Growth in Learning Trust - Catering Services

The successful tenderer will be required to provide catering services at Growth in Learning Trust, initially Barton Hill Academy, Bristol. Please note the scope of the requirement may grow during the period of the contract with any additional schools being negotiated separately as an addition to the core contract. The Trust has established a strong ethos and values, which will be key in deciding which bidder to award the contract to. The Academy has 19 classes from nursery to year six. There are currently three classes in each year group from reception to year two and two in each of the others. The Academy is growing fast and the aim is to be fully three form entry by September 2018. The Academy shall benefit from a significant extension to support this objective with new classrooms, kitchen and catering equipment being added by November 2015, in advance of the start of this contract. The catering contract being offered will commence on 1 April 2016 for an initial period of three years, concluding on 31 March 2019, and will be offered on a guaranteed performance basis, with a service on each of the 190 full academic days and a hospitality requirement on 5 teacher training inset days. . This is the first time this contract has been subjected to a competitive tender process. The projected cost of catering for the current year is approximately £75K. There is currently no cashless system in place. The contract covers the scope for the provision of all catering services within the Academy, which currently includes breakfast club, morning break, lunch, all hospitality and free issue requirements. Free school meals and hospitality will be charged based on consumption. The school has a Halal requirement for a significant number of pupils. We provide a Breakfast club and ‘Magic Breakfast’, all children and parents are welcome. Breakfast Club opens at 8 a.m. and finish’s serving at 8.30. The food from Magic Breakfast will be free to all children who attend Barton Hill Academy. From Magic Breakfast we receive bagels, cereals, porridge and orange juice and we will provide a range of spreads. Parents and staff will have to pay for breakfast but the costs will be kept as low as possible. The Trust expects the successful contractor to enable the continued development of catering through the provision of an innovative, healthy food service, prepared on-site, in the ‘new’, well-designed and equipped kitchen. The Trust intends to focus heavily on healthy, fresh, seasonal, locally sourced produce and sees the catering service as an exciting opportunity to complement the overall uptake, student and parent experience, through the regular introduction of new ingredients, themed and promotional events. The successful contractor will be required to play their part in acting as a catalyst for improvement of the pupil experience.

Additional information: Interest in the pre-qualification process should be expressed via email only to [email protected], clearly stating within this email which contract / notice you are referring to. Please also provide, as a minimum, a contact name, full company postal address and telephone number. The closing date for receipt of the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire is 11.9.2015 (12:00). Tenderers are required to ensure that documents are obtained and returned to The Litmus Partnership Limited, by email to [email protected], by the above closing date and time. Policy documents (where indicated in the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire) shall be uploaded to The Litmus Partnership Limited pre-qualification website prior to this closing date and time. It will be the Tenderer’s responsibility to obtain any necessary documents and access to The Litmus Partnership pre-qualification website in order to submit a response by the closing date and time. The contracting authority reserves the right not to award any or part of the contract which is the subject of this OJEU notice and reserves the right to terminate the procurement process at any time. The contracting authority will not be liable for any costs incurred by those expressing an interest in tendering for this contract opportunity. The contracting authority will consider variant bids, evaluating them (so far as the variant or the evaluation of the variant is in the opinion of the contracting authority practicable) on the same basis as a conforming bid, but shall not be obliged to accept any such bid in preference to a conforming bid even if the variant bid scores more highly. No variant will be considered unless the bidder simultaneously submits a conforming bid.