CONTRACT NOTICE – OFFICIAL JOURNAL

Section I: Contracting Authority

I.1)

Name, Address and Contact Point(s)

I.2)

Type of contracting Authority and Main Activity or Activities

Ministry or any other national or federal authority, including their regional or local sub-divisions National or federal agency/Office Regional or local Authority Regional or local Agency/Office Body governed by public law European Institution/Agency or International Organisation

General public services Defence Public order and safety Environment Economic and financial affairs Health Housing and community amenities Social protection Recreation, culture and religion Education

Section II: Object of the Contract

II.1)

Description

II.1.1)

Title attributed to the contract by the contracting authority

II.1.2(a))

Type of works contract

II.1.2(b))

Type of supplies contract

II.1.2(c))

Type of service contract

II.1.2)

Main site or location of works, place of delivery or performance

Thurston Community CollegeBury St EdmundsSuffolkUnited Kingdom

II.1.3)

This notice involves

A public contract
The setting up of a Dynamic Purchasing System
The establishment of a framework agreement

II.1.4)

Information on framework agreement (if applicable)

Framework agreement with a single operators
Framework agreement with several operators

Number of participants to the framework agreement envisaged

Duration of the framework agreement

Justification for a framework agreement the duration of which exceeds four years

Estimated total value of purchases for the entire duration of the framework agreement

Frequency and value of the contracts to be awarded

II.1.5)

Short description of the contract or purchase(s)

Thurston Community College, located four miles outside of Bury St Edmunds, is one of the largest co-educational schools in West Suffolk. In September 2014, up to 1 065 Year 7 – 9 pupils mainly from the local middle schools at Beyton, Blackbourne and Ixworth will move to the main College site in Norton Road, Thurston and the current Sixth Form will move to the site at Beyton. The contractor selected at the conclusion of this tender process will therefore be providing a catering service for between an estimated 1 865 to 2 090 pupils across both sites and up to 200 staff.

The proportion of students entitled to free school meals is below average and the proportion of minority ethnic backgrounds well below average.

Under the leadership of the Principal, Helen Wilson, Thurston Community College is thriving. It is accredited as a National Healthy School and is a flagship school for the Food for Life Partnership.

The College serves a large rural catchment area and therefore the majority of students are bussed in. With the exception of the Sixth Form, all students have to remain on the College premises unless they live in Thurston and have a note from parents stating they are going home for lunch. When the Sixth Form moves to the Beyton Road site next year, there will be no local shops for them to buy snacks or lunch. The catering operator will therefore have a largely “captive audience” for its services on both sites and this is therefore a great opportunity for the right bidder.

At Beyton the service is managed in-house but the new contract will be for both sites and therefore TUPE is likely to apply to these staff. The catering service at the Thurston Site is outsourced but the contract ends in July 2014. The College is therefore taking this opportunity, at a moment of significant structural change, to ensure that going forward the best possible service is provided to all ages of students across both sites, and on the most competitive terms.

Students and staff at the Thurston site pay for breakfast, morning break and lunch services with a cashless biometric system. Annual paid-for meal income is currently around 166 000 GBP, with 22 000 GBP of this from Sixth Form sales. 186 students are currently entitled to a free school meal, of whom typically 115 actually take up the offer. In addition, staff who undertake a voluntary lunchtime duty are also provided with a school meal, paid for by the college. The total value of free school meals and staff meals is 37 000 GBP. The College is seeking a contractor who is able to adapt their services flexibly to the requirements of a changing student population. A healthy food offer that maximises uptake at both communities on the most economically advantageous terms is sought.

II.1.6)

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

II.1.7)

Contract covered by the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)

II.1.8)

Division into lots

II.1.9)

Will variants be accepted

II.2)

Quantity or Scope of the Contract

II.2.1)

Total quantity or scope

II.2.2)

Options

Provisional timetable for recourse to these options

Number of possible renewals

In the case of renewable supplies or service contracts, estimated time frame for subsequent contracts

Section III: Legal, Economic, Financial and Technical Information

III.2)

Conditions for Participation

III.2.1)

Personal situation of economic operators, including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registers

Tenderers will be required to complete and submit a pre-qualification questionnaire and associated documentation to The Litmus Partnership Limited website.

Minimum standards for participation are stated in the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire.

Failure to achieve a pass in any of the minimum standards will result in your exclusion from any further part in this process.

Conviction of criminal offences – questions are stated in the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire.

Business Probity – questions are stated in the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire.

III.2.2)

Economic and financial capacity

III.2.3)

Technical capacity

III.2.4)

Reserved contracts

The contract is restricted to sheltered workshops
The execution of the contract is restricted to the framework of sheltered employment programmes

Section IV: Procedure

IV.1)

Type of Procedure

Open		Restricted
Accelerated restricted		Negotiated
Accelerated negotiated		Competitive dialogue

Justification for the choice of accelerated procedure

IV.1.1)

Have candidates already been selected?

IV.1.2)

Limitations on the number of operators who will be invited to tender or to participate

Objective criteria for choosing the limited number of candidates

A minimum of 5 suppliers and a maximum of 10 suppliers will be taken forward to the tender stage of the process. Where less than 5 suppliers meet the minimum standards, only those that meet the minimum standards will be taken through to the tender stage. Where more than 5 suppliers meet the minimum standard, those suppliers with the highest scores will proceed to the tender stage.

IV.1.3)

Reduction of the number of operators during the negotiation or dialogue

Recourse to staged procedure to gradually reduce the number of solutions to be discussed or tenders to be negotiated

IV.2)

Award Criteria

IV.2.2)

An electronic auction will be used

IV.3 Administrative Information

IV.3.1)

Reference number attributed to the notice by the contracting authority

IV.3.2)

Previous publication(s) concerning the same contract

Prior Information Notice
Notice on a Buyer Profile

Other previous publications

IV.3.3)

Conditions for obtaining specifications and additional documents

IV.3.4)

Time-limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate

IV.3.5)

Date of dispatch of invitations to tender or to participate to selected candidates

IV.3.6)

Language or languages in which tenders or requests to participate can be drawn up

IV.3.7)

Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tender 

IV.3.8)

Conditions for opening tenders

Section VI: Other Information

VI.1)

Indicate whether this procurement is a recurrent one and the Estimated timing for further notices to be published

VI.2)

Does the contract relate to a Project/Programme financed by Community Funds?

VI.3)

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 13.11.2013 (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.

VI.4)

Procedures for appeal

VI.4.1)

Body responsible for appeal procedures

Body responsible for mediation procedures

VI.4.2)

Lodging of appeals
Precise information on deadline(s) for lodging appeals:

VI.4.3)

Service from which information about the lodging of appeals may be obtained

VI.5)

Dispatch date of this Notice