Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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391. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if individual schools have any discretion under the tendering and procurement process when selecting the provider of their school meals, taking into consideration local factors, price, menu selection; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [65555/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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As agreed by the School Meals Interdepartmental working group (chaired by The Department of Social Protection) all schools must use the Procurement template documentation available on the School Procurement Units website for the School Meals Programme. The criteria the deputy is querying are set out in Call for Tender (CFT)template document.

The price for school meals is decided and fixed by DSP and the menus must meet the nutritional standards for the School Meals Programme both of which are detailed in the CFT template procurement documentation.

The tender evaluation team set up by the school is responsible for the tender evaluations. The evaluation is based on tender response documents which relies on the criteria set out in the CFT.