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PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITY

Supply And Delivery of Pre-Prepared Meals to the Education Authority

the Education Authority · Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender

Tender information last checkedLast checked 29 Sept 2026, 22:16.

Opportunity overview

The 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 https://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 : https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/contacts/further-education-fe-colleges NICIE - https://nicie.org/ Grant Controlled Integrated Education Schools in NI Independent Schools in NI https://www.isc.co.uk/schools/northern-ireland/ 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)

Classification

  • CPV15894200 — Prepared meals
  • CPV15894210 — School meals

Lots

  • Lot 1£335k

Documents and notices

Published notice details

Additional information from the published procurement release. Fields appear only when supplied by the source; check the original notice and tender documents before acting.

Scope, procedure and submissions

Id
CAT-25-002
Status
complete
Published risks
The Buyer cannot guarantee any particular level of business (volumes/values) within the Contract.
Has Recurrence
Yes
Above Threshold
Yes
Procurement Method
open
Main Procurement Category
goods
How to submit
Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted electronically via https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
Procurement Method Details
Open procedure

Amendments

Entry 1
Id
030359-2025
Description
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.

Legal basis

Id
2023/54
Scheme
UKPGA

Lot Details

No Lots Division Rationale
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.

Recurrence

Dates

Entry 1
Starts
31 Jan 2032, 23:59

Expected award period

Ends
22 Aug 2025, 23:59

Tender Period

Ends
7 Jul 2025, 15:00

Contract terms

Financial Terms
Full details can be found in the CfT documents section on eTenderN - Ihttps://etendersni.gov.uk/epps

Enquiry period

Ends
30 Jun 2025, 15:00

Submission terms

Electronic Submission Policy
allowed

Languages

en

Lots and requirements

Entry 1
Id
1
Status
complete
Has Options
Yes
Has Renewal
Yes

Value

Amount
335,000
Currency
GBP
Including VAT
402,000

Options

Description
Additional items may be added to the Contract throughout the Term with the agreement of both the Buyer and the Supplier. This may include any individual or bulk pre-prepared meals options that may be required throughout the duration of the Contract. Any items added to the Contract during the Term must be in line with the Pricing submitted with similar items at tender.

Renewal

Description
2 options to extend for a further period of 12 months each.

Suitability

Sme
Yes
Vcse
Yes

Award criteria

Criteria

Criterion 1
Name
Proposed Methodology
Type
quality
Description
Full details can be found in the CfT documents section on eTenderNI https://etendersni.g ov.uk/epps

Numbers

Entry 1
Number
20
Weight
percentageExact
Criterion 2
Name
Quality of Samples – Product Characteristics
Type
quality
Description
Full details can be found in the CfT documents section on eTenderNI https://etendersni.g ov.uk/epps

Numbers

Entry 1
Number
60
Weight
percentageExact
Criterion 3
Name
Total Contract Price
Type
price
Description
Full details can be found in the CfT documents section on eTenderNI https://etendersni.g ov.uk/epps

Numbers

Entry 1
Number
20
Weight
percentageExact

Contract period

Ends
31 Aug 2030, 23:59
Starts
1 Sept 2025, 00:00
Max Extent Date
31 Aug 2032, 23:59

Selection criteria

Criteria

Criterion 1
Type
economic
Description
None
Criterion 2
Type
technical
Description
CoP 1 - Technical ability to perform the contract – Previous Experience

Items and delivery

Item 1
Id
1
Related Lot
1

Delivery locations

Entry 1
Region
UKN
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 2
Region
UKN
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom

Additional Classifications

Entry 1
Id
15894200
Scheme
CPV
Description
Prepared meals
Entry 2
Id
15894210
Scheme
CPV
Description
School meals

Published documents

Entry 1
Id
conflictOfInterest
Description
Not published
Document Type
conflictOfInterest
Entry 2
Id
030327-2025
Format
text/html
Notice Type
UK4
Description
Tender notice on Find a Tender
Document Type
tenderNotice
Published
5 Jun 2025, 15:30
Entry 3
Id
030359-2025
Format
text/html
Notice Type
UK4
Description
Tender notice on Find a Tender
Document Type
tenderNotice
Published
5 Jun 2025, 16:09
Entry 4
Id
043689-2025
Format
text/html
Notice Type
UK12
Description
Procurement termination notice on Find a Tender
Document Type
tenderCancellationNotice
Published
29 Jul 2025, 09:21

Planning and budget

Documents

Entry 1
Id
007483-2025
Format
text/html
Notice Type
UK2
Description
Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
Document Type
marketEngagementNotice
Published
28 Feb 2025, 10:25

Milestones

Entry 1
Id
engagement
Type
engagement
Status
scheduled
Due
10 Mar 2025, 23:59
Description
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.

Buyer, suppliers and contacts

Organisation 1
Id
GB-PPON-PPHJ-6982-JPXY
Name
the Education Authority

Roles

buyer

Address

Region
UKN06
Country
GB
Locality
BELFAST
Postal Code
BT12NQ
Country Name
United Kingdom
Street Address
40 Academy Street

Details

Classifications

Entry 1
Id
publicAuthorityCentralGovernment
Scheme
UK_CA_TYPE
Description
Public authority - central government
Entry 2
Id
GB-NIR
Scheme
UK_CA_DEVOLVED_REGULATIONS
Description
Northern Irish devolved regulations apply

Identifier

Id
PPHJ-6982-JPXY
Scheme
GB-PPON

Contact

Award information

Award 1
Id
1
Status
cancelled
Status Details
No compliant bids received
Final Status Date
18 Jul 2025, 00:00

Related lots

1

Recorded locations

  • Buyer location · BELFAST · UKN06 · BT12NQ · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UKN · United Kingdom

Notice and amendment history

1 published notice version reviewed by ProcuraAxis.

1 VERSION
  1. ocds-h6vhtk-04e889-2025-07-29T09:21:22+01:00Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender ·