Australian Defence looking for food suppliers

The Australian Department of Defence is inviting applicants to contact the Department to tender for the supply and delivery of foodstuffs to the Australian Defence Force at locations within nominated delivery zones around Australia.

The Department of Defence intends to establish Standing Offer arrangements for an initial period of three (3) years with two (2) one year options for extension. Providers will be invited to submit a tender for the supply and delivery of one or more categories of foodstuff to one or more delivery zones.

These Standing Offer arrangements are to be established to support Land based requirements and Navy seagoing vessels. The Land arrangements will encompass deliveries to various locations around Australia in support of the Australian Army and Air Force as well as other units. The Navy arrangements are primarily in support of naval vessels that have a requirement to replenish their foodstuffs at nominated ports around Australia.

Foodstuffs will fall within the following categories:

• Meat and meat products,
• Poultry,
• Bakery,
• Dairy,
• Fresh fruit and vegetables, and
• Groceries including dry goods, quick frozen vegetables, eggs and seafood.

A request for Tender is expected to be released this week through AusTender at www.tenders.gov.au.

Food planning and preparation plays an important part of Defence logistics. Long gone are the days of inadequate preparedness.

The Australian defence forces are giving high priority to nutritional science. In 2009, a 119-page document, titled Australian Defence Force Nutritional Requirements in the 21st Century (Version 1), was authored by Chris Forbes-Ewan, a nutritionist with extensive expertise in food science, nutrition and exercise physiology gained over the past 35 years. The work was undertaken to facilitate better Australian Defence Force (ADF) preparedness for operations in a wide range of scenarios.One such scenario is that of high-intensity conventional warfare. Other scenarios included a range of overseas deployments for humanitarian, stabilisation, counterinsurgency, peacekeeping and reconstruction interventions.

Source: Australian Food News, 10 September 2012