Businesses bidding for food contracts

Businesses bidding for a contract to supply dry goods and frozen foods to Carmarthenshire County Council will be able to track their progress in a real time e-auction.

It is the first time that internet technology has been used as part of the food tender process in Carmarthenshire.

Tenders closed on Wednesday, October 17, for the food supply contracts for the school meals service and care homes, worth a total of £1.4million per annum over two years with a potential two-year extension period.

Tenders are now being evaluated with suppliers having the option of taking part in the live e-auction on Tuesday, November 20.

Procurement Manager, Alan Aitken, said: “The authority has used the e-auction process in other areas of procurement in the past, but this is the first time they have done it for the food supply contracts.

It means suppliers will be able to track their progress and amend their tender as it happens.

“A briefing event for potential suppliers has been held to give the authority the opportunity to explain the process and provide training, although the system is already familiar to most suppliers.”

Carmarthenshire County Council places stringent quality demands on its suppliers, and to ensure food safety and hygiene practices are guaranteed, it has now built the quality element of the food tender into the main specification as standard.

All suppliers must also undertake a third-party audit as part of the contract.

And because the quality requirements are already built in, the authority has been able to go out to tender on the basis of best value for money, ensuring maximum value for Carmarthenshire’s tax payers.

Catering Services Manager, Sandra Weigel, said: “This is the first time in the food contract that we have built the level of quality we demand in to the specification as a standard.

“Nothing is more important to us than food safety and hygiene, and since the tragic death of Mason Jones and the subsequent Pennington Inquiry into the E Coli 0157 outbreak in September 2005 we have placed the highest demands on our suppliers.”