Cornwall Cluster - Secondary and Primary Schools - Catering Services

The successful tenderer will be required to provide catering services to the following schools:

Currently there are 6 secondary schools (5 contracted-out and 1 self-operated ~ Penair School) and 8 primary schools (all contracted-out) within the Cluster. There could be a number of other secondary and primary schools joining in the tender process. This cannot be guaranteed at this stage but will be communicated as soon as confirmed.

The tender will be managed on a group basis, however each school will be required to have their individual operational budget and contract and may wish to appoint the contractor they would like for their particular school. As the contract will not therefore necessarily be awarded on a group basis, contractors will have the option to show additional financial benefits on a separate upload if one of more schools were to be awarded to one contractor.

The contract covers the scope for the provision of all catering services within the schools, which also includes all hospitality and free issue requirements.

The term of the contract for most of the schools will be three years, with the option to extend up to five years, with the exception of Hayle, St Ives and Treviglas which are inviting proposals for longer periods ~ to a maximum of ten years ~ where this enables a higher level of capital investment. Please be aware other schools might also wish to look at this option too.

Please note the key dates within the timetable as you might need to allow for additional resources for the unit visits on 3 & 4 February 2016.

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/cornwall_cluster

The closing date for receipt of the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire is 14.12.2015 (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.