Thornton Primary School - Tender for Catering Services.

The successful tenderer will be required to provide catering services at Thornton Primary School, Ward End, Birmingham.

Full details in relation to Thornton Primary School can be found at: http://www.thornton.bham.sch.uk

The catering service provision at Thornton Primary School has not been market tested in recent years and to ensure Best Value principles are applied the Headteacher and School Governors have made a decision to tender the catering service.

Current numbers on roll are 685 pupils plus 108 teaching and support staff.

There is a proposed programme for change commencing in 2017 where by the infant provision (year groups: reception to year 2) will close over a seven year period. (The proposed phasing is illustrated within the PQQ Documentation.)

The key reason for this proposal is to change it to a Junior School provision, which will assist the School with its improvement journey and will be more beneficial for resources to be focused on improving the attainment and standards in the Junior School, where the School has greater capacity, resources and expertise.

Current turnover figures are circa £164k per annum including Free School Meals. Universal Free School Meal uptake will decrease next year due to the proposed restructure as illustrated above.

Current uptake levels are circa 58 % and the School firmly believes that with improved choice and quality there is a real opportunity to increase this level of uptake.

The current kitchen / service provision is based on a cook / chill regenerated food offer and as part of the tendering exercise the Headteacher and School Governors are looking for the successful contractor to invest in more conventional methods of onsite cooking production, minimising convenience foods and maximising on site food production.

For the avoidance of doubt TUPE Regulations will apply to this contract and some of the current catering staff are in the LGPS (Local Government Pension Scheme).

The successful contractor will be expected to deliver a concise and detailed method of management reporting at the end of each month, thus updating the Client on contract performance. It is imperative that an open book policy is offered to ensure the School has total clarity on financial performance.

Thornton Primary School is seeking both innovation and the application of current food trends within the tender submissions and would expect as a result of this to be able to identify 'Best Value' and work in partnership with the chosen contractor going forward.

(Further information is available within the PQQ Documentation.)

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 pre-qualification questionnaire and associated documents can be obtained at: http://www.litmuspartnership.co.uk/project/thornton_primary_school

The closing date for receipt of the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire is 16.12.2016 (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.

Documents in respect of economic / financial standing (where indicated in the Pre-Qualification 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 Tenderer'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 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.