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The Howard Academies Trust ~ Catering Tender

Buyer: The Howard Academies Trust →

View official notice ↗Official source

BuyerThe Howard Academies Trust
StatusAwarded
Deadline5 Jun 2026
Value£7,700,000
Published31 Jul 2026

What is being bought

The Howard Academy Trust is a Multi Academy Trust, 9 schools, 4 of which are secondary schools (including 1 UTC), 4 primary schools (2 X 1 FE and 2 X 2 FE) and 1 AP/ SEN school. For the purposes of this tender all primary and secondary schools are included, but the AP/ SEN school is not. THAT educates around 5300 pupils and has a staff workforce of around 850. The Trust expects further growth within the period of the contract. Our schools are across 3 local authorities, albeit all in proximity as below: •Medway- Deanwood Primary School, Thames View Primary School, Temple Mill Primary School, Waterfront UTC and The Howard School •Kent- The Abbey School Faversham •Bexley- Hurstmere School Our Trust vision is “Working together to build a community of successful learners” and our values are: Inclusivity, Dignity, Respect and Ambition. To deliver our vision and values it is imperative that we appoint a caterer who delivers high quality meals across the Trust, ensuring pupils and particularly those that are free school meals receive a high quality, fresh, nutritious meal. A key focus of this tender is ensuring a consistent high quality food offer, that is financially viable whilst boosting uptake and quality, particularly in Medway schools, where this is generally underperforming. The Howard Academy Trust expects the successful contractor to enable the continued development of catering through the provision of an innovative, healthy food service, with fresh, seasonal, locally sourced ingredients being prepared on-site. The Trust expects the successful tenderer to evidence, through their bid, how they shall support and complement its values and support the principles of Every Child Matters. Our current student body is comprised of 73.9% males, 26.1% females. Our average Free School Meals is 23.8% with ever 6 being 24.3%. 20.5% of pupils have some level of SEN need. The successful contractor will build on a strong offer including current good quality, variety and uptake at The Abbey School and Hurstmere School. Whilst substantially improving uptake and quality across the primary schools and UTC, ensuring a high-quality consistent offer that meets the needs and tastes of a wide range of pupils, including those with dietary requirements. We welcome innovation and are keen to work in a highly collaborative way with the contractor to ensure the best offer possible for our pupils. Currently we have three caterers, all of whom have agreed to a termination date of 31/10/2026. This contract will therefore run for 2 years and 11 months from the start of Term 2 in the 2026/27 academic year which is 01/11/2026 (with the first day school day being 02/11/2026) running to 31/08/2029 with the option for the Trust to take out a plus two-year extensions. We would like to make clear that our intention is to form a lasting relationship with a successful caterer who we are determined to take the two-year extension with and hopefully to be in a strong position We have made substantial investment in our kitchens over the last two years with £80k invested in equipment during 2024/25 and up to £80k being further invested in 2025/26. We are looking for tenders that deliver a nil cost or better on a guaranteed performance basis. Please see PSQ Document for more information.

Lot details

Lot 1

No lot description published.

Statuscomplete

Comparable-procurement analytics

No usable CPV category has been published, so a comparable market set cannot yet be built.

Procurement strategy & market signals

Framework agreementNot published
Dynamic purchasing systemNot published
Competitive procurementNot published
Recurring requirementNot published
Procurement method rationaleNot published
Rationale classificationsNot published
Special regimeNot published
Covered byNot published
Submission policyNot published
Selection criteriaNot published
Risk detailsNot published

Planning & early market engagement

BudgetNot published
No-engagement rationaleNot published
Planning documents0
Planning milestones0

No planning milestones published.

Related procurements

No linked framework, prior procurement or reprocurement published.

Awards

The Howard Academies Trust ~ Catering Tender

Statuspending
Value£7,700,000
Contract periodFrom 1 Nov 2026 to 31 Aug 2029

Documents & submission route

No documents are published in the current source record.

Source data inventory

Diagnostic view. “Not published” means this current release does not provide a value.

OCIDocds-h6vhtk-066265
Latest release ID072717-2026
Latest release timestampFri Jul 31 2026 12:32:10 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Sourcefind-a-tender
Official notice URLhttps://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/019620-2026
Tender statuscomplete
Procurement methodopen
Procurement method detailsCompetitive flexible procedure
Main procurement categoryNot published
Above thresholdNot published
Legal basis2023/54
Tender period: startNot published
Tender period: endNot published
Expression of interest deadlineNot published
Enquiry deadlineNot published
Award period: startNot published
Award period: endNot published
Submission method detailsNot published
Submission languagesNot published
Electronic catalogue policyNot published
Total tender valueNot published
Tender lots in source1
Tender items in source0
Tender documents in source0
Awards in latest release1
Contracts in latest release0
Parties in latest release2

Notice history

DateEventReference
31 Jul 2026award, contract072717-2026
4 Mar 2026tender019620-2026

All source data

Unmodified official OCDS data retained by Tenderline for this procurement process.

Complete current OCDS release JSON
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Complete JSON history (2 releases)
31 Jul 2026 · 072717-2026 · award, contract
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4 Mar 2026 · 019620-2026 · tender
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    "description": "The Howard Academy Trust is a Multi Academy Trust, 9 schools, 4 of which are secondary schools (including 1 UTC), 4 primary schools (2 X 1 FE and 2 X 2 FE) and 1 AP/ SEN school. For the purposes of this tender all primary and secondary schools are included, but the AP/ SEN school is not. THAT educates around 5300 pupils and has a staff workforce of around 850. The Trust expects further growth within the period of the contract. \nOur schools are across 3 local authorities, albeit all in proximity as below: \n•Medway- Deanwood Primary School, Thames View Primary School, Temple Mill Primary School, Waterfront UTC and The Howard School \n•Kent- The Abbey School Faversham \n•Bexley- Hurstmere School\nOur Trust vision is “Working together to build a community of successful learners” and our values are: Inclusivity, Dignity, Respect and Ambition. To deliver our vision and values it is imperative that we appoint a caterer who delivers high quality meals across the Trust, ensuring pupils and particularly those that are free school meals receive a high quality, fresh, nutritious meal. A key focus of this tender is ensuring a consistent high quality food offer, that is financially viable whilst boosting uptake and quality, particularly in Medway schools, where this is generally underperforming.\nThe Howard Academy Trust expects the successful contractor to enable the continued development of catering through the provision of an innovative, healthy food service, with fresh, seasonal, locally sourced ingredients being prepared on-site. The Trust expects the successful tenderer to evidence, through their bid, how they shall support and complement its values and support the principles of Every Child Matters. \nOur current student body is comprised of 73.9% males, 26.1% females. Our average Free School Meals is 23.8% with ever 6 being 24.3%. 20.5% of pupils have some level of SEN need. \nThe successful contractor will build on a strong offer including current good quality, variety and uptake at The Abbey School and Hurstmere School. Whilst substantially improving uptake and quality across the primary schools and UTC, ensuring a high-quality consistent offer that meets the needs and tastes of a wide range of pupils, including those with dietary requirements. We welcome innovation and are keen to work in a highly collaborative way with the contractor to ensure the best offer possible for our pupils.\nCurrently we have three caterers, all of whom have agreed to a termination date of 31/10/2026. This contract will therefore run for 2 years and 11 months from the start of Term 2 in the 2026/27 academic year which is 01/11/2026 (with the first day school day being 02/11/2026) running to 31/08/2029 with the option for the Trust to take out a plus two-year extensions. We would like to make clear that our intention is to form a lasting relationship with a successful caterer who we are determined to take the two-year extension with and hopefully to be in a strong position \nWe have made substantial investment in our kitchens over the last two years with £80k invested in equipment during 2024/25 and up to £80k being further invested in 2025/26. We are looking for tenders that deliver a nil cost or better on a guaranteed performance basis. \nPlease see PSQ Document for more information.\nFor more information about this opportunity, please visit the Delta eSourcing portal at: \nhttps://www.delta-esourcing.com/tenders/UK-UK-Kent:-School-catering-services./JYP43RZYPB\nTo respond to this opportunity, please click here: \nhttps://www.delta-esourcing.com/respond/JYP43RZYPB",
    "tenderPeriod": {
      "endDate": "2026-06-05T12:00:00+01:00"
    },
    "enquiryPeriod": {
      "endDate": "2026-04-02T12:00:00+01:00"
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    "submissionTerms": {
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      "electronicSubmissionPolicy": "allowed"
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    "procurementMethod": "open",
    "mainProcurementCategory": "services",
    "submissionMethodDetails": "https://litmustms.co.uk/respond/JYP43RZYPB",
    "procurementMethodDetails": "Competitive flexible procedure"
  },
  "parties": [
    {
      "id": "GB-PPON-PTLW-5742-DNHJ",
      "name": "The Howard Academies Trust",
      "roles": [
        "buyer"
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      "address": {
        "region": "UKJ41",
        "country": "GB",
        "locality": "Kent",
        "postalCode": "ME4 4FQ",
        "countryName": "United Kingdom",
        "streetAddress": "The Howard Academy Trust, South Side Three Road, Chatham"
      },
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            "id": "publicAuthoritySubCentralGovernment",
            "scheme": "UK_CA_TYPE",
            "description": "Public authority - sub-central government"
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  "initiationType": "tender"
}