Description
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has announced plans to purchase canned boned poultry for school lunch and other domestic food nutrition assistance programs. Offers will be invited from the trade for canned boned poultry in 50-ounce (1.42 kg) cans, packed 12 cans to a shipping container. A purchase unit will consist of 1,000 shipping containers totaling 37,500 pounds (17,010 kg). Invitation No. 1, inviting offers due by 12 noon, Central Time, Monday, Nov. 16, is being issued in the near future. Acceptances will be announced by midnight, Friday, Nov. 20, for delivery from Jan. 1 to Jan. 15, 2010. Subsequent invitations will be issued as needed. All offers must be submitted electronically through the Domestic Electronic Bid Entry System (DEBES) website at https://pcsd.usda.gov:3077/mdbc1000.exe?. Offers submitted by any means other than DEBES will be considered nonresponsive. There are some important changes to this year's program. Food defense plans must have been audited since March 1, 2009. All non-conformances listed in the audit report must be addressed in writing to both the Contracting Officer and Auditor within 14 calendar days of the audit. Also, qualified bidders must provide annual financial updates to Dun & Bradstreet as detailed in the Qualification Requirements. Although most other provisions of the program are similar to the program operated last year, offerors are urged to carefully read all applicable terms and conditions of the Master Solicitation for Commodity Procurement dated April 2009; Qualification Requirements for Prospective Contractors dated April 2009; Commodity Specification for Canned Boned Poultry dated May 2008; and Invitation No. 1. Inquiries may be made by telephoning (202) 720-7693 or addressing the Contracting Officer; USDA/AMS/Poultry Programs, Commodity Procurement Branch STOP 0260; 1400 Independence Ave., SW; Washington, DC 20250. An electronic version of this Food Purchase Report can be obtained through the world-wide-web via the Commodity Procurement Home Page at: http://www.ams.usda.gov/PYProcurement. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or a part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA's TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination write to USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (800) 795-3272 (voice) or (202) 720-6382 (TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.