Colmers School & Sixth Form College ~ Catering Tender

The successful Supplier will be required to provide catering services for Colmers School & Sixth Form College.

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

The duration of the contract being offered is three years commencing on 1 August 2021 and concluding on 31 July 2024, with the opportunity to extend for a further period of 2 years at the discretion of the governing body.

The contract being offered within this tender will be based on a guaranteed performance basis with all free issue requirements and hospitality being recharged on consumption at “net” food cost only. Currently the cash meal deal price is £2.30 and FSM charged at cost on consumption at £1.07.

Colmers School & Sixth Form College is a large secondary school within Birmingham and is situated on the Rubery / Longbridge border. The current pupil roll is currently growing and is anticipated to continue to do so, with a greater number of pupils qualifying for Free School meals.

It is expected that the contract will continue to run on a profit return with no subsidy ~ there is no subsidy associated with the contract.

It is appreciated that a level of investment may be identified as a requirement of your bid, and therefore bidders are encouraged to provide details of such requirements by providing detailed information of the equipment necessary. Bidders must provide the equipment make, model and cost and also a justification of how this equipment will assist in fulfilling the proposal and potential of the service. All investment suggested must be fully justified within the Service Development and Finance sections of your Bidder Response. The level of investment provided will be at the Schools’ discretion, subject to the method of obtaining the investment for the required equipment.

The quality of food provision will be critical and indeed your organisation must be flexible enough to source bakery, meat, fruit and vegetables and dairy products through local suppliers based no more than 20 miles from the School. It is expected that menus will feature and utilise products in season when available.

Customer engagement will be fundamental to the continuous improvement in the service provision and within your tender response your methodology to this will need to be detailed along with examples of where this has been undertaken within similar contracts recently.

The successful contractor should have similar operations within the local area thus ensuring that the Operational Management Team responsible for the contract is available for regular unplanned visits and support for the contract, and that coverage for any planned or unplanned leave from within the establishment staffing structure can be easily provided.

The successful Supplier will work closely with the Client to manage the provision of catering and the overall ‘meal experience. The value of the current catering contract is circa £230K per annum.

Please see SQ Document for further details.