Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) services DPS (SC240025)
The submission route named on the official notice.
This is a large award for Recreation, Culture & Sport — above three-quarters of comparable contracts. Based on 3,522 valued Recreation, Culture & Sport tenders in our corpus.
Kent County Council has published 7 Recreation, Culture & Sport notices, about every 5 months. On that rhythm the next one is expected around December 2026.
43% of Kent County Council’s awards go to a supplier it has used before.
Which is the argument for getting on the list rather than winning this one. The incumbent is rarely the last winner — it is the roster. See the retention odds by category →
The Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme in Kent focuses on supporting children's physical health and wellbeing by providing nutritious meals and engaging activities during school holidays.
Families with children aged four to sixteen who are eligible for benefits-related Free School Meals (FSM) can access these free opportunities during the Easter, summer, and Christmas breaks.
This initiative is funded by the Department for Education (DfE), with grant conditions outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding signed by Kent County Council (KCC).
The programme aims to address the challenges some families face during school holidays, such as increased food and childcare costs and reduced household income, which can make it difficult to provide adequate meals and activities for children.
HAF offers a variety of enriching activities designed to keep children active and socially engaged during the holidays.
Participating families also benefit from resources and support to help improve their understanding of nutrition and food budgeting.
The opportunity to apply for this contract was first made available in December 2024.
As this is a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS), bidders may submit applications at any time.
However, submissions are reviewed in rounds, as detailed in the Invitation to Tender.
What the notice asks for
The programme aims to address the challenges
The programme aims to address the challenges some families face during school holidays, such as increased food and childcare costs and reduced household income, which can make it difficult to provide adequate meals and activities for children.
Participating families also benefit from resources
Participating families also benefit from resources and support to help improve their understanding of nutrition and food budgeting.
Sentences from the notice that state an obligation, surfaced automatically and shown in the order they appear. Not an exhaustive list — always confirm against the tender documents.
What this notice demands of you
1 named, none in explicit obligation language. Each one is quoted from the notice.
As this is a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS), bidders may submit applications at any time.
Matched against the notice text, so this is a floor — the tender pack will demand things the notice never mentions. “Says must” means the quoted sentence itself used obligation language; anything ambiguous is left as a mention.
What it takes to bid this
Typical UK bid effort for the £1m–£10m band — an estimate, not a quote.
Qualify & bid/no-bid ~10% · SQ / PQQ ~20% · Written response ~55% · Review & presentation ~15%
Typical for this category — confirm against the ITT pack
- Show at bidComparable references / case studies
- Hold at bidFinancial standing (accounts, often ~2× contract value turnover)
- Hold at bidInsurance cover (PL / EL, often PI)
- Show at bidSocial value commitments
Hold at bid = pass/fail conditions of participation. Show at bid = scored in the quality response. Plan for delivery = contract obligations from day one.
Make the case to bid
Reveal who to approach at Kent County Council, and generate a go-to-market strategy from their news, accounts and people.
Free to start. Named contacts come from published notices; the strategy is generated from the buyer’s news, accounts and people.
The full intelligence dossier
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- OCID
- ocds-h6vhtk-06a936
- Stage
- tender · Open
- Source
- Find a Tender
- Buyer ref
- 050970-2026
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source data © Crown copyright.
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