Official UK procurement notice
Supply And Delivery of Pre-Prepared Meals to the Education Authority
Authority: the Education Authority (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Education Authority invites tenders for the Supply and Delivery of Pre-Prepared Meals. The initial period will be for 60 months from the Start Date (anticipated to be August 2025) with options to extend for any additional period(s) of up to and including 24 months.
This Contract is established by the Education Authority and is open to the EA, including NI educational bodies as follows, who at some point, during the life of the Contract may wish to utilise the agreement and should have access at any point, with the permission of EA. This Contract is not intended to replace any current agreements that participating or nonparticipating institutions may already have in place.
Department of Education - Schools Plus www.educationni.gov.uk/services/schools-plus ↗
Primary and Post Primary schools under the control of the EA, Catholic Maintained Schools
Independent Schools in NI, Irish Medium Schools in NI, both Controlled and Voluntary Grammar Schools, Nursery School for NI (both controlled, and Catholic Maintained), schoolmeals kitchens on-site at all of these schools, and Controlled Youth Centres.
Further Education Colleges in NI : www.nidirect.gov.uk/contacts/further-edu… ↗
NICIE - nicie.org ↗
Grant Controlled Integrated Education Schools in NI
Independent Schools in NI www.isc.co.uk/schools/northern-ire… ↗
EA Teachers' and Educational Centres
Council for the Curriculum, Examination and Assessment NI (CCEA)
Armagh Observatory and Planetarium
Middletown Centre for Autism
Controlled Schools Support Council (CSSC)
Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education (NICIE)
Pre-Schools and Nurseries included within the EA's Pre-School Education Programme (PSEP)
- Not divided into lots: Geographical lots were considered. However due to the anticipated volumes and number of locations expected to use the resulting contract over the duration of the term EA did not feel it proportionate to divide into lots.
- The authority expects to re-tender this requirement around 31 Jan 2032, 23:59 GMT.
CPV: Prepared meals · School meals
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£335,000
- Economic & financial standing
None
- Technical & professional ability
CoP 1 - Technical ability to perform the contract – Previous Experience
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 (3)
- Proposed Methodology: 20%
- Quality of Samples – Product Characteristics: 60%
- Total Contract Price: 20%
Published award criteria (3)
- Proposed Methodology : Full details can be found in the CfT documents section on eTenderNI https://etendersni.g ov.uk/epps
- Quality of Samples – Product Characteristics: Full details can be found in the CfT documents section on eTenderNI https://etendersni.g ov.uk/epps
- Total Contract Price: Full details can be found in the CfT documents section on eTenderNI https://etendersni.g ov.uk/epps
- Economic & financial standing
None
- Technical & professional ability
CoP 1 - Technical ability to perform the contract – Previous Experience
- Price carries 20 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 2 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
- Goods
- Notice status
- Cancelled
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Yes · next expected 31 Jan 2032
- First published
- 28 Feb 2025, 10:25 GMT
- Last source update
- 29 Jul 2025, 09:21 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 22 Aug 2025
- Authority reference
CAT-25-002- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-030327- Latest notice
- Procurement termination notice (UK12)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-04e889Find a Tender- Contract terms summary
Full details can be found in the CfT documents section on eTenderN - Ietendersni.gov.uk/epps ↗
- Risks
The Buyer cannot guarantee any particular level of business (volumes/values) within the Contract.
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 7 Jul 2025, 15:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 30 Jun 2025, 15:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted electronically via etendersni.gov.uk/epps ↗
Timeline
28 Feb 2025 → 1 Sept 2025 · 8 dates- Planning notice published28 Feb 2025, 10:25 GMT
- Market engagement10 Mar 2025, 23:59 GMT
Interested participants should complete the questionnaire and upload by 3pm on 10 March 2025. Completed questionnaires must be returned via the eTendersNI Messaging function as an attachment or via email to cater.procure@eani.org.uk.
- Tender notice published5 Jun 2025, 15:30 BST
- Clarification questions by30 Jun 2025, 15:00 BST
- Submission deadline7 Jul 2025, 15:00 BST
- Latest notice published29 Jul 2025, 09:21 BST
- Award decision expected by22 Aug 2025, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts1 Sept 2025, 00:00 BST
Notice history
10 events · 4 releases on Find a Tender · since 28 Feb 2025- Preliminary market engagement notice published28 Feb 2025, 10:25 GMTUK2
- Tender notice published5 Jun 2025, 15:30 BSTUK4
- Published value published: £335,0005 Jun 2025, 15:30 BST
- Status changed to active5 Jun 2025, 15:30 BST
- Procurement method changed5 Jun 2025, 15:30 BST
- Deadline published: 3 Jul 2025, 15:00 BST5 Jun 2025, 15:30 BST
- Tender notice published5 Jun 2025, 16:09 BSTUK4
- Deadline moved to 7 Jul 2025, 15:00 BST5 Jun 2025, 16:09 BST+4 days · was 3 Jul 2025, 15:00 BST
- Procurement termination notice published29 Jul 2025, 09:21 BSTUK12
- Status changed to complete29 Jul 2025, 09:21 BST
Published amendments (1)
Modification of original information submitted by the contracting authority to submission details. Enquiry deadline [FRM03.N141] from 26 June 2025 to 30 June 2025. Tender submission deadline * [FRM03.N145] from 03 July 2025 to 07 July 2025.
Routine re-releases (4)
- 2025-02: 1 release · 28 Feb 2025
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| supplier not published | — | 18 Jul 2025 | CancelledNo compliant bids received |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (4)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Procurement termination notice Procurement termination notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender