Tender Project - Erskine Stewart's Melville Schools, Edinburgh

Erskine Stewart's Melville Schools

Case study

Five-year contract award to Balance Partnership 2011-2016.

To provide complete tender management for the catering services evaluation at Erskine Stewart's Melville Schools.

The catering services at the Schools provide lunch for over 2,000 pupils and staff with additional services in various locations, including the Schools' boarding house and The Tom Fleming Centre for the Performing Arts.

The tender project was initiated to ensure that the Schools were getting best value for money and, although the incumbent contractor was performing satisfactorily, the Bursar and Finance Manager wanted to ensure that the Schools' pupils and staff would benefit from on-going service innovations and an excellent service delivery.

The evaluation process included the following key tasks:

  • Tender project management
  • Service evaluation
  • Contractor appraisal and selection
  • Pre-tender qualifying questionnaire preparation and analysis (PQQ)
  • Invitation to tender documents preparation and analysis (ITT)
  • Managing contractor site visits and information packs
  • Fielding and responding to contractors' tender queries
  • Shortlist tender analysis and selection
  • Contractor presentations management
  • Assisting the project team with preferred contractor selection
  • Advice and on-going post-project follow up

Client's Comments

The key benefit to me was being able to rely on the Balance Partnership's experience and professionalism to undertake the often time consuming tasks involved in collating accurate information, preparing the documents needed to allow contractors to provide an 'apples for apples' comparison and arranging reference site visits. I believe that by using the services of the Balance Partnership we could be confident of making the correct assessment of our services and making the right decision for the right reasons at the end of the project.
Jonathan Molloy - Bursar