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 to students at SN Treasa Naofa under the Department of Social Protection's School Meals Scheme. The estimated contract value is €185,203.20. The school operates for 182 days per year, and the contractor must provide service on each of these days, barring exceptional circumstances. The contract payment is €3.20 (VAT exempt) per student per day for each hot meal provided and delivered.

The contractor will be responsible for:

• Meal Provision: Supplying hot meals prepared from raw ingredients, with a minimum of 10% organic ingredients by value where possible, in line with the "Buying Greener" strategy.
• Service Delivery Method: Tenderers must propose one of the following service delivery models:
• Meals Pre-Prepared Off-site and Delivered.
• Meals Pre-Prepared Off-Site and Heated in the school.
• Meals Fully Prepared On-Site.
• Nutritional Standards: Meals must comply with the "Nutrition Standards for Hot School Meals" and meet specific dietary requirements including options for lactose-free, gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, and halal, as well as accommodating food intolerances, allergies, and religious observances.
• Ordering System: Implementing a food ordering system (app, website, email) with clear ordering and adjustment deadlines. Imagery of the ordering system must be provided.
• Food Service: Managing the distribution of meals, individual packaging, labelling, and provision of cutlery and napkins. Imagery of individual packaging and labelling is required.
• Food Plan and Standards: Developing a varied, healthy, and nutritious food plan that can evolve over the contract term. This includes ensuring food quality, freshness, preservation of nutritional content, and mitigating menu fatigue.
• Temperature Control: Maintaining correct food temperatures from delivery to serving, in compliance with food legislation.
• Cross-Contamination Prevention: Implementing measures to avoid cross-contamination for allergies and intolerances.
• Contract Management: Assigning a Key Account Manager (KAM) with proven experience, and a nominated back-up KAM.
• 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 resourcing with skilled, knowledgeable, and trained individuals, with measures for quality and continuity, staff training updates, and succession planning.
• Green Procurement: Implementing waste minimisation and management plans, including food waste reduction targets, use of recyclable/compostable packaging, and reducing plastics. A sustainable purchasing policy favouring local, seasonal, and low-waste products is required.
• Waste Management: Detailing a waste management plan for the school campus, including daily collection of food waste and pest control measures.

3. Background & buyer context

This procurement is conducted by Ballyellis National School (SN Treasa Naofa) for the provision of hot meals under the Department of Social Protection's School Meals Scheme. The scheme aims to provide nutritious meals to children attending schools in disadvantaged areas. The estimated contract value falls below the EU threshold of €750,000, allowing for an Open Procedure under Irish procurement regulations. The tender documents specify a requirement for a minimum of 10% organic ingredients, aligning with the national "Buying Greener" strategy and its sectoral targets for sustainable public procurement.

4. Eligibility & selection criteria

Bidders must meet the following criteria to be considered:

• Turnover requirement: A minimum average annual turnover of €61,734.40 for each of the three financial years immediately preceding the tender publication date. This requirement can be met by the combined turnover of consortium members. Audited financial statements with unqualified audit reports 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.
• Professional Indemnity: €6.5 million limit per claim (only relevant for Service Delivery Models 2, 3, or 4 involving fit-out works).
• Motor Cover: Minimum €1.3 million limit for third-party property damage.
• Crime Insurance: €100,000 per claim.
• Cyber Liability: €1 million per claim and in aggregate.
• Note: Employer's Liability, Public Liability, and Product Liability policies must include an indemnity to principal's clause.
• 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 is required.
• Past experience: A minimum of three previous contract examples (public or private sector) within the last three years. These contracts must have been for hot catering services of a similar nature, scale, and value. Collectively, these examples must demonstrate the delivery of at least 60% of the number of meals required in this tender. Written references from three 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 proposed KAM and a back-up KAM (max 2 A4 pages each) are 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. 1,000 marks are available for qualitative assessment.

Criterion Weight (%) Sub-criteria / Pass Thresholds