Initial pulls out of stockport bid

By David Shrimpton

Stockport Council has moved its school meals contract back in-house after current provider Initial Catering Services pulled out of the bidding and complained to the Department of the Environment about the council's behaviour.

Initial, formerly BET Catering Services, said the decision not to retender for the £3m-plus contract was "based on careful analysis of the bid document and the stance taken by the client team". It has held the contract for four years.

The company has now complained to the Department of the Environment (DoE) about "grave concerns with regard to the incompleteness of the tender, specifically the monitoring element, and the nature and approach taken by the client team during the bidding process".

Initial also claimed that during its preparation for the bid it became aware that "there has been, for the past couple of years, two different monitoring systems in place, one for the DSO and one for ourselves as a private contractor, which is contrary to the DoE guidelines. We subsequently had no choice but to decline proceeding with our bid."

Stockport emphatically denied the allegations, which it denounced as wholly untrue.