Please note: all initial enquiries regarding Cold Lunch/Afterschool Club for Primary and Special Schools must be emailed directly to school.meals@welfare.ie Telephone: 071 9138625 Frequently Asked Questions – FAQ |
PUBLISHING A TENDER FOR COLD LUNCH/AFTERSCHOOL CLUB: Contract value between €50,000 and €750,000
Schools should not commence procurement for Cold Lunch/Afterschool Club until January 2026 to ensure schools can respond to clarification queries and to hold the site visit.
When the total contract value is between €50,000 and €750,000 for a 3-year term, a tender must be published on the eTenders platform.
Before proceeding with the publication of a tender, please ensure that you have already followed the procurement preparation guidance available here.
A checklist with detailed step-by-step guidance for contract value between €50,000 and €750,000 is available:
How to Create & Publish a Call for Tenders for Cold Lunch/Afterschool Club on eTenders (below €750k) – Checklist
PHASE 1: Prepare the procurement suite of documents for publication on eTenders.
1.1 Download and complete the below tender documents:
Call For Tender: CFT Cold Lunch and/or Afterschool Club (below €750k) template
Tender Response Document: TRD Cold Lunch and/or Afterschool Club (below €750k) template
Guidance on how to complete CFT and TRD is available:
Complete the Cold Lunch and/or Afterschool Club CFT and TRD – Video Guide
PHASE 2: Publish a tender, including the suite of documents prepared as above, on eTenders.
Guidance on how to publish a tender is available:
Create & Publish a Call for Tenders for Cold Lunch and/or Afterschool Club (below €750k) – Written Guide
Create & Publish a Call for Tenders for Cold Lunch and/or Afterschool Club (below €750k) – Video Guide
Further guidance available:
How to Review eTenders CfT Workspace after Error Message – Video Guide
How to Edit eTenders CfT Workspace after Tender is Published – Video Guide
How to Use the eTenders Messaging System – Written Guide
How to Withdraw and Upload Documents on eTenders – Written Guide
How to Amend a Tender Created with Two Openers on eTenders – Written Guide
PHASE 3: Unlock and access tender submissions on eTenders, evaluate tenders received and issue result letters.
Before proceeding to the guidance available below, schools must understand these critical factors for consideration to prevent legal challenges: If public procurement competitions are not carried out appropriately, they can lead to legal challenge and reputational damage to the school and staff. For schools who are in the process of tendering for School Meals, it is critical to understand that they must follow the procurement rules of confidentiality, fairness, equal treatment and transparency. This means that schools can not: 1) share any information or engage in any way with any School Meals service provider outside of the formal procurement process. In the event a school does engage in any way with a School Meals service provider outside of the formal procurement process, it will jeopardise the school’s procurement process and possibly lead to its collapse, resulting in the need to retender, and open the school and its staff to legal risk and challenge; 2) discuss any details of the competition, the tenderers and/or their tenders with anyone outside of the school’s tender evaluation team, as the procurement process is strictly confidential. |
Steps to unlock tenders, evaluate tender submissions and issue result letters:
3.1 Unlock your tenders.
How to Unlock and Access Tender Submissions – Written Guide
How to Unlock and Access Tender Submissions – Video Guide
3.2 Set up your Evaluation Team.
Click here to see the recommended composition of an Evaluation Team.
3.3 Evaluation Team members to sign Conflict of Interest and Confidentiality Declaration.
Once your school’s Evaluation Team is formed, all members must read and sign a copy of the Conflict of Interest and Confidentiality Declaration.
3.4 Conduct the Compliance Check and Evaluation of the Qualitative Award Criteria.
Evaluation Spreadsheet Template for registering the compliance check, and scores and feedback for the qualitative award criteria. Please ensure to read guidance notes within this file. [This document is for the school’s records only.]
Report of Evaluation Template [This document is for the school’s records only.]
Guidance on how to complete the Evaluation Spreadsheet is available:
How to Complete the Cold Lunch and/or Afterschool Club Evaluation Spreadsheet – Video Guide
3.5 Draft, finalise and issue result letters to tenderers, according to your findings.
Letter templates:
Please note that the letters to unsuccessful tenderers must include bespoke feedback to each criterion, as per comments registered in your Evaluation Spreadsheet.
PHASE 4: Contract award process.
4.1 Sign the Contract and related documents.
Once the required standstill period has elapsed without challenge, and upon receipt of all required final documentation from the successful service provider, the school must complete the contract documents and print two original copies of each. These two copies are then sent to the Service Provider for their signature and return. Once both fully signed copies are returned, the school representative will countersign them, ensuring one fully executed original remains with the school and the other is returned to the service provider. Please note that the below documents must be completed and signed by both parties.
Services Contract (see Appendix 5 of your published CFT document), including all schedules.
Confidentiality Agreement (see Appendix 6 of your published CFT document).
Data Processing Agreement – DPA (see Appendix 8 of your published CFT document).
4.2 Close the competition on eTenders: Publish a Contract Award Notice (CAN) on eTenders.
Guidance on how to publish a CAN is available:
Create & Publish a National CAN for Cold Lunch and/or Afterschool Club on eTenders (below €750K) – Written Guide
Please note: all initial enquiries regarding Cold Lunch/Afterschool Club for Primary and Special Schools must be emailed directly to school.meals@welfare.ie Telephone: 071 9138625 Frequently Asked Questions – FAQ |