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OpenHospitality and catering

Project to Improve School Food Procurement Practices[E19]

London, United KingdomDEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS[E1]

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In plain English

What they want
The Government seeks to improve public sector food procurement (PSFP). Subject to legal constraints, it aims for half of all public sector food to be locally produced or certified to higher environmental standards. The new National Procurement Policy Statement, published in February 2025, sets expectations for government contracts to favour products meeting higher environmental standards.
Who can bid
No restrictions are stated in the notice data. The tender documents may set more.
Deadline
Buyer's deadline: 25 Nov 2026, 12:00 UTC. UTC: 25 Nov 2026, 12:00 UTC.
Published 23 Oct 2026.
Value
GBP 2,000,000
Buyer
DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRSSee what else this buyer buys and when.
How to apply
Through the buyer's official process. Open the original notice on UK Find a Tender (OCDS) (opens in a new tab) ↗
Tender documents

The tender documents for this notice are on the buyer's own portal, usually behind a free supplier registration. We link to them and do not fetch them, so the report is based on the notice only.

Your tender documents

Download the tender pack from the buyer's portal (the invitation to tender, specification, selection questionnaire, scoring and draft contract) and add it here. We read every page and check it against your company for the bid assessment.

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Deadline[E5]
25 Nov 2026, 12:00 UTC
Value[E20]
GBP 2,000,000
Published[E16]
23 Oct 2026
Procedure[E15]
Open procedure
Source
UK Find a Tender (OCDS) (opens in a new tab)
Last checked
11 hours ago

About the requirement

From the notice

The Government seeks to improve public sector food procurement (PSFP). Subject to legal constraints, it aims for half of all public sector food to be locally produced or certified to higher environmental standards. The new National Procurement Policy Statement, published in February 2025, sets expectations for government contracts to favour products meeting higher environmental standards. This project supports these ambitions by improving school food procurement practices which will lead to enhanced food quality and sustainability, reduced food waste and primary and secondary pupils being better engaged with the food system. Schools account for approximately half of public sector food and catering expenditure and are therefore central to delivery of PSFP ambitions. This is particularly important given childhood obesity and persistent health inequalities. In England, about one in three children leave primary school overweight or obese;[E6]

Eligibility and requirements

  • ConditionDelivery location: UK, United Kingdom.[E7]
  • ConditionThe legal basis is UKPGA 2023/54 (Procurement Act 2023).[E8]
  • ConditionLot 1 economic criterion: Part One: Procurement Specific Requirements Part Two: Procurement Specific Requirements#[E9]
  • ConditionThe buyer marks lot 1 as suitable for small and medium-sized businesses.[E10]
  • ConditionThe buyer marks lot 1 as suitable for voluntary, community and social enterprises.[E11]
  • ConditionThe procurement is covered by the WTO Government Procurement Agreement.[E12]
  • DetailLot 1 runs from 11 Jan 2027 to 31 Mar 2028, extendable to 31 Mar 2029.[E3]
  • DetailClarification questions close at 16 Nov 2026, 12:00 UTC.[E13]
  • DetailThe notice explains how to submit a tender.[E18]
  • The notice data states no restriction on who may bid. Exclusion grounds and selection criteria in the tender documents still apply.

Risks and unknowns

  • UnknownWe read the published notice, not the full tender documents.

Updates

  1. Bidding opened · 28 Oct 2026, 14:16 UTC

    The source published a call for competition with a future deadline.

    Changed: status, source url, deadline at, deadline tz, description, notice type (source document 102127-2026)

  2. First seen · 28 Oct 2026, 09:19 UTC

    The source published a planning or prior information notice. Bidding has not opened.

    Source document 100509-2026

Evidence

20 facts

Every fact on this page comes from the published notice. Each entry shows the document and the field it was read from.

  1. E1

    The buyer is DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS.

    Document 102127-2026, field /buyer/name, read 28 Oct 2026, 14:16 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)

  2. E2

    The notice is classified under CPV 55524000 (School catering services).

    Document 102127-2026, field /tender/items/0/additionalClassifications/0/id, read 28 Oct 2026, 14:16 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)

  3. E3

    Lot 1 runs from 11 Jan 2027 to 31 Mar 2028, extendable to 31 Mar 2029.

    “2027-01-11T00:00:00Z to 2028-03-31T23:59:59+01:00”

    Document 102127-2026, field /tender/lots/0/contractPeriod, read 28 Oct 2026, 14:16 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)

  4. E4

    The buyer's address is in United Kingdom.

    Document 102127-2026, field /parties/0/address/country, read 28 Oct 2026, 14:16 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)

  5. E5

    Tenders must be submitted by 25 Nov 2026, 12:00 UTC.

    “2026-11-25T12:00:00Z”

    Document 102127-2026, field /tender/tenderPeriod/endDate, read 28 Oct 2026, 14:16 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)

  6. E6

    The buyer describes the requirement in the notice.

    “The Government seeks to improve public sector food procurement (PSFP). Subject to legal constraints, it aims for half of all public sector food to be locally produced or certified to higher environmental standards. The new National Procurement Policy Statement, published in Febr…”

    Document 102127-2026, field /tender/description, read 28 Oct 2026, 14:16 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)

  7. E7

    Delivery location: UK, United Kingdom.

    Document 102127-2026, field /tender/items/0/deliveryAddresses/0, read 28 Oct 2026, 14:16 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)

  8. E8

    The legal basis is UKPGA 2023/54 (Procurement Act 2023).

    Document 102127-2026, field /tender/legalBasis/id, read 28 Oct 2026, 14:16 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)

  9. E9

    Lot 1 economic criterion: Part One: Procurement Specific Requirements Part Two: Procurement Specific Requirements#

    Document 102127-2026, field /tender/lots/0/selectionCriteria/criteria/0/description, read 28 Oct 2026, 14:16 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)

  10. E10

    The buyer marks lot 1 as suitable for small and medium-sized businesses.

    “sme: true”

    Document 102127-2026, field /tender/lots/0/suitability/sme, read 28 Oct 2026, 14:16 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)

  11. E11

    The buyer marks lot 1 as suitable for voluntary, community and social enterprises.

    “vcse: true”

    Document 102127-2026, field /tender/lots/0/suitability/vcse, read 28 Oct 2026, 14:16 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)

  12. E12

    The procurement is covered by the WTO Government Procurement Agreement.

    “GPA”

    Document 102127-2026, field /tender/coveredBy, read 28 Oct 2026, 14:16 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)

  13. E13

    Clarification questions close at 16 Nov 2026, 12:00 UTC.

    “2026-11-16T12:00:00Z”

    Document 102127-2026, field /tender/enquiryPeriod/endDate, read 28 Oct 2026, 14:16 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)

  14. E14

    This is a call for competition. Suppliers can respond.

    “tender”

    Document 102127-2026, field /tag, read 28 Oct 2026, 14:16 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)

  15. E15

    The procedure is: Open procedure.

    Document 102127-2026, field /tender/procurementMethodDetails, read 28 Oct 2026, 14:16 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)

  16. E16

    The notice was published on 28 Oct 2026.

    “2026-10-28T14:10:19Z”

    Document 102127-2026, field /tender/documents/1/datePublished, read 28 Oct 2026, 14:16 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)

  17. E17

    Find a Tender gives the tender status as active.

    Document 102127-2026, field /tender/status, read 28 Oct 2026, 14:16 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)

  18. E18

    The notice explains how to submit a tender.

    “https://atamis-9529.my.site.com/s/Welcome”

    Document 102127-2026, field /tender/submissionMethodDetails, read 28 Oct 2026, 14:16 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)

  19. E19

    The notice is titled "Project to Improve School Food Procurement Practices".

    Document 102127-2026, field /tender/title, read 28 Oct 2026, 14:16 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)

  20. E20

    The stated value is GBP 2,000,000 excluding VAT.

    “2000000 GBP”

    Document 102127-2026, field /tender/value/amount, read 28 Oct 2026, 14:16 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)

Contains public sector information from Find a Tender, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Data licence: Open Government Licence v3.0 (opens in a new tab). Personal contact details in notices are not stored or shown.