Joseph Leckie Academy - Catering Services

The successful tenderer will be required to provide catering services at Joseph Leckie Academy.

The duration of the contract being offered is 3 years initially, commencing on 1.4.2016, with the option of a 2 year extension.

The catering service provision at Joseph Leckie Academy has not been market tested in recent years and to ensure Best Value principles are applied the Head Teacher and Academy Governors have made a decision to tender the catering service.

Current roll numbers on roll are 1 146 students plus up to an additional 200 sixth formers. There are 190 teaching and support staff who do not currently use the facility.

Current turnover figures are approximately 236 000 GBP per annum including Free School Meals and it should be noted that the Academy has a very stringent gated policy.

Current uptake levels are above 50 % and the Academy firmly believes that with improved choice and quality there is a real opportunity to increase this level of uptake.

For the avoidance of doubt TUPE Regulations will apply to this contract and all 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 senior management team within the Academy on contract performance. It is imperative that an open book policy is offered to ensure the Academy has total clarity on financial performance.

The Academy 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.

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

The closing date for receipt of the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire is 16.10.2015 (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.

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 pqq@litmuspartnership.co.uk, 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.