Harris Federation ~ Catering Services Tender

The Harris Federation is an education charity led and run by teachers. They opened their first school in 1991 and now run 52 primary and secondary academies in London and Essex, and train thousands of teachers per year from the Harris Federation and beyond.

The Harris Federation is responsible for the education of one in 40 of school children in London. With the majority of its academies located in areas of high socioeconomic disadvantage, a high-quality education is key to the futures of the pupils they serve.

Catering services at the schools are currently provided by a single contractor. The Federation has decided to divide the new contract/s into Lots in order to attract a broader range of suppliers and service propositions. As such, bids for each individual Lot will be evaluated on their own merits, but the Federation reserves the right to award the Lot contracts to one or any greater number of contractors. It is intended to award the contract on the basis of 3 + 2 + 2 years.

The Lots are broadly divided as per the existing Quadrant structure, with each Quadrant being overseen by an Assistant Director.

The Harris Federation have expressed the following objectives and priorities for the catering services and contract/s:

1.To invite dynamic proposals from a range of talented organisations with sufficient scale and resource to drive forward standards across the schools.

2.To put the delivery of food quality, service and environmental sustainability at the heart of the contract performance management system, whilst ensuring the successful contractor/s meets its commercial and compliance obligations. This includes supporting the Federation in achieving carbon neutral status and minimising food waste.

3.To invest in the catering staff employed through the contract, ensuring that willing and capable staff are attracted, retained and developed across the catering operations.

4.To establish a flexible contract framework which allows for the addition of new academies in future in a fully transparent and mutually beneficial manner. There needs to be local flexibility to adapt the service offers without compromising the consistency of standards across the Federation’s schools.

5.To create a contracting model/s that supports collaborative partnerships and incentivises positive contractor performance and behaviours rather than penalises failure.

6.To encourage contractor innovation and provision of Social Value both within the schools and to communities within which the Federation operates.

Furthermore, a recent survey conducted across both primary and secondary schools identified that key issues requiring improvement for the services were:

•Overall value for money

•Queuing times

•Availability and consistency of food

These objectives and priorities should be borne in mind by bidders both at the SQ and full ITT stages.

See SQ Document for further information. Additional information: Lot 1 – Central Quadrant – litmustms.co.uk/respond/JQS7TS3MJZ ↗

See SQ Document for further information. Additional information: Lot 2 – Thames Quadrant - litmustms.co.uk/respond/Z72G2BU5K3 ↗

See SQ Document for further information. Additional information: Lot 3 – East Quadrant - litmustms.co.uk/respond/WM6R66R3TS ↗

See SQ Document for further information. Additional information: Lot 4 – South Quadrant - litmustms.co.uk/respond/26E469HTS5 ↗

See SQ Document for further information. Additional information: Lot 5 – Primaries Quadrant - litmustms.co.uk/respond/7RBDSGYAM7 ↗