Food, beverages, tobacco and related products

Tender description

Team Leidos, under the scope of the Logistics Commodities Support (Transformation) — LCS(T) contract, has a requirement for the supply of a range of Operational Ration Packs (ORP) to support expeditionary military operations and exercises undertaken by the UK Armed Forces. A flexible range of rations are required to meet the cognitive, nutritional and energy needs of the service personnel in the field. Due to the transient nature of military operations, routinely taking place all over the world, the ORP will need to withstand a variety of climates and have an extended shelf life on delivery into the designated storage facility, the Defence Fulfilment Centre in Donnington, Shropshire. The agreement shall be divided into 4 lots by ration type. The agreement shall be awarded for an initial period of 2 years and 10 months from June 2019, with the option of a further 1 year thereafter. The volumes and values provided are for guidance only and are not a guarantee of business. The main ORP is the 24-hour GP ration, which currently consists of meal retort pouches (breakfast, lunch and dinner), pudding retort pouches, powdered drinks, sweets, chocolate bars, fruit/cereal bars, nuts, chewing gum, teabags, coffee sachets, whitener sachets, sugar sachets, water sterilisation tablets, wet wipes, a pack of tissues, windproof/waterproof matches and a combined spoon/fork (spork). The current annual consumption volume of all the 24-hour GP ration is circa 1 500 000 rations. The 24-hour cultural and ethnic rations (e.g. Halal, Kosher etc) are a variant of the 24-hour GP ration. The current annual consumption volume of all the 24-hour cultural and ethnic rations is circa 100 000 rations. The 24-hour enhanced and 8-hour Single Meal Rations (SMR) are also a variant of the 24-hour GP ration and additionally include a Flameless Ration Heater. The current annual consumption volume of all the 24-hour Enhanced and 8-hour SMR rations is circa 15 000 and 80 000 rations respectively. All outer cartons shall meet minimum performance criteria, including minimum compression and burst strength and minimum water resistance requirements. All ration cartons are packed on NATO Standard four-way pallets to specified menu stacking requirements and maximum weight and dimensional (including height) requirements. All 24-hour and 8-hour ration packs must have a minimum remaining product shelf life of 24 months (2 years) from the date of delivery into the Defence Fulfilment Centre (DFC). All rations must meet the specified component requirements and complete ration pack calorific and nutritional values and shall be compliant with food safety, legality and quality in accordance with EU/UK legislation. The supplier holds responsibility for producing the ORP to meet the specified requirements and to deliver complete rations. The 10-Man ration is used by military chefs in field kitchens for group feeding. It currently includes components such as main meal retort pouches, tinned meats, tinned desserts, tinned fruit and vegetables, large pasta and rice packs, biscuits, fruit/cereal bars, powdered drinks, teabags, powdered milk, sauce sachets, flour, bicarbonate of soda, dried yeast, cooking oil, salt and pepper, sugar, garlic powder, dried onions, dried herbs, tin opener and refuse sacks. The current annual consumption volume of the 10-Man ration is circa 200 000 rations. All outer cartons shall meet minimum performance criteria, including minimum compression and burst strength and minimum water resistance requirements. All ration cartons are packed on NATO standard four-way pallets to specified menu stacking requirements and maximum weight and dimensional (including height) requirements. The 10-Man ration must have a minimum remaining product shelf life of 24 months (2 years) from the date of delivery into the Defence Fulfilment Centre (DFC). All rations must meet the specified component requirements and complete ration pack calorific and nutritional values and shall be compliant with food safety, legality and quality in accordance with EU/UK legislation. The supplier holds responsibility for producing the ORP to meet the specified requirements and to deliver complete rations. The 24-hour Cold Climate (dehydrated) ration is a variant of the 24-hour GP ration but the main meal and pudding pouches are all freeze dried. The current annual consumption volume of the 24-hour CC ration is circa 30K rations. All outer cartons shall meet minimum performance criteria, including minimum compression and burst strength and minimum water resistance requirements. All ration cartons are packed on NATO Standard four-way pallets to specified menu stacking requirements and maximum weight and dimensional (including height) requirements. The cold climate ration must have a minimum remaining product shelf life of 24 months (2 years) from the date of delivery into the Defence Fulfilment Centre (DFC). All rations must meet the specified component requirements and complete ration pack calorific and nutritional values and shall be compliant with food safety, legality and quality in accordance with EU/UK legislation. The supplier holds responsibility for producing the ORP to meet the specified requirements and to deliver complete rations. The emergency survival rations currently include components such as drinking water pouches, fruit flavoured sweets, sugar cubes, beef stock drink, coffee sachets, water purification tablets, salt sachets and high calorific energy bars. All outer cartons shall meet minimum performance criteria, including minimum compression and burst strength and minimum water resistance requirements. All ration cartons are packed on NATO standard four-way pallets to specified menu stacking requirements and maximum weight and dimensional (including height) requirements. The emergency and survival rations must have a minimum remaining product shelf life of 48 months (4 years) from the date of delivery into the DFC. All rations must meet the specified component requirements and complete ration pack calorific and nutritional values and shall be compliant with food safety, legality and quality in accordance with EU/UK legislation. The supplier holds responsibility for producing the ORP to meet the specified requirements and to deliver complete rations.