UNSPSC 50306304: Sutton rhubarb

The variety of rhubarb known as sutton rhubarb

UNSPSC 50306304 Sutton rhubarb is a Commodity code that, based on recent state and local solicitations, appears to encompass institutional fresh produce procurement for K-12 school nutrition programs, child care facilities, senior services, and correctional food operations. The recent opportunities show that state and local governments are actively soliciting fresh produce under codes nominally labeled as "rhubarb" or similar produce items, but the actual scope reveals comprehensive procurement of multi-item produce baskets including apples, bananas, carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, berries, and dozens of other vegetables and fruits delivered weekly to school sites, central warehouses, and meal service locations. School districts and child nutrition programs dominate the issuing-body mix, with supplementary activity from municipal senior services departments, county boards of education, child care networks, and one detention facility. Repeat buyers include the Madison Metropolitan School District (Wisconsin), Savannah-Chatham County Public School System (Georgia), and multiple Georgia county and city school districts, along with cooperative purchasing vehicles such as the GEC Buying Cooperative serving 30 Georgia school districts simultaneously. Most solicitations are structured as IFBs or RFPs with firm fixed pricing, cost-plus models, or indexed pricing tied to USDA terminal market reports, and evaluate on lowest responsive bidder, quality metrics, vendor experience, and service reliability.

The code shows heaviest recent activity across Georgia—with high-volume solicitations from Dougherty County, Liberty County, Glynn County, Bulloch County, Bryan County, Early County, and Hancock County school districts in May–June 2026—followed by Texas (McAllen ISD, Austin ISD, Head Start of Greater Dallas, City of Edinburg), Florida (Hillsborough County), Wisconsin (Madison Metropolitan), Connecticut (Meriden), Mississippi (DeSoto County), California (Santa Clara County), and Oregon (Central Point School District). Representative solicitations include the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System's bid for 72 fresh produce line items (Bid 26-34, due April 23, 2026), the GEC Buying Cooperative's multi-district RFP for approximately 70 produce items across two Georgia geographic areas totaling $5.5 million in estimated annual spending (RFP SN 26-004, due March 4, 2026), and the Madison Metropolitan School District's RFBs for petite bananas (70–90 cases weekly, $78,000 annual value) and fresh fruit and vegetable snacks (5,900 weekly servings, Wisconsin-sourced, due July 29, 2026). Opportunities consistently emphasize Buy American compliance, HACCP certification, weekly or multiple-weekly delivery schedules, firm pricing for initial contract terms, and insurance requirements of $500,000 to $2,000,000 in general liability coverage. Local-vendor preferences, domestic-sourcing mandates, and farm-to-school initiatives appear across jurisdictions, particularly in Texas and Georgia. Recent activity suggests sustained demand through the 2026-2027 school year and beyond.