Cambrian Learning Trust is a thriving multi-academy trust in Oxfordshire, comprising schools of different sizes and settings.
A merger of Faringdon Learning Trust and Vale Academy Trust; Cambrian Learning Trust now consists of 14 primary schools, three secondary schools and one all through school.
The Background
The Trust identified the need to review and retender its catering and cleaning services to ensure value for money, quality delivery, and consistency across its schools. With contracts coming to an end, a new approach was needed that would allow flexibility while still benefiting from economies of scale. There was also a desire to ensure that all contract renewal dates moved to be co-terminus.
The Trust faced several challenges in approaching the procurement:
- Balancing centralised oversight with the specific needs of individual schools;
- Managing two distinct service areas – catering and cleaning – within one procurement process;
- Ensuring compliance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR2015) – the legislation in place at the time of the ender;
- Differing contract end dates;
- Achieving the right blend of quality and cost-effectiveness.
Minerva recommended a lotted tender, splitting the opportunity into three lots – two for catering and one for cleaning. This allowed the Trust to secure specialist providers for each service area while still benefitting from the efficiencies of running a combined process. This resulted in the below lots being used for the procurement:
Lot 1 – Catering – Primary Schools
Lot 2 – Catering – Secondary Schools
Lot 3 – Cleaning – All schools.
Results
The procurement delivered excellent outcomes for the Cambrian Learning Trust: - High-quality providers appointed in both catering and cleaning, each with the expertise to meet the Trust’s diverse needs;
- Greater consistency across schools while respecting individual school settings;
- Competitive pricing achieved without compromising service quality;
- Clearer performance measures and contract management established for long-term success;
- Co-terminus contract renewal dates making future tender processes more efficient.
Customer Feedback
Trust Operations Director Jo Ray reflected: “Ben was fantastic and supported us effectively throughout the project. I love the email stage updates on where the project is at. All in all another successful procurement process. We really value our working relationship with Minerva!”
