Description
This invitation is for Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business Set-Asside only. The Department of Agriculture (USDA) invites offers to sell fresh fruit as indicated below and per the Announcement for use in child nutrition and other domestic food assistance programs. Offers are due by 1 p.m., Central Time, Monday, August 15, 2006. Acceptances will be announced by midnight August 30, 2006. Deliveries are to be made from October 30, 2006 through November 15, 2006. Offers are invited from the trade for 9,240 cases of fresh apples in 37/40 lb. cartons to a shipping container. All prime vendors are reminded that they are prohibited from subcontracting with companies or individuals that have been suspended or debarred. All invitations with orders for the state of New York, must have the pack date stamped on the outside of each carton. The pack date should be annotated as per the following example (05/01/2003). Orders for the state of New York requiring the special marking will be indicated by (**). This applies to New York orders "Only," if and when they appear on an invitation. Effective August 1, 2005, contractors are required to submit Annual Representations and Certifications via the Online Representation and Certifications Application (ORCA). Bids must be submitted electronically via the Domestic Electronic Bid Entry System (DEBES) on the Internet. Offerors who submit bids using other than DEBES, will be deemed non-responsive. Offeror must be assigned a Logon ID by USDA to access the site. The Internet address is: http://pcsd.usda.gov/debes. Bidders are cautioned to bid only quantities they can reasonable expect to produce and deliver in accordance with the contract. Inquiries about Announcement FV-311; Appendix-1; the Commodity Specification for Canned Vegetables dated April 2004, or this invitation should be directed to the Contracting Officer, USDA/AMS/Fruit and Vegetable Programs, Commodity Procurement Branch STOP 0239, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250, telephone (202) 720-4517. An electronic version of this invitation can be obtained through the World Wide Web via the Commodity Procurement Home Page at http://www.ams.usda.gov/cp. Purchases of the commodities will be made on a delivered basis, subject to Announcement FV-311, to the listed locations. Delivery by trucks or railcars is optional to the contractor, except for those destination(s) which specify delivery by truck only or rail only. For addtional information, contact DeVera Redmond, Small Business Coordinator, 202-720-7106