St Oliver Plunkett National School Hot Meal Provision

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 primary school students under the Department of Social Protection's School Meals Scheme. The service will be delivered to St. Oliver Plunkett National School in Kilkerrin, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway. The contract value is estimated at €213,158.40. 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. Tenderers must select one of the following service delivery models:

• Meals Pre-Prepared Off-site and Delivered Ready-to-Serve
• Meals Pre-Prepared Off-Site and Heated in the School
• Meals Fully Prepared On-Site

Key activities and requirements include:

• Meal Provision: Supplying hot meals that meet specific nutrition standards, as outlined in Appendix 1 of the full tender documents.
• Dietary Requirements: Offering options to accommodate students with food intolerances, allergies, and religious observances, including lactose-free, gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, and halal options.
• Ordering System: Implementing a food ordering system (app, website, email) for meal orders and adjustments, with defined ordering and modification time limits. Imagery of the ordering system must be provided.
• Food Service: Ensuring efficient distribution of meals to students, including individual packaging and labelling, and the provision of cutlery and napkins. Imagery of individual packaging and labelling is required.
• Food Quality and Standards: Maintaining high standards of food quality, freshness, and nutritional content. This includes ensuring correct food temperatures from delivery to serving, and preventing cross-contamination for allergies and intolerances.
• Food Plan: Proposing a food plan that is varied, healthy, and nutritious, incorporating seasonal produce and a range of food items, with daily, weekly, and seasonal variations.
• Contract Management: Assigning a Key Account Manager (KAM) with proven experience to oversee service delivery. A CV for the KAM and a nominated back-up KAM (max 2 A4 pages each) must be submitted.
• Complaint/Incident Management: Establishing a clear process for 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 staffing with individuals possessing the required skills, knowledge, and experience. Measures for staff training, succession planning, and replacement due to absence must be detailed.
• Green Procurement and Sustainability: Implementing waste minimisation and waste management plans, with a focus on food waste prevention, use of recyclable/compostable packaging, and reduction of plastics. A sustainable purchasing policy favouring local, seasonal produce and waste reduction is required.
• Reporting: Providing monthly status reports detailing key information.

The contract is for the provision of hot meals, and the payment structure is €3.20 (VAT exempt) per student per day for each hot meal provided and delivered.

3. Background & buyer context

This procurement is conducted by St. Oliver Plunkett National School under the Department of Social Protection's School Meals Scheme. The scheme aims to provide nutritional support to primary school children. The tender is being issued as an Open Procedure, indicating a competitive process to select a service provider. The estimated contract value falls below the €750,000 EU procurement threshold, meaning it is subject to Irish national regulations rather than full EU directives for this value band. The school is located in Kilkerrin, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway. The tender documents do not specify a programme or policy driver beyond the existing School Meals Scheme. No incumbent provider is explicitly named.

4. Eligibility & selection criteria

Bidders must meet the following mandatory criteria to be considered:

• Turnover requirement: A minimum average annual turnover of €71,052.80 for each of the three (3) financial years immediately preceding the tender publication date. This requirement may be met by the combined turnover of consortium members.
• Insurance: The successful tenderer must hold the following insurances for the contract term:
• Employer's Liability: €13 million limit per claim/series of claims.
• Public Liability: €6.5 million limit per claim/series of claims.
• Product Liability: €6.5 million limit per claim and in aggregate.
• Professional Indemnity (if fit-out works are involved): €6.5 million limit per claim/series of claims.
• Motor Cover: Minimum €1.3 million limit for third-party property damage per accident.
• Crime Insurance: €100,000 per claim.
• Cyber Liability: €1 million per claim and in aggregate.
• Indemnity to Principal clauses must be included in Employer's Liability, Public Liability, and Product Liability policies.
• Certifications: Tenderers must be registered Food Business Operators (FBOs) with the relevant competent authority (HSE, local authority, or DAFM).
• Past experience: Tenderers must demonstrate experience by providing details of at least three (3) previous contract examples within the last three years. These contracts must have involved hot catering services of a similar nature, scale, and value to this tender. Collectively, these examples must demonstrate the delivery of a volume of meals equivalent to at least 60% of the maximum number of meals required in this competition. Written references from three named referees for these contracts are mandatory.
• Personnel: Key Account Managers (KAMs) 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 back-up KAM are required.
• Geographic / facility constraints: Not specified for this tender.

5. Award criteria & scoring

The contract will be awarded based on a combination of qualitative and price criteria. The total available marks are 1,000.

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