Alternative Futures Group - Cleaning Services and Catering Offer

AFG is looking for a cleaning and catering contractor who will be their partner in excellence, providing a high quality environment in which the service users at these centres can achieve their potential and in which they can aspire to be the best, as well as providing a Cook Freeze food service to its service users.

The successful tenderer will be required to provide cleaning and catering services at all the 7 Hospitals that form part of Alternative Futures Group portfolio, providing a breakdown of cost for specific buildings. Additionally cleaning services will be required at The Lindens in Middlewich where offices are situated. The contract is worth between £1.5 and £2m over three years. Other sites may form part of the group in the future and these may be added to the contract, if acceptable.

The addresses of the independent hospitals for which the new cleaning contract will apply are:

Abbey Court, Warrington

Fir Trees, Wigan

Lea Court, Warrington

Meadow Park, Ellesmere Port

Mill Brook, Wythenshawe

Oak Lodge, Bolton

Weaver Lodge, Winsford

Each site operates all year round 365 days of the year.

The cleaning and catering service is currently outsourced to a catering and cleaning contractor.

The Lindens, Middlewich

The cleaning service is currently outsourced to a cleaning contractor.

Any company wishing to be considered for this contract must be able to demonstrate experience and depth of knowledge in the management and handling of TUPE issues.

The contract will commence in February 2016 for an initial period of 3 years, unless it is terminated earlier in accordance with the terms of this Agreement. If the Contract continues for the full 3 year period, the Agreement shall then remain in place, until terminated by either party giving the other not less than 6 months’ notice in writing. Adjustment of the budget on an annual basis shall be with mutual agreement.

This cleaning side of the contract will be fixed price in nature with the successful contractor working to an output cleaning specification which complies with the British Institute of Cleaning Science (BICSc) standards and The National Specifications for Cleanliness in the NHS. While the catering contract will be based on a fixed labour structure with additional charge for meals served at a set agreed price per meal.

We are seeking a suitably experienced contractor who has current experience of working within the NHS and healthcare market place, ideally with a strong operational base within the North of England, thus allowing for responsive, contract support and management of cleaning and catering staff which is essential for the successful delivery of the service. The catering service provided at the commencement of the new supplier will move from a current cook from scratch service to a predominately Cook Freeze service.

Additional information: Interest in the pre-qualification process should be expressed via email only to pqq@litmuspartnership.co.uk, 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 4.9.2015 (12:00). Tenderers are required to ensure that documents are obtained and returned to The Litmus Partnership Limited, by email to pqq@litmuspartnership.co.uk, 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.