Provision of Hot Lunches under the School Meals Scheme

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

Here is a comprehensive Tender Briefing for the Gaelscoil Shlí Dála hot lunch tender:

1. At a glance

2. Scope of Work

This tender seeks a contractor to provide hot lunches to students at Gaelscoil Shlí Dála under the Department of Social Protection’s School Meals Scheme. The contract will operate for 182 school days per year. The service delivery model specified is "Meals Pre-Prepared Off-Site and Delivered".

Key activities and requirements include:

• Meal Provision: Supplying hot meals daily for the 182 school days, excluding exceptional circumstances.
• Service Model: Meals are pre-prepared off-site and delivered to the school for heating and serving.
• Nutritional Standards: Meals must comply with the "Nutrition Standards for Hot School Meals" and meet specific food plan requirements outlined in Appendix 1 of the full tender documents. This includes providing 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 timelines. Imagery of the ordering system is mandatory.
• Food Service: This encompasses distribution to students, individual packaging, labelling, and provision of cutlery and napkins. Imagery of individual packaging and labelling is mandatory.
• Food Standards: Maintaining high standards of food quality, freshness, and nutritional content. This includes managing menu fatigue, ensuring correct food temperatures from delivery to serving, and preventing cross-contamination for allergies and intolerances.
• Contract Management: Appointing a Key Account Manager (KAM) with proven experience in similar roles. A CV for the KAM and a nominated backup KAM (max 2 A4 pages each) must be submitted.
• Complaint/Incident Management: 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 staff. This includes plans for service continuity, staff training, and succession planning.
• Green Procurement and Sustainability: Implementing waste minimisation and a waste management plan, with a focus on food waste prevention and reducing plastics. A sustainable purchasing policy is also required, favouring local, seasonal produce and suppliers with minimal waste.
• Reporting: Providing monthly status reports detailing key information.

The estimated contract value is €104,832. The fee per student per day for each hot meal provided is €3.20 (VAT exempt).

3. Background & buyer context

Gaelscoil Shlí Dála, located in Co. Laois, is procuring hot lunch services under the Department of Social Protection’s School Meals Scheme. This procurement is conducted under an Open Procedure, indicating it is open to all eligible economic operators. The estimated contract value falls below the €750,000 EU procurement threshold, meaning certain regulatory requirements are streamlined. The school operates for 182 days per year. The tender documents specify a "Meals Pre-Prepared Off-Site and Delivered" service model.

4. Eligibility & selection criteria

To be considered for this tender, bidders must meet the following mandatory selection criteria:

• Turnover requirement:
• A minimum average annual turnover of €34,944 for each of the three (3) financial years immediately preceding the tender publication date.
• If submitting as a consortium, this requirement can be met by the combined turnover of consortium members.
• Audited financial statements with an unqualified audit report for the last three years are required.
• 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 per policy year.
• Professional Indemnity: €6.5 million limit per claim (only relevant for specific service delivery models not applicable here).
• A formal confirmation from the insurer or broker will be required from the successful tenderer prior to contract award.
• Certifications:
• Registered Food Business Operators (FBOs) with the HSE, local authority, or DAFM.
• A copy of the acknowledgement of notification letter or approval certificate from the competent authority is required.
• Past experience:
• Details of three (3) previous hot meal contracts (public or private sector) successfully delivered within the last three years.
• Each contract example must have been 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 contract value being sought.
• A satisfactory written reference from a named referee for each contract example is 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 KAM and a nominated backup KAM (max 2 A4 pages each) are required.
• Geographic / facility constraints: Not specified.

5. Award criteria & scoring

The contract will be awarded based on the highest score, determined by a combination of qualitative and price assessments. The overall scoring is weighted as follows:

Criterion Weight (%) Sub-criteria / Pass/Fail Thresholds