This Week’s Topic: Procurement and School Nutrition Programs Key to Excellence: Administration According to the National Food Service Management Institute (NFSMI), the definition of procurement is a multi-step process for obtaining goods, products, and/or services at the best possible price. Almost daily, School Nutrition Programs (SNPs) are procuring goods and services including food, cleaning products, paper products, office supplies, and equipment. Programs are required to follow federal, state, and local procurement guidance and regulations. For example, USDA holds SNPs to the following set of principles when procuring: • Free and open competition • Fairness and integrity • Responsive and responsible In addition, SNPs are also required to obtain at least three responses to each solicitation for purchase, whether it is a formal invitation to bid for a large purchase or a phone solicitation for pencils. In addition to providing guidance, the USDA supplies other useful resources to assist SNPs with the procurement process. One such resource is the geographic preference tool which assists SNPs in the procurement of local products in order to support their local economies. Geographic preference allows SNPs to assign a value to vendors that offer products that meet the program’s definition of “local” when determining bid awards. As you can see, the procurement process in SNPs is not a simple endeavor. If you would like more information on procurement in SNPs, check out the following websites: nfsmi.org fns.usda.gov/cnd/F2S/about.htm#Initiative dm.usda.gov/procurement/ schoolnutrition.org/ResourceCenter.aspx
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 12:06:01 +0000
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