Guide to the Economically Most Advantageous Offer

Most catering contracts are awarded to the company that submits the lowest bid. This predominance of the price criteria can be partly explained by budgetary restrictions in the public sector and cost-cutting policies of private companies. There is also a lack of instruments that could help clients select the Contract Catering company offering the best quality/price ratio.

FERCO considers that choosing service providers on the basis of price alone is damaging as it induces Contract Catering companies to streamline their costs as much as possible, sometimes to the detriment of the quality of the meals and services provided. Awarding contracts at the lowest price cannot help promote a healthy diet. This is particularly true in the case of schools, hospitals and retirement homes, where low quality service has a significant impact on people’s nutrition, health and education.

As a result, FERCO and its social partner EFFAT (European Federation of Trade Unions in the Food, Agriculture and Tourism Sectors) have decided in the context of their European Social Dialogue to propose a method for awarding catering contracts that accounts for both quality and price. To facilitate the practical implementation of this procedure, EFFAT and FERCO have created with the support of the EU Commission, a Guide to the Economically Most Advantageous Offer. (The economically most advantageous offer represents the best quality for the best price.)

The Guide is intended to promote the use of quality criteria for the awarding of catering contracts by the clients, whether they are public organisations or private companies.
FERCO and EFFAT believe that the choice by both public and private entities of the “economically most advantageous offer” can contribute to a higher level of nutritional balance and improved food hygiene and safety standards.

The Guide is available in height languages (FR, EN, DE, ES, NL, IT, HU, PL) online at www.contract-catering-guide.org