S4S School Cluster ~ Tender for Catering Services

The successful supplier will be required to provide catering services for the S4S School Cluster (the collective name for the schools under this tender process) at the following locations in Wolverhampton: - St Stephen's Church of England Primary School, Woden Road, WV10 0BB - Parkfield Primary School, Dimmock Street, WV4 6HB - St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, Graiseley Lane, WV11 1PG - West Park Primary School, Devon Road, WV1 4BE - Fallings Park Primary School, Old Fallings Lane, WV10 8BN S4S Ltd have been commissioned by the Cluster to coordinate this project to ensure best value principles are achieved. The Litmus Partnership are working with S4S to manage the tender process and to assist with protocols that need to be in place throughout. The catering services provision at all five schools has not been market tested in recent years and to ensure Best Value Principles are applied the Headteachers and school /sponsors /governors of each school have made a decision to tender their catering services. All schools have their own kitchen facilities and it is expected all food served to students will be freshly prepared and produced on site. Current turnover value across all five locations is circa 400 000 GBP per annum including Universal Free School Meals, Free School Meals and cash sales. Current uptake levels vary across all sites and it is firmly believed that with improved choice and quality there is a real opportunity to increase levels of uptake. The catering staff are currently employed by Wolverhampton DSO and for the avoidance of doubt TUPE regulations, including pension rights, will apply to this contract The successful supplier 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 that each school has total clarity on financial performance. The client 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 supplier. The contract term will be for an initial period of 3 years with an optional extension period of a further 2 years and will commence on 1.9.2018. The basis of the contract will be fixed price during the contract term and if any improvements to financial surpluses are generated then the supplier shall share these on an agreed percentage return. Free School Meals uptake and any ad hoc catering requirements will be invoiced on a monthly basis and detailed backup will be part of the accounting system. Please note: This project will be awarded as a single lot contract. Further information is provided in the SQ Document.

Additional information: Interest in the selection 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: http://www.litmuspartnership.co.uk/project/s4s_school_cluster

The closing date for receipt of the Selection Questionnaire is 9.2.2018 (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 Contract 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.