Kingston and Richmond NHS Awards £6.96M Catering Contract to Mitie FM

Award

Provision of Patient & Retail Catering Services - Kingston and Richmond NHS Foundation Trust (Interim Arrangement)

• Kingston and Richmond Hospital NHS Foundation Trust UK6: Contract award notice - Procurement Act 2023 - view information about notice types

Notice identifier: 2026/S 000-037787

Procurement identifier (OCID): ocds-h6vhtk-068b1f (view related notices)

Published 24 April 2026, 5:16pm

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Contents

Scope Contract 1. Provision of Patient & Retail Catering Services - Kingston and Richmond NHS Foundation Trust (Interim Arrangement) Procedure Supplier Contracting authority

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Reference

W179204

Description

The contract covers the provision of patient and retail catering services, including food preparation, service delivery and associated operational support services required to maintain continuity of catering services across the Trust's estate.

The Trust will award this contract using a direct award procedure in accordance with section 41 and paragraph 13 of Schedule 5 of the Procurement Act 2023, which permits direct award in cases of extreme and unavoidable.

The services covered by this contract are strictly necessary to ensure continuity of critical patient and retail catering services at Kingston and Richmond NHS Foundation Trust. Indeed, Patient catering is fundamental to the Trust's delivery of safe, effective and legally compliant patient care. The Trust's current catering contract was placed in 2023. In anticipation of its expiry, the Trust devised a compliant procurement strategy centred on a call-off competition under an existing framework agreement for patient and retail catering. Whilst a change in scoping requirements necessitated the cancellation of the initial call-off competition, the Trust acted promptly by launching a replacement competition at the earliest opportunity.

Throughout both competitions, the Trust had reasonably envisaged securing a short extension with the incumbent to bridge the period until mobilisation of a new provider, and discussions had progressed positively to that end. However, on 13 April 2026 the incumbent notified the Trust that it would not agree to an extension and would cease delivering services with effect from 26 April 2026. Given this extremely compressed timeframe, it was not possible to conduct a compliant procurement and mobilise a replacement provider. The Trust accordingly cancelled the call-off competition without award and must now make a direct award to safeguard continuity of essential services.

The direct award is for patient and retail catering and is limited in duration to 12+6 months, being the minimum period necessary to maintain continuity of services whilst the Trust conducts a fully compliant competitive procurement for a longer-term contract.

The conditions for reliance on the urgency ground under Paragraph 13 of Schedule 5 are satisfied:

(a) the incumbent's withdrawal at extremely short notice has created a genuine and immediate need to secure continuity of patient catering, without which the Trust would be exposed to serious risks to patient safety and potential breach of its statutory and regulatory obligations;

(b) the timeframe within which a replacement provider must be appointed is insufficient to permit any form of competitive tendering, whether under the Procurement Act 2023 or by way of call-off under an existing framework; and

(c) the urgency is not attributable to the Trust's conduct; the Trust took all reasonable steps to procure the services compliantly (including seeking to secure a short extension). The need for a direct award has arisen as, notwithstanding the Trust's efforts to agree an extension, and there being reasonable grounds on which the Trust expected that such an extension would be agreed, the incumbent unexpectedly decided not to extend the existing contract.

The direct award will be made on 23 April 2026 to accommodate immediate mobilisation and service commencement, subject to agreement of Heads of Terms. Full terms and conditions governing the contract will be finalised within 4 weeks.

Contract 1. Provision of Patient & Retail Catering Services - Kingston and Richmond NHS Foundation Trust (Interim Arrangement)

Supplier

• Mitie FM Limited

Contract value

• £5,800,000 excluding VAT
• £6,960,000 including VAT Above the relevant threshold

Award decision date

24 April 2026

Earliest date the contract will be signed

24 April 2026

Contract dates (estimated)

• 26 April 2026 to 25 April 2027
• Possible extension to 25 October 2027
• 1 year, 6 months

Description of possible extension:

One 6-month extension option

Main procurement category

Services

CPV classifications

Canteen and catering services

Procedure type

Direct award

Mitie FM Limited

• Companies House: 03253304 Level 12

London

SE1 9SG

United Kingdom

Email: communities.bdev@mitie.com

Website: http://www.mitie.com

Region: UKI44 - Lewisham and Southwark

Small or medium-sized enterprise (SME): No

Voluntary, community or social enterprise (VCSE): No

Supported employment provider: No

Public service mutual: No

Contract 1. Provision of Patient & Retail Catering Services - Kingston and Richmond NHS Foundation Trust (Interim Arrangement)

Kingston and Richmond Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

• Public Procurement Organisation Number: PNBL-5529-JNMP Procurement Department, Vera Brown House

Kinston Upon Thames

KT2 7QB

United Kingdom

Contact name: Chris Pathmadeva

Email: efprocurement@stgeorges.nhs.uk

Website: https://www.kingstonhospital.nhs.uk /

Region: UKI63 - Merton, Kingston upon Thames and Sutton

Organisation type: Public authority - central government