award criteria (Sections 6.A, 6.B, 6.C, 6.D) within the designated response boxes in the TRD.
• CVs: For the proposed KAM and nominated backup KAM (max 2 A4 pages each).
• Pricing Schedule: Not explicitly detailed in the provided extract, but implied by the contract value.
• Declarations: Confirmation of personal circumstances (Section 7) regarding criminal convictions, tax compliance, and professional conduct.
• Checklist: A completed submission checklist (Section 8).
• Submission Portal: Tenders must be submitted via the eTenders platform.

A mandatory site visit is required. The date and time are to be confirmed via Table 1 of the published CFT.

7. Key dates & process

8. Contract terms that matter

• Contract Length: 3 years.
• Payment Terms: 30 days in arrears, based on meals provided and delivered. Payment is €3.20 (VAT exempt) per student per day.
• Service Level Agreements (SLAs): Detailed in Schedule D of the Services Contract (Appendix 5). Specific performance requirements are embedded within the award criteria (e.g., complaint resolution times, KAM response times).
• Liquidated Damages: Not explicitly detailed in the provided extract, but implied by the SLA requirements.
• Termination: A 14-day notice period applies if a breach continues for 14 calendar days. Specific termination clauses for breaches are detailed in the contract.
• IP Ownership: Not specified.
• Sub-contracting: Allowed, with details to be provided by the tenderer.
• Parent-Company Guarantee/Bond: Not specified.

9. Risks, red flags & unusuals

• Mandatory Site Visit: The tender explicitly states that failure to attend the mandatory site visit will result in disqualification. Tenderers must confirm attendance and submit a separate declaration.
• Specific Experience Thresholds: The requirement for three previous contract examples, each meeting 60% of the scale and value of this tender, is a significant hurdle. This is calculated based on the number of students specified in Table 1 of the CFT, which is not provided here but is critical for bidders to assess.
• Detailed Qualitative Scoring: The award criteria are highly detailed, with a strong emphasis on specific processes and plans (ordering, food service, food plan, waste management, sustainability). Tenderers must provide comprehensive written responses and imagery where specified.
• Pass Mark per Sub-Criterion: The requirement to achieve 70% in each sub-criterion (and sub-sub-criterion) means a strong overall score can be negated by a single weak area.
• Incumbent Advantage: While not explicitly stated, the detailed nature of the requirements and the specific experience criteria could favour an incumbent provider who already operates within the school's environment and understands its specific needs.

10. SME fit assessment

This tender is likely best suited for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that specialise in school catering or contract catering with a proven track record in delivering meals to similar volumes.

• Credible Bidders: A viable bidder would be an established catering company with a robust food safety management system (HACCP), experience in school or institutional catering, and the capacity to meet the specified turnover and past performance requirements. The requirement for a minimum annual turnover of €34,944 suggests that very small, nascent businesses may struggle to meet this threshold over three consecutive years.
• Consortium/Sub-contracting: The TRD allows for the inclusion of "Other parties" such as subcontractors or consortium members. This opens the door for smaller firms to partner with others to meet the experience or capacity requirements.
• Indicative Bid-Prep Effort: Preparing a compliant bid will require significant effort. This includes gathering financial statements, detailing operational processes for all award criteria, obtaining client references, preparing CVs, and potentially developing new ordering system imagery. A conservative estimate for bid preparation would be 5-10 working days for a dedicated team, potentially more if significant process development is needed.
• Pwin Signal: The tender is an Open Procedure, suggesting it is not a sole-supplier framework. However, the specific experience requirements (60% scale/value of previous contracts) and the detailed qualitative criteria could favour bidders with direct experience in similar school meal schemes. The mandatory site visit is a standard but important gate.

11. Where to dig deeper

• Source RFT Filename: [TRD Hot Meals - Camcloon NS 15980V.docx]
• eTenders CFT ID: Not specified in the provided text.
• Contact / Clarification Portal: Via the eTenders platform.
• Most Important Attachments: