2425-0021 School Meals Services

Islington Council invites suitable expressions of interest from suppliers for the above. The council seeks a single provider to deliver a school lunches and early years meals (breakfast, lunch, light afternoon meal and snacks) service to 57 sites in Islington, employing staff at 49 kitchens and supplying food in line with the council’s food standards, as per national statutory standards and additional standards as particularly described in the specification. The provider will be expected to manage delivery of around 11,000 meals per day to a variety of types and sizes of school and early years setting, serving a diverse population, with more than 200 kitchen staff involved in meal preparation and delivery. The council and schools have significant social value ambitions across inclusive employment, net zero carbon agenda, population health and engagement in whole school development. The contract requires the provider to pay staff at least London Living Wage pay rates and to pay sick pay to its employees from the first day of any absence due to sickness. The contract will run for an initial period of 60 months from an estimated start date of 5 April 2025. There will be options to extend the contract period on one or more occasions for a period of up to two years in total (maximum contract duration of 84 months). As the value of the contract is above the threshold for wider advertising of the opportunity, a Contract Notice will be published on Contracts Finder and Find a Tender Service. This procurement will be conducted in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, under Chapter 3 Section 7 Social and Other Specific Services (known as the “light touch” regime). Under Regulation 76 the council is free to establish a procedure, provided the procedure is sufficient to ensure compliance with the principles of transparency and equal treatment of economic operators (service providers). The procedure the council has designed is based on the open procedure. All economic operators (service providers) who successfully express an interest will automatically have access to the tender documents. Standard selection questions will be part of the tender response and will need to be passed before evaluation of price and quality aspects. Further details will be available in the procurement documents.