NIGP 96137: Fruit and Vegetable Processing Services

NIGP 96137 Fruit and Vegetable Processing Services (Item) covers food supply contracting for school nutrition and institutional foodservice programs, centered on the procurement of fresh and processed fruits, vegetables, and related grocery staples that meet federal nutrition standards and supply-chain requirements for K–12 districts and municipal departments. State and local governments buying under this code are primarily school districts and city boards of education purchasing produce and grocery items to support National School Lunch Program compliance, backed by municipal procurement offices handling the contracting logistics. The scope includes sourcing over 1,000 line items spanning fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables, complementary breakfast items, dairy, proteins, and condiments with strict adherence to Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act nutrition standards, whole-grain requirements, allergen restrictions (particularly nut-free specifications), and Buy American domestic-content provisions requiring at least 51 percent domestic agricultural ingredients with vendor documentation at bid time.

Recent activity centers in Connecticut and Florida. The City of Bridgeport Department of Public Purchases issued an RFQ (Solicitation BNB052266) on June 30, 2026, for grocery items to support the Bridgeport Board of Education's Food & Nutrition Services with a one-year contract term (July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027), firm fixed pricing, Net 45 payment terms, and mandatory blind-sample testing by school and laboratory personnel at vendor expense. Vendors must integrate with the Bridgeport Board of Education's LINQ School Solutions ordering system, maintain 24-hour emergency delivery capability, and carry $1,000,000 per occurrence / $2,000,000 aggregate commercial general liability and products liability insurance with the Board named as additional insured. The City of DeBary, Florida's irrigation project (Solicitation 0315, due April 10, 2015) appears in the source but does not reflect NIGP 96137 scope — it is a capital infrastructure bid unrelated to fruit and vegetable processing services.