---
title: "The Mead Educational Trust Catering Contract"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-0788e5"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-0788e5"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0788e5.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0788e5.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Tender"
buyer: "THE MEAD EDUCATIONAL TRUST"
published: "2026-10-15"
---

# The Mead Educational Trust Catering Contract

Buyer: THE MEAD EDUCATIONAL TRUST  
Current stage: Tender  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-0788e5

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## Summary

The Mead Educational Trust is seeking one contractor to manage and support catering across 16 schools in and around Leicester. This is a school catering services contract covering the Trust’s school estate; delivery is in Leicester and the surrounding area. The contractor will provide catering provision across the schools, with the Trust seeking a single organisation to take responsibility for management and support. The Trust may grow during the agreement, and additional schools may join as their existing agreements end. The opportunity is therefore relevant to catering businesses able to serve multiple school sites and manage a coordinated service across a group of schools.

The Trust invited offers through a competitive flexible procedure with two stages: supplier selection and shortlisting, followed by an invitation to tender and a further shortlist for presentations. The expression-of-interest deadline was 6 November 2026 at 12 noon. The award decision was due by 30 April 2027. The contract is scheduled to run from 1 August 2027 to 31 July 2030, with two possible 12-month extensions if agreed in writing. The stated gross value is £19.8 million. There is one lot, and the opportunity is identified as suitable for SMEs. Evaluation is weighted 70% quality and 30% finance; quality is assessed through written responses, presentations and supplier references. Bids are submitted through the Bidiful portal, in English.

This contract suits catering providers with the operational capacity to manage and support food services across 16 schools, and the ability to coordinate delivery across multiple sites in and around Leicester. The Trust is looking for a single contractor, so bidders should be equipped to take responsibility for a school-wide service rather than a single site. Quality carries most of the evaluation weighting and is assessed through written submissions, presentations and references, making relevant school catering experience and credible evidence of performance commercially important. The Trust may add schools as existing agreements expire, so suppliers able to accommodate growth across the contract would be well placed. SMEs are considered suitable to bid.

## Notice

The Trust is seeking to appoint a single contractor to manage and support the catering provision across 16 schools in and around Leicester.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

Options: The Trust may grow over the life of this agreement, other schools may join this contract when pre existing agreements end.

Renewal: 2 x 12 month extensions will be available if agreed in writing by all parties

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/097647-2026 |
| Notice type | UK4 - Tender Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Selective |
| Procurement method details | Competitive flexible procedure |
| Tender suitability | SME |
| Awardee scale | Not specified |
| All stages | Tender |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 15 Oct 2026 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | Not specified |
| Contract period | 1 Aug 2027 - 31 Jul 2030 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | £19,800,000 |
| Lots value | £19,800,000 |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Active |
| Lots status | Active |
| Awards status | Not specified |
| Contracts status | Not specified |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | THE MEAD EDUCATIONAL TRUST |
| Locality | LEICESTER |
| Postcode area | Leicester |
| Postcode | LE4 9DD |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLF East Midlands (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLF2 Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire |
| ITL 3 | TLF21 Leicester |
| Local authority | Leicester |
| Electoral ward | Troon |
| Westminster constituency | Leicester East |
| Delivery location | TLF21 Leicester |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 55 - Hotel, restaurant and retail trade services

### Codes

- 55524000 - School catering services

## Release History

- 15 Oct 2026 at 16:37 - Tender - UK4 - Tender Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/097647-2026

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/097647-2026
  15th October 2026 - Tender notice on Find a Tender
- https://bidiful-teamportal.app/p/aceadvice
  Documents are available for bidders by request from the Bidiful portal. Please email jonathan.david@ace-advice.co.uk for access to this project

## Notice URLs

- https://www.ace-advice.co.uk/
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-0788e5. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0788e5.json.