Official UK procurement notice
Managed Outsourced Solution for Education Catering
Authority: Hampshire County Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionHampshire County Council is seeking a supplier to take on provision of catering services to Educational Establishments across the county of Hampshire, following the cessation of the Contracting Authority’s in house service, Education Catering.
189 Educational Establishments have confirmed to the Contracting Authority that they wish to access catering services through this Contract from the outset, with the breakdown by establishment type, pupil numbers on role etc included as Annex 1 A of this ITT. These numbers reflect the schools which have chosen to “opt in” to this arrangement and are not anticipated to change significantly but may be subject to some change before the Contract commences. Educational Establishments are opted in for the initial period of the contract with the option to extend for an additional 2 years. This extension is dependent on the Contracting Authority extending this Contract.
Educational Establishments that choose not to access services through this Contract at the outset will have the option of joining later during the life of the Contract and will be able to access the services under the same terms as those that were part of the Contract from the start. Establishments would only be added subject to agreement from all parties.
Educational Establishments may be either Local Authority maintained schools or Academies. These entities have different legal statuses, and each academy trust accessing services through this contract will be required to complete a Deed of Adherence (sample provided in Annex 3d) with the Contractor & The Contracting Authority prior to implementation.
All Tenderers must have signed and completed Annex 5 - TUPE Confidentiality Undertaking Template by the Clarification deadline.
Tenderers who submit a tender without having completed and returned Annex 5 as an attachment via the Intend Correspondence function before the deadline for clarification questions (19th May 2025 at 17:00), will have their submission rejected.
- No preliminary market engagement: The private sector school meals market is well established both nationally and locally in Hampshire. Suppliers range from small local and regional organisations to large national and multinational organisations. At least 17 private sector school catering suppliers currently operate in Hampshire. Soft market testing has been carried out with the current 11 catering suppliers on the County Council’s education catering framework agreement. They confirmed available capacity and interest to provide catering to Hampshire schools. A formal engagement process was undertaken with existing school customers of the EC service to understand schools’ views of the proposal to cease the services provided by EC and of the two remaining viable options of service closure (with schools managing their own catering arrangements) and a managed outsource of the service.
CPV: Canteen and catering services · Catering services · Catering services for other enterprises or other institutions · School catering services · School meals
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£92,185,453
- Economic & financial standing
As per In-tend Participation Stage Questionnaire (In-tend hosted questionnaire)
- Technical & professional ability
As per In-tend Participation Stage Questionnaire (In-tend hosted questionnaire)
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published sub-criteria (9)
- Quality criterion 1: 5%
- Quality criterion 2: 15%
- Quality criterion 3: 7.5%
- Quality criterion 4: 7.5%
- Quality criterion 5: 10%
- Quality criterion 6: 2.5%
- Quality criterion 7: 5%
- Quality criterion 8: 7.5%
- Price criterion 1: 40%
Published award criteria (9)
- Price criterion 1: Pricing schedule Annex 2, Price evaluation. See Pricing Annex 2a.
- Quality criterion 1: Mobilisation
- Quality criterion 2: Quality of food ingredients & Sourcing
- Quality criterion 3: Special Diets Allergens
- Quality criterion 4: Account Contract Management
- Quality criterion 5: Operational Service Resilience
- Quality criterion 6: Corporate Social Responsibility
- Quality criterion 7: Maximise and Increase Uptake
- Quality criterion 8: Staffing
- Economic & financial standing
As per In-tend Participation Stage Questionnaire (In-tend hosted questionnaire)
- Technical & professional ability
As per In-tend Participation Stage Questionnaire (In-tend hosted questionnaire)
- Price carries 40 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 4 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Light touch regime
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 23 Apr 2025, 11:06 BST
- Last source update
- 20 Nov 2025, 09:53 GMT
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 14 Jul 2025
- Authority reference
CS26550- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-016440- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-050620Find a Tender- Contract terms summary
As per Schedule 3 Payment & Invoicing of the Contract Document (ITT Annex 3) and ITT Annex 1 C - Payment & Invoicing arrangements
- Risks
Tight Timescales for delivery
The project must be awarded and the successful supplier able to be communicated to schools by September. This means the tender timetable is very tight and will involve moderation over July (Summer holidays). Mitigated by all panel being aware of the timescale and resource requirement over this time.
No bids received
Market engagement was conducted and a series of questions asked to gain the attractiveness and viability of the offer to the market. We received 7 responses back and have confidence that the project will gain interest from the market.
Increased cost
The risk of a high meal price has been mitigated by using the Straight-Line methodology and placing a cap on the max meal price. This will ensure the bids remain within the stated parameters and limits the risk of a high meal price. The Contract will have a dedicated Contract Manager and a KPI on monthly payment reports to ensure the supplier is charging educational establishments, pupils, parents and guardians accurately.
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 27 May 2025, 14:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 19 May 2025, 17:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
23 Apr 2025 → 5 Jan 2026 · 7 dates- Tender notice published23 Apr 2025, 11:06 BST
- Clarification questions by19 May 2025, 17:00 BST
- Submission deadline27 May 2025, 14:00 BST
- Assessment summaries sent30 Jun 2025, 00:00 BST
- Award decision expected by14 Jul 2025, 23:59 BST
- Latest notice published336 days ago20 Nov 2025, 09:53 GMT
- Contract starts290 days ago5 Jan 2026
Notice history
5 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 23 Apr 2025- Tender notice published23 Apr 2025, 11:06 BSTUK4
- Contract award notice published30 Jun 2025, 11:33 BSTUK6
- Status changed to complete30 Jun 2025, 11:33 BST
- Contract signature expected1 Nov 2025, 23:59 GMTscheduled
- Contract details notice published20 Nov 2025, 09:53 GMTUK7
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compass Contract Services (U.K.) Limited, trading as ESS Government Services5 Jan 2026 – 4 Jan 2031 · up to 4 Jan 2033Extensions: There is 1 contract extension with a maximum duration of 2 years and 0 month, and a value ex VAT of £23,626,682.98 | £82,693,390 | 30 Jun 2025 | Awarded |
Contracts
Managed Outsourced Solution for Education Catering · Compass Contract Services (U.K.) Limited, trading as ESS Government Services
- Signed
- 6 Nov 2025
- Value
- £82,693,390
- Period
- 5 Jan 2026 – 5 Jan 2031 · up to 5 Jan 2033 with extensions
- Status
- active
- Extensions
- There is 1 contract extension with a maximum duration of 2 years and 0 month, and a value ex VAT of £23,626,682.98
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2final-stage tenders | 0 | 0 | — |
Who bid
- wonCompass Contract Services (U.K.) Limited · West Midlands
- did not winElior UK PLC · North West England
Bidders as named on the Procurement Act 2023 award notice. “Won” means the bidder holds an award on this notice.
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
2 commercial parties on the notice · 1 awarded- Compass Contract Services (U.K.) LimitedAwarded supplier
- Elior UK PLCBidder / tenderer
Official documents & specifications (4)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
Notices published for this procedure
- Contract details notice Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender