Eckington School - Tender for Catering Services.

The successful Supplier will be required to provide catering and hospitality services at Eckington School.

Eckington School is a co-educational mixed community comprehensive school which was opened in September 1978. Our expectations are high and are summed up by the three words on our school badge: 'Respect, Progress, Succeed'.

The School is situated has circa 1200 pupils on a 42 acre site, above Eckington, in a delightful rural situation. At the rear of the School is a large expanse of woodland which includes part of the Sitwell Estate and the Moss Valley.

The catering contract being offered will commence on 1.8.2017 for an initial period of three years, concluding on 31.7.2020, with the option to extend for a further term of up to three years and will be offered on a guaranteed performance basis.

The projected revenue from catering for the current year is circa 305 000 GBP

The contract covers the scope for the provision of all catering within the School, which currently includes breakfast club, morning break, lunch, limited hospitality and free issue requirements. Free school meals and hospitality will be charged based on consumption and at net food cost. There are currently two kitchens and three primary service points.

The School expects the successful contractor to enable the continued development of catering through the provision of an innovative, healthy food service, prepared on-site. Sufficient 'local presence' is required to ensure effective ongoing management of the contract throughout its term.

The School 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.

A Cunninghams biometric cashless system is already in operation; there is a Plasma screen in the main reception, website, Twitter account, access to 'SIMS InTouch' and a parents' newsletter, to access all interested parties in support of dynamic promotional activities.

The School invites bidders to consider what capital investment they may provide in support of plans to improve the pupil meal experience, e.g. upgrade service crockery and cutlery, and generally create a more 'high street retail' meal experience.

Additional information: Interest in the 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 Selection Questionnaire and associated documents can be obtained at: https://www.litmuspartnership.co.uk/project/eckington_school__catering_services

The closing date for receipt of the Selection Questionnaire is 27.1.2017 (12:00). Suppliers 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.

Documents in respect of economic / financial standing (where indicated in the Selection Questionnaire) shall be returned to The Litmus Partnership Limited, by email to [email protected] by the above closing date and time.

It will be the Supplier's responsibility to obtain any necessary documents 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 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.