National Framework Agreement for Total Food Management
- Buyer
- COUNTESS OF CHESTER HOSPITAL NHS FOUNDATION TRUST
- Value
- £45,000,000
- Closes
- 30 November 2026
- Where
- Chester, the North West
- Type
- Sets up a framework (suppliers apply to join)
In plain English
The NHS Countess of Chester Hospital Trust is setting up a national framework, a pre-approved list of suppliers that other public sector bodies can buy from. It covers the whole food operation for hospitals and similar organisations in one contract: buying food and drink, preparing meals, delivering them, and managing the waste afterwards. The estimated value is £45 million.
What the buyer wants
• Run the full food and beverage service from sourcing ingredients through to meal preparation, distribution and waste management, using a single supplier rather than several • Provide nutrition, sustainability and waste reduction reporting that works across all the services they deliver • Take on the catering workforce and operations in a way that meets NHS food standards, hygiene rules and the buyer's service levels
Likely requirements
Our reading of the notice. Always check the tender documents.
The contract is worth £45 million and requires a single supplier to run the whole food operation end-to-end across multiple sites, which only a large operator with national capacity, substantial financial standing and a track record at NHS scale could realistically deliver.
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.
More open tenders from COUNTESS OF CHESTER HOSPITAL NHS FOUNDATION TRUST
- Provision of a deep geothermal solution, COUNTESS OF CHESTER HOSPITAL NHS FOUNDATION TRUST, £30,000,000, closes 9 December 2026
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