NIGP 20026: Food Service Clothing

NIGP 20026 Food Service Clothing, an Item code, encompasses disposable and protective apparel for commercial kitchen and food service operations — principally food service worker uniforms, protective gloves, hairnets, and related personal protective equipment. State and local governments procuring under this code are primarily school districts running child nutrition programs, though counties and municipalities also buy for their own food service operations and fire department facilities. Recent solicitations show that food service clothing and protective supplies represent a subset of larger child nutrition services contracts; they rarely stand alone as independent procurements. The City of Edinburg, Texas issued RFP 2026-017 on July 16, 2026 (due August 4) for Child and Adult Care Food Program meal support including gloves, hair nets, and food storage bags alongside food products and janitorial supplies for approximately 400 children daily. Rockwood R-VI School District in Missouri and Fulton County Schools in Georgia have separately solicited small food equipment and paper supplies for their School Nutrition Programs, where protective apparel and gloves constitute line items within larger consumables contracts rather than standalone buys. Los Fresnos Consolidated Independent School District issued RFP 26-27-09 in February 2026 (due April 9) for employee uniforms across multiple employee groups including food service workers alongside police, security, and maintenance personnel, with uniforms to be provided through a multiple-vendor award structure.

School districts represent the dominant buyer category under this code, with districts in Texas, Missouri, Florida, and Georgia driving recent activity. The geographic spread centers on large suburban and urban school districts in high-enrollment regions — Harris County (Klein ISD), St. Louis County (Rockwood R-VI), Atlanta metro (Fulton County), Cameron County (Los Fresnos), and Hillsborough County (fire rescue operations). Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners issued ITB-26-00319 on July 7, 2026 (due July 24) for consumable janitorial and operational supplies for 47 fire stations operating 24/7, with an estimated contract value of $765,679.84, though protective apparel represents a minor line item within the broader janitorial scope. Marion County School Board, Florida and Seminole County School Board, Florida have issued competitive bids for school cafeteria products and kitchen equipment catalog purchasing, where food service clothing and gloves appear as specification line items. Most procurements employ sealed-bid or RFP processes with firm, fixed pricing for one-year or multi-year terms; delivery requirements typically mandate weekday-only service windows during operating hours, and NSF certification and USDA Buy American compliance standards apply where federal school lunch funding is involved.