Invitation to Tender for the Management of the Catering Services (Framework Agreement) at Blackdown Education Partnership
- Buyer
- BLACKDOWN EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP
- Value
- £7,211,170
- Closes
- 5 January 2027
- Where
- Devon, the South West
- Type
- Sets up a framework (suppliers apply to join)
In plain English
Blackdown Education Partnership, a group of 13 schools in Devon and Somerset, wants to appoint a catering provider to run school meals across six secondary schools, three of which also deliver meals to linked primary sites. The new arrangement is due to start on Monday 12 April 2027, after the Easter break.
What the buyer wants
• Run daily school meal services across six secondary schools and linked primary sites, including food preparation, serving and cleaning down of kitchens and dining areas • Manage the transition from the current mix of contracted and in-house catering arrangements, including staffing, equipment and supplies • Meet school food standards, food safety rules and the Trust's requirements for nutrition, menu planning, pricing and reporting
Likely requirements
Our reading of the notice. Always check the tender documents.
A small business without experience running multi-site school catering, the capacity to take on existing catering staff under TUPE, and the financial strength to carry a contract of this scale would likely be disqualified.
How to bid
This is a framework: the buyer picks a set of suppliers now and awards work to them over several years. If you are not on it when it is awarded, you usually cannot win work from it until it is re-tendered, so this is the window to bid.
Similar open catering contracts
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- Cleeve School & Sixth Form Centre of Excellence ~ Catering Tender, Cleeve School & Sixth Form Centre of Excellence, £1,560,000, closes 8 January 2027
- All Saints’ Academy ~ Catering Tender, All Saints’ Academy, £1,815,000, closes 15 January 2027
- AA-101-26 Vending Beverage and Snack Products and Services, NHS Ayrshire & Arran, closes 2 November 2026
- School Catering Services Framework Agreement, MOORLANDS LEARNING TRUST, £21,000,000, closes 3 November 2026
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