Provision of Cold 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 cold meals under the School Meals Scheme to Gaelscoil Lios na nÓg. The estimated value of the contract over its potential three-year term is €172,584. The service involves the daily delivery of cold meals to the school's specified drop-off location.

The contractor's responsibilities include:

• Meal Provision: Supplying cold meals that meet specific nutritional and quality standards. The contract specifies two types of meals: "Lunch with Drink" at €1.70 per meal and "Lunch no Drink" at €1.40 per meal. These meals must consist of a minimum of four items, including two servings of vegetables, salad, or fruit, and one serving of wholemeal or similar bread.
• Ordering and Adjustment System: Implementing a system (e.g., app, website, email) for ordering and adjusting meal orders. This system must include clear procedures for ordering and setting time limits for changes. Imagery of the ordering system is required as part of the tender submission.
• Food Service and Delivery: Ensuring individual packaging and labelling of meals. Cutlery and napkins must be provided where required. Meals must be delivered to the agreed drop-off point at GAELSCOIL LIOS NA NÓG, 21a Oakley Road, D06 WF43.
• Food Plan and Standards: Proposing a food plan that is fresh, healthy, and nutritious, offering variety and choice. This plan must accommodate special dietary requirements, including intolerances, allergies, and religious observances (e.g., lactose-free, gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, halal options). The plan must meet the nutritional standards and individual meal constituents as detailed in Appendix 1 of the tender documents.
• Food Safety and Temperature Control: Maintaining correct food temperatures from delivery to consumption, in compliance with food legislation. Preventing food cross-contamination for allergies, intolerances, and dietary requirements is critical.
• Contract Management: Assigning a Key Account Manager (KAM) with proven experience in delivering similar services. The KAM will be responsible for service delivery and managing the contract.
• Complaint and Incident Management: Establishing a clear approach for managing and resolving complaints and incidents, including product recalls, food contamination, customer complaints, medical incidents (e.g., foodborne illness, allergies), and food quality issues.
• Green Procurement and Sustainability: Detailing an approach to waste prevention and minimisation, with a focus on food waste reduction, aligning with national targets. This includes using environmentally friendly, recyclable, compostable, or biodegradable packaging and reducing plastics. A sustainable purchasing policy favouring local suppliers, seasonal produce, and waste minimisation in purchasing decisions is also required.
• Reporting: Providing monthly status reports detailing key information.

The service is to be provided on each of the 180 school days, excluding exceptional circumstances.

3. Background & buyer context

Gaelscoil Lios na nÓg is procuring cold meals under the Department of Social Protection’s School Meals Scheme. This initiative aims to provide nutritional support to primary school children. The procurement is conducted as an Open Procedure, indicating it is open to all eligible economic operators, and falls below the EU threshold of €750,000 for public authority contracts. The estimated contract value suggests a requirement for a service provider capable of delivering meals to a single school location. The tender documents reference the "Buying Greener" strategy and Directive (EU) 2019/904, indicating a focus on environmental sustainability in procurement.

4. Eligibility & selection criteria

Bidders must meet the following criteria to be considered:

• Turnover requirement: A minimum average annual turnover of €57,528.00 for each of the three financial years immediately preceding the tender publication date. For consortium bids, this requirement can be met by the combined turnover of members. Audited financial statements for the last three years 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. A formal confirmation from the insurer or broker will be required from the successful tenderer prior to award.
• Certifications: Registration as a Food Business Operator (FBO) with the Health Service Executive (HSE) or the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine (DAFM), as appropriate. A copy of the notification letter or approval certificate is required.
• Past experience: A minimum of three previous contract examples (public or private sector) within the last three years. These contracts must be for food catering services and collectively demonstrate the ability to deliver catering of a similar nature, scale, and value. Specifically, the average number of meals produced/delivered per day across these examples must be 60% or more of the number of meals required in this competition. Written references from three named referees for three of these contracts are mandatory.
• Personnel: A Key Account Manager (KAM) must be proposed, with a CV (maximum 2 A4 pages) demonstrating relevant previous experience.
• Geographic / facility constraints: The drop-off location is specified as GAELSCOIL LIOS NA NÓG, 21a Oakley Road, D06 WF43. No other specific geographic or facility constraints are mentioned.

5. Award criteria & scoring

The contract will be awarded based on a combination of quality and price. A total of 1,000 marks are available for qualitative assessment. The price component is not explicitly scored but will be considered in the overall award decision. Tenderers must achieve a minimum score of 70% in each sub-criterion where indicated to avoid 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, registered address, contact information, company registration number, and country of registration. Details of any subcontractors or consortium members.
• Mandatory Requirement Confirmation: Confirmation of attendance at a mandatory site visit (if applicable) and submission of the MR01 Declaration.
• Declarations:
• Declaration of no conflicts of interest and no anti-competitive behaviour, on headed paper and signed.
• Confirmation of personal circumstances, detailing absence of criminal convictions, bankruptcy, insolvency, and breaches of tax or social security obligations.
• Insurance Declaration: Confirmation that required insurances will be in place upon contract award.
• Selection Criteria Documentation:
• Turnover figures for the last three financial years.
• Copies of audited financial statements for the last three years.
• Details of at least three previous contract examples in Section 9.
• Client references for three previous contract examples.
• Copy of FBO registration/notification.
• Award Criteria Responses: Completed responses within the designated boxes in Section 6 for each qualitative award criterion and sub-criterion.
• CV for KAM: Submitted as part of Sub-Criterion C.1.
• Pricing Schedule: Not explicitly detailed in the provided extract, but implied by the nature of the tender.
• Checklist: A completed checklist confirming all required documents and actions have been taken.

Submissions must be made via the eTenders platform.

7. Key dates & process

8. Contract terms that matter

• Contract Length: The contract is structured for a maximum three-year term, with an estimated total value of €172,584.
• Payment Terms: Payment will be made on a 30-day arrears basis, in line with the payment schedule.
• Service Level Agreements (SLAs): While specific SLAs are not detailed in this extract, the tender references Schedule D (Service Level Agreement) of the Services Contract (Appendix 5) for contract performance requirements, particularly concerning complaint and incident management.
• Liquidated Damages: Not explicitly detailed in this extract.
• Termination: A party may terminate with 14 days' notice if a breach continues for 14 calendar days. Specific termination clauses related to breaches capable of remedy are also mentioned, requiring a 30-day notice period after a written request.
• IP Ownership: Not specified.
• Sub-contracting: The TRD allows for the inclusion of subcontractors or consortium members, indicating sub-contracting is permitted.
• Parent Company Guarantee/Bond: Not specified.

9. Risks, red flags & unusuals

• Turnover Requirement: The minimum annual turnover requirement (€57,528) is exactly one-third of the total estimated contract value (€172,584 over 3 years). This ratio is common in tenders to ensure financial stability but could be seen as a potential barrier for very small, specialised businesses if not structured to allow consortium bids.
• Mandatory Site Visit: The TRD mentions a mandatory site visit, but the date and time are not specified in the provided metadata. Tenderers must confirm attendance for their bid to be considered.
• Detailed Qualitative Criteria: The award criteria are highly detailed, with specific minimum pass marks for sub-criteria. This requires bidders to provide comprehensive and targeted responses to each section, increasing bid preparation effort.
• Specific Sustainability Focus: The emphasis on "Buying Greener" and specific EU directives (EU) 2019/904 for waste reduction and plastics indicates a strong preference for environmentally conscious providers.
• No Explicit Price Scoring: While price is a factor, the award criteria focus heavily on qualitative aspects, with no explicit percentage weighting for price provided in this extract. This suggests quality and adherence to standards may heavily outweigh price.

10. SME fit assessment

This tender is structured to be accessible to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that specialise in catering services.

• Viable Bidder Profile: A credible bidder would be an established food business operator with demonstrable experience in catering, particularly in institutional or school settings. They must have robust food safety management systems (HACCP), a proven track record of delivering meals to a similar scale (at least 60% of the required daily meal volume across three contracts), and the capacity to meet stringent quality, nutritional, and sustainability standards. The minimum turnover requirement of €57,528 per year is achievable for many SMEs.
• Consortium/Sub-contracting: The tender explicitly allows for consortium bids and the involvement of subcontractors. This provides an avenue for smaller businesses that may not meet all criteria individually to partner with others to form a stronger bid.
• Indicative Bid-Prep Effort: The detailed qualitative criteria, specific requirements for food plans, sustainability, and contract management, along with the need for detailed documentation (financials, references, KAM CV), suggest a significant bid preparation effort. This could range from 10-20 working days for a well-prepared SME, depending on their existing documentation and proposal development capacity.
• Pwin Signal: The tender is for a single school and has a modest estimated value. There is no indication of an incumbent provider being mentioned. The detailed qualitative requirements and sustainability focus suggest that bidders who can clearly demonstrate excellence in these areas will have a strong chance of success. The open procedure and allowance for consortia suggest the contracting authority is seeking competitive bids.

11. Where to dig deeper

• Source RFT Filename: [TRD-Cold-Lunch-andor-Afterschool-Club(s)-below-750k-Gaelscoil Lios na nOg 20048Q.docx]
• eTenders CFT ID: Not specified in the provided text.
• Contact / Clarification Portal: Via the eTenders platform.
• Most Important Attachments:
• Tender Response Document (TRD)
• Appendix 1 (Meal requirements, Table 1, Table 3)
• Appendix 5 (Services Contract including Schedule D: Service Level Agreement)