UNSPSC 50403303: Watercress

The variety of cresses known as watercress

UNSPSC 50403303 Watercress is a Commodity code covering fresh watercress and related leafy greens that state and local governments buy primarily through school nutrition and institutional food service programs. Recent solicitations show that watercress rarely appears as a standalone line item; instead, state and local buyers procure it as part of broader fresh-produce bundles for child nutrition, school lunch programs, and corrections-facility food service. The issuing bodies consist primarily of school districts (Madison Metropolitan School District, Bartow County Schools, Dougherty County Schools, Bryan County Schools, Bulloch County Schools, Glynn County Schools, McAllen ISD, Northside ISD, and others across Georgia, Texas, Florida, and Connecticut), followed by corrections departments (Texas Department of Criminal Justice), Head Start programs, senior services departments, and regional cooperative-purchasing vehicles. Most solicitations are IFBs or RFPs issued by school nutrition programs seeking multiple produce vendors on line-item or multi-item bases, with contract terms typically running July through June of the following fiscal year and featuring optional renewal periods of one to four years.

Recent activity concentrates heavily in Georgia (Bartow County, Dougherty County, Bryan County, Bulloch County, Glynn County, Liberty County, Muscogee County, Henry County, Savannah-Chatham, and state-level procurements) and Texas (TDCJ institutional food service, Austin ISD, Northside ISD, McAllen ISD, Hillsborough County Schools in Florida, and Head Start of Greater Dallas). Representative opportunities include Bartow County Schools' local fresh-fruit-and-vegetable RFP (proposal due June 22, 2026, contract award July 20, 2026, covering seasonal local produce within 400 miles with 100-point weighted scoring), the Dougherty County Board of Education's sealed-bid procurement for 40 fresh produce line items (bids due June 16, 2026, covering apples, bananas, broccoli, carrots, and lettuce for delivery to 24 school sites), and the Douglas County School System's GEC Buying Cooperative RFP for fresh produce and eggs serving 30 districts across two Georgia areas (proposals due March 4, 2026, with estimated annual spending of approximately $4.4 million for Area One). Watercress itself does not appear prominently in any recent posting; the code's activity is subsumed within institutional fresh-vegetable procurements where it may be specified as an optional variety within broader leafy-green requirements.