Official UK procurement notice
Rickmansworth School Catering Tender
Authority: RICKMANSWORTH SCHOOL (Education)·On behalf of: Cohesion Consulting Limited
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionRickmansworth School is a successful secondary school in Hertfordshire.
The School is tendering its catering services with a contract start date of 1st August 2026. The initial term will run for three years, ending on 31st July 2029, with a requirement for termly and annual reviews and a break clause to support both parties should the relationship not prosper.
There will be an option to extend for up to two further years (1+1) by mutual agreement, based on qualitative and financial performance. The current contract with Culinera has reached the maximum tenure of five years.
The School is seeking a professional catering contractor who can deliver an excellent level of service, high-quality food and service enhancements, realistic and achievable sales targets and ongoing support to the School community throughout the contract.
The projected turnover for the five-year contract is expected to be circa £2.5 million.
The School is running this procurement as a Competitive Flexible, Two Stage, Light Touch Regime, Tender Process.
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In short, the School needs to be convinced that bidders can deliver their promises in full, achieve their sales projections, and meet their service enhancements. If the School is not convinced of this, it reserves the right to consider an insourced solution or make no award. Any investment proposals must align with DFE guidelines.
- How the procedure runs: The procurement process follows a two stage ‘Competitive Flexible’ approach, beginning with a Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) stage followed by an Invitation to Tender (ITT) stage after shortlisting. This process is managed under the Light Touch Regime, and the School reserves the right to refine the award criteria throughout.
CPV: School catering services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£1,800,000
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 (2)
- quality of service: 85%
- Cost criteria: 15%
Published award criteria (2)
- Cost criteria
- quality of service
- Price carries 15 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 1.5 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
- Competitive flexible 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
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 24 Mar 2026, 19:41 GMT
- Last source update
- 23 Jun 2026, 14:36 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 16 Jun 2026
- Authority reference
CCL_134- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-027072- Accelerated
- Light touch contract
- Latest notice
- Contract award notice (UK6)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-067355Find a Tender- Contract terms summary
As per government requirements
- How it runs
The procurement process follows a two stage ‘Competitive Flexible’ approach, beginning with a Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) stage followed by an Invitation to Tender (ITT) stage after shortlisting. This process is managed under the Light Touch Regime, and the School reserves the right to refine the award criteria throughout.
- Risks
None
How it was run
Official notice- Requests to participate (first stage)
- 16 Apr 2026, 13:00 BST
- Submission deadline
- 16 Apr 2026, 13:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 9 Apr 2026, 13:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
All returns are submitted electronically. in-tendhost.co.uk/cohesionconsulting/a… ↗
Timeline
24 Mar 2026 → 22 Jul 2026 · 7 dates- Tender notice published217 days ago24 Mar 2026, 19:41 GMT
- Clarification questions by201 days ago9 Apr 2026, 13:00 BST
- Submission deadline194 days ago16 Apr 2026, 13:00 BST
- Award decision expected by133 days ago16 Jun 2026, 23:59 BST
- Assessment summaries sent127 days ago23 Jun 2026, 00:00 BST
- Latest notice published126 days ago23 Jun 2026, 14:36 BST
- Contract starts98 days ago22 Jul 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
5 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 24 Mar 2026- Tender notice published24 Mar 2026, 19:41 GMTUK4
- Contract award notice published23 Jun 2026, 14:36 BSTUK6
- Status changed to complete23 Jun 2026, 14:36 BST
- Procurement method changed23 Jun 2026, 14:36 BST
- Contract signature expected20 Jul 2026, 23:59 BSTscheduled
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Culinera LimitedSME22 Jul 2026 – 21 Jul 2029 · up to 21 Jul 2031Extensions: There will be an option to extend for a further two years (1+1), subject to satisfactory performance and client agreement on budgets and service levels. | £111,574 | 23 Jun 2026 | Awarded |
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3final-stage tenders | 0 | 0 | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
2 public bodies on the noticeOther public bodies
- Cohesion Consulting LimitedProcess contact pointProcuring entityCohesion are managing the tender process on behalf of the School
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- Culinera LimitedAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
- Bidding documents and specificationsAll details and documents are in the link above.
Notices published for this procedure
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender