School hostel tenders announced

THE Tender Board has allocated new contracts for catering services to Namibia’s State school hostels, ending the seven-year dominance of the former Catering Association of Namibia (CAN) group of companies, which had controlled the N$270-million-a-year business since 2002.

The new successful bidders are a mix of old and new companies. Several companies warned that ‘the going was going to be rough initially’ because of delays in allocating the tender, which closed in February.The Secretary of the Tender Board 10 days ago issued notice that six companies had been awarded the new contracts under Tender A9-11/2009 for the 13 regions – which will run for five years and will be subject to strict performance conditions.The tender was hotly contested, with 21 companies entering bids to feed the about 50 000 hostel children in Namibia. Negative economic conditions have also seen some of the better-known names such Global Foods and Roy-Nam fall by the wayside.The months preceding the awarding of the tender also saw threats of lawsuits against alleged collusive tendering by some bidders. The new tender specified that no two companies may hold more than 25 per cent cross-shareholding in each other.The most lucrative region, namely that of Oshana and Omusati with the largest number of hostel children, has been awarded to Supreme Caterers.Supreme Caterers’ principal is Marius Winterbach who, with his wife Vanessa, also operates Lida Cleaning Services in Windhoek. Winterbach yesterday confirmed that they have to be operational by next Monday, having had less than three weeks to acquire staff, trucks and catering equipment.’The process [of deciding on the tender] unfortunately took very long. We would have liked more time to prepare, but I am sure we will cope with the pressure,’ he said.Atlantic Food Services, which is associated with Walvis Bay entrepreneur Freddie Hirschbach, won the contract for the Ohangwena and Oshikoto regions. It is the second largest area in terms of children to feed, and like Omusati and Oshana, presents logistical problems because of road infrastructure destroyed by the recent floods.Independence Caterers, which participated in the bidding via Tsebo Holding and Catering and Heritage Caterers, managed to hang on to the catering business for the Hardap, Karas and Otjozondjupa regions. Seal Caterers, another company in which Independence Caterers held a 40 per cent interest, was unsuccessful. Independence Caterers via its CAN syndicate however still holds contracts for two teacher training colleges.A former member of CAN, Daan Holtzhausen of Outjo, got the tender for the Kunene and Erongo regions. Another company closely associated with Holtzhausen’s business interests, OKG Foods, was awarded the lucrative Khomas Region, sought after because of its lower logistical costs. The most difficult area, the Kavango and Caprivi, has been awarded to Xantium Catering Services.All the schools in eastern Caprivi, and to a lesser extent in the rest of Caprivi and some areas of Kavango, were severely affected by the floods in March. * John Grobler is a freelance journalist; johngrob@iway.na