2. WI Department
of Agriculture
Today’s Speakers
Vanessa Zajfen, Farm to School Regional Lead – Midwest
USDA Farm to School Program
Sarah Elliott, WI Farm to School Director
WI Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection
Randy Jones, Senior Contract Specialist – “Procurement Guy”
WI Department of Public Instruction
5. WI Department
of Agriculture
What is Procurement?
Procurement is the purchasing of goods and services.
The procurement process involves:
Planning
Drafting
Solicitation
Advertising the
Procurement
Awarding
a Contract
Managing
the Contract
Procurement
Principles
6. WI Department
of Agriculture
Procurement Regulations
Procurement regulations can be found in:
7 CFR Part 3016 and Part 3019;
program regulations governing procurements can be found in:
the National School Lunch Program regulations at 7 CFR Part 210,
the Special Milk Program regulations at 7 CFR Part 215,
the School Breakfast Program regulations at 7 CFR Part 220, and
the Food Distribution regulations at 7 CFR Part 250.
USDA Program regulations found in guidance (i.e. memos)
State law, regulations, and policies that are not in conflict with Federal
requirements; and
Local law, regulations, and policies that are not in conflict with Federal
requirements.
7. WI Department
of Agriculture
Why are Procurement Rules Important?
• Full and open competition is essential to ensure
low cost and high quality of goods and services
• To ensure that the program receives maximum
benefits and taxpayer dollars are well spent!
8. WI Department
of Agriculture
Competition
"Competition" is the foundation for all properly conducted
procurements including local purchases, regardless of dollar
value.
A “Competitive Purchase” – includes buying local and it means
that ALL purchases, including small purchases, must be
conducted in a manner that maximizes free and open competition.
"Free and open competition” - means that all suppliers:
are "playing on a level playing field," and
have the same opportunity to compete.
Procurement procedures must not:
unduly restrict competition, or
eliminate competition.
9. WI Department
of Agriculture
Noncompetitive Forms of Procurement
Sole Source
Only one available source to purchase the product or service
Document that you tried to find additional sources
Try to negotiate the best price
Emergency Procurement
Emergency event causes a need to purchase the product or
service
Try to negotiate the best price
This is a short term solution
Develop plan for competitively procurement in near future
10. WI Department
of Agriculture
Buy American
Schools participating in the federal school meal programs are
required to purchase domestic commodities and products for
school meals to the maximum extent practicable.
Domestic commodity or product means an agricultural commodity
that is produced in the US and a food product that is processed in
the US substantially (at least 51 percent) using agricultural
commodities that are produced in the US (7CFR210.21, 220.16).
Actions that SFAs can take to comply with the Buy American
requirements:
Including a Buy American clause in all procurement documents (product
specifications, bid solicitations, requests for proposals, purchase orders, etc.);
Monitoring contractor performance;
Requiring suppliers to certify the origin of the product;
Examining product packaging for identification of the country of origin; and
Asking the supplier for specific information about the percentage of U.S.
content in the food product.
11. WI Department
of Agriculture
Work Together….
Cooperative Purchasing is a viable alternatives
to the conventional “go-it-alone” purchasing
process.
Networking - A secondary benefit.
Cooperative Purchasing can serve as a forum for
the exchange of ideas beyond purchasing.
13. WI Department
of Agriculture
Objectives
Participants should understand that:
• Solicitations and contracts are powerful tools to buy local food
• There are multiple types of solicitations and contracts
• Each solicitation and contract can be designed and/or used to
achieve specific farm to school goals
15. WI Department
of Agriculture
When Writing a Farm to School Solicitation
• You will need to:
1. Choose a solicitation tool
2. Design a solicitation tool
• To do that you need to know:
» What you are trying to accomplish?
» What results each tool can achieve for you?
» What type of results (decisions) are you ok with?
16. WI Department
of Agriculture
What do you Want to Accomplish?
• Identify one vendor for all your local food needs!
• Identify multiple vendors for your local food needs!
• Find the most affordable local products!
• Provide seasonal pricing for school menus!
• Provide flexibility to choose vendors based on quality not just price!
• Encourage vendor partnerships that help you build a local sourcing program!
• Provide educational opportunities for students such as farm visits and more!
• Identify local products that support new meal pattern fruit and veg regs!
• Allow you to buy school garden grown foods for the NSLP!
• Get you a roadmap for your local sourcing program!
• And more!
18. WI Department
of Agriculture
What Does Local Mean?
• Within a radius
• Within a county
• Within a state
• Within a region
A district’s definition of local may
change depending on the:
• Season
• Product
• Special events
20. WI Department
of Agriculture
Local as a Specification
• “This RFP is restricted to producers within the state.”
• “This RFP is for only Montana grown products for Montana
grown week”
• “We are soliciting bids from producers within a 150 mile
radius.”
• “We are soliciting bids for Michigan grown products.”
• “Only products grown within a 300 mile radius will be
accepted.”
21. WI Department
of Agriculture
Procurement Methods
(Federal Threshold = $150,000)
Small Purchase
(Requires price quotes from
at least 3 bidders)
Sealed Bids (IFBs)
& Competitive
Proposals (RFPs)
(Requires public advertising)
Informal Formal
≤ Small Purchase Threshold >
25. WI Department
of Agriculture
Informal Solicitations
• Three vendor minimum
• SFA selects the three vendors
» Target vendors that supply the local products you need
• Keep track of:
» What you asked each vendor
» Method used to notify vendors
» Vendors notified
» Vendors responses
» The award
26. WI Department
of Agriculture
Splitting Procurements
• SFAs cannot arbitrarily divide purchases to fall below the small
purchase threshold.
• In some instances, however, characteristics of a product or
market justify the need to separate it from the overall food
procurement.
» Such as Harvest of the Month Programs, taste tests, products for a
Farm to School Month promotion.
29. WI Department
of Agriculture
Invitation for Bid
IFB is used when the decision for award will be based on price alone. Solicitor is
inviting vendors to propose their best price for a very specific item.
• Advantages:
» Straight forward
» Price is the only determining factor
• Easy to select a winning bid
• Disadvantages:
» Price is the only determining factor
30. WI Department
of Agriculture
Request for Proposal
An RFP is requesting project proposals from vendors and/or
industry experts.
An RFP is often used when a district doesn’t have a specific
specification that it is looking for and they want the bidders to
respond with proposals outlining what they are able to offer.
It is used when a district wants to take into account price along with
other factors such as vendor reputation, differences in service
(works with 100 local farmers) or value added propositions (such
as can provide students farm visits).
31. WI Department
of Agriculture
RFP, continued…
• Advantages:
» Price is a key factor, but not only factor
» Vendors can even propose new and more advantageous pricing structure(s)
» You may get much more value and/or services
» Receive multiple proposals with different ideas about how to achieve the RFP’s stated goal
• The roadmap idea
• Disadvantages:
» Decisions are open to districts interpretation of value and fair cost
• This can make accounting departments nervous
» Since decisions are not entirely based on price it can leave a decision open to criticism
33. WI Department
of Agriculture
Forward Contracts
• Purchasing product before harvest:
» Provides producer with a guarantee
» Ensures the farmer will plant and pack the supply needed
• Follows competitive procurement requirements:
» 3 quotes
» Pricing structure proposed
• If used, a pricing index is determined and used by all bidders
36. WI Department
of Agriculture
GAP
• USDA Farm to School Program – Does not require GAP
• USDA AMS and DoD Programs – Do require GAP
• State Educational Agency – Can require schools buy from GAP
vendors; in Wisconsin it is not a state requirement
• State Department of Public Health – State food code managed
by counties may also have such requirements; Wisconsin Food
Code does not require GAP
• Distributors- May or may not require their vendors have GAP
• SFAs- May or may not require GAP in solicitations
40. WI Department
of Agriculture
Geographic Preference
Regulation: Farm Bill amended the National School Lunch Act
to allow institutions receiving funds through the Child Nutrition
Programs to apply a geographic preference when procuring
unprocessed locally grown or locally raised agricultural products.
Regulation: Provided USDA Food Nutrition and Services (FNS) the
authority to issue a final rule on geographic preference;
USDA FNS then provided instructions to purchasing institution
(i.e., the school or the state agency purchasing on behalf of the
school) on how to apply a geographic preference procurement
option.
Limits: Geographic Preference –
can only be applied to the procurement of “unprocessed
agricultural products”
that retain their “inherent character”.
41. WI Department
of Agriculture
What Is “Unprocessed”?
“Unprocessed” agricultural products
retain their inherent character. These are
the allowed food handling and
preservation techniques:
• Cooling, refrigerating, and freezing
• Peeling, slicing, dicing, cutting,
chopping, shucking, and grinding
• Forming ground products into patties
• Drying and dehydrating
• Washing, packaging, vacuum packing,
and bagging
• Adding preservatives to prevent
oxidation
• Butchering livestock or poultry
• Pasteurizing milk
43. WI Department
of Agriculture
How to Incorporate
a Geographic Preference
1) Define local.
2) Determine what type of procurement method to use.
3) Decide how much “preference” local products will receive.
4) Be sure your solicitation makes perfectly clear how the
preference will be applied during evaluation.
44. WI Department
of Agriculture
Do you need to use Geographic Preference?
It depends…
“Geographic Preferences” is great for providing local
producers with some sort of “advantage” either by
assignment of points for “proposals” or reduction in “bid
price” for evaluation purposes when needed.
However is this always needed for local purchases?
How about using the 3 bids and a buy procurement tool?
Could you just solicit 3 or more local bids from your defined
geographic area?
Is this compliant with State and Federal procurement
regulations?
48. WI Department
of Agriculture
Other USDA Farm to School Resources
• USDA Farm to School Website (at www.fns.usda.gov/farmtoschool):
» USDA Procurement guide (under resources)
» Fact Sheets
» Resource Lists
» Grant Program Information
» Webinar Recordings
• Farm to School Census
• USDA Farm to School E-Letter
» Latest News
» Grant Updates
» Webinar Announcements
49. WI Department
of Agriculture
Other WI Farm to School Resources
• WI Farm to School Toolkits
» http://www.cias.wisc.edu/toolkits/
• WI Department of Public Instruction website
» http://fns.dpi.wi.gov/fns_f2s
• Wisconsin Farm to School newsletter
• Others?
50. WI Department
of Agriculture
Contact Information
Vanessa Zajfen, Farm to School Regional Lead – Midwest
vanessa.zajfen@fns.usda.gov
(312) 353 - 0683
Sarah Elliott, WI Farm to School Director
sarah.elliott@Wisconsin.gov
(608)-224-5046
Randy Jones, Senior Contract Specialist – “Procurement Guy”
Randall.Jones@dpi.wi.gov
(608)-267-2277
