UNSPSC 50304610: Charleston gray watermelon

A widely grown african vine (citrullus lanatus syn. C. Vulgaris) of the gourd family that bears a large oblong or roundish fruit with a hard green or white rind often striped or variegated, a sweet watery pink, yellowish, or red pulp, and usually many seeds

UNSPSC 50304610 Charleston gray watermelon is a Commodity code that does not reflect the scope of state and local procurement activity the source documents support. While the code nominally specifies a single produce variety, the recent state and local opportunities tagged under this family span comprehensive fresh produce supply chains—entire departments sourcing dozens of fruit and vegetable line items, prepared produce, eggs, and ancillary food service products for school nutrition programs, child care facilities, senior services, and correctional institutions. The solicitations cluster around school districts and child nutrition authorities, particularly in Georgia, Texas, Florida, Connecticut, and Utah, competing for annual contracts to supply produce to dozens of school sites with strict USDA compliance, HACCP certification, Buy American requirements, and fixed or cost-plus pricing models. Code usage here appears misaligned with the taxonomy structure; the opportunities are institution-wide food-service procurement tagged at the commodity tier when the actual work spans Family- and Class-level scope.

Georgia dominates recent activity, with sealed bids and RFPs posted by Bulloch County Schools, Dougherty County Board of Education, Glynn County Board of Education, Liberty County Board of Education, Bryan County Schools, Henry County Schools, Savannah-Chatham County Public School System, and the GEC Buying Cooperative serving 30 districts across two geographic areas—all seeking produce, eggs, and groceries for 2026-2027 school years with response deadlines between late April and early July 2026. School districts in Texas (McAllen ISD, Austin ISD), Florida (Hillsborough County Public Schools), Utah (Salt Lake City School District), Connecticut (Meriden Public Schools), Oregon (Central Point School District), and the City of Salt Lake City also posted RFPs and IFBs for fresh produce, with deadlines clustering in March through May 2026. Head Start of Greater Dallas, the City of Bridgeport, DeSoto County School District in Mississippi, and Hancock County Board of Education in Georgia rounded out the mix. Early procurement volume suggests district-level budget cycles are driving activity; most contracts run July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027, with 3- to 5-year renewal options. Vendor requirements converge on five-year distribution experience, $1 million general liability insurance, HACCP plans, USDA compliance and Buy American certification, and weekly or bi-weekly delivery to school sites. Price structures vary—firm fixed, cost-plus-fixed-fee, and markup-above-USDA-index models all appear—with evaluation criteria favoring cost (30–50 points), service reliability and quality (15–25 points), and experience (10–20 points). No set-asides specific to the code appear in the source materials; however, several districts encourage small and minority-owned participation and apply preference scoring for local or diverse-owned vendors where applicable.