The Ministry of National Education and New Citizenship has issued a call for tenders to recruit a caterer to provide meals for staff involved in preparing and printing the 2026 state examinations and the national short-cycle exam board.

According to tender documents dated April 13, 2026, the contract covers 440 staff and is divided into two lots. The first concerns 130 people involved in drafting the exams over 24 days. The second covers 310 staff assigned to printing over 50 days.

Interested bidders can obtain the full tender file from the ministry’s Project Management and Public Procurement Unit for a non-refundable fee of $750. Bids must be submitted by April 22, 2026 at 11:00 a.m., along with a bid guarantee equal to 1% of the offer amount for each lot.

Applicants must provide standard administrative documents, certified financial statements for 2023–2025, and proof of at least two similar contracts completed between 2021 and 2025. They must also demonstrate the ability to pre-finance operations, supported by a bank certificate covering at least 5% of the bid amount.

The scale of the contract can be gauged from previous awards. In 2025, a similar catering contract for exam staff was awarded to Etablissements Ralph Services Print for $1.50 million, including taxes. This included $200,257 for the first lot and $1.30 million for the second.

Procurement records also show the company secured several other contracts from the ministry that year related to national exams, including office supplies and IT equipment ($1.07 million), the national school and vocational selection test ($1.49 million), and the primary school leaving exam ($1.91 million). Together, these contracts total nearly $6 million.

Ralph Services Print therefore appears to be a well-established contractor in public tenders linked to national examinations.

Timothée Manoke