UNSPSC 50403401: Arena cucumbers

The variety of cucumbers known as arena cucumbers

UNSPSC 50403401 Arena cucumbers (Commodity) covers fresh produce supply to state and local institutions, where recent procurement activity shows school districts, county education systems, and state agencies sourcing fresh vegetables—including cucumbers, carrots, potatoes, and mixed produce—for child nutrition programs, institutional food service, and senior center operations. The work solicited under this code spans weekly or scheduled delivery of fresh produce in bulk or case quantities, often with pre-processing requirements (washing, cutting, packaging), compliance with USDA food safety and nutrition standards, temperature-controlled transportation, and detailed farm-of-origin and traceability documentation. Issuing bodies include school districts (elementary through high school), county boards of education, state departments of criminal justice, Head Start programs, city senior services divisions, and cooperative purchasing vehicles. School nutrition procurement dominates the recent activity, with districts ranging from small rural systems to large metropolitan districts like Northside Independent School District (San Antonio) and Austin ISD. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice appears repeatedly as a bulk institutional buyer, as do Georgia school districts across multiple counties (Bartow, Dougherty, Bryan, Glynn, Henry, Liberty, Muscogee, Douglas, and Bulloch Counties). Many solicitations emphasize local or regional sourcing within specified distances (200–400 miles), organic or sustainably grown products, and vendor diversity preferences; several school districts weight geographic preference and diverse-owned business status at 5–15 percent of evaluation criteria.

Recent opportunities cluster in Georgia and Texas, with secondary activity in Florida, Connecticut, Missouri, and South Carolina. Representative recent solicitations include Madison Metropolitan School District (Wisconsin) issuing RFB 4163 for fresh fruit and vegetable snacks with a July 29, 2026 response deadline, requiring produce sourced within 400 miles of Madison and emphasizing Wisconsin Supplier Diversity Program certification with a 5 percent preference on award; Head Start of Greater Dallas issuing IFB 26-GP on June 24, 2026 for frozen foods and produce under the Child and Adult Care Food Program, with primary and secondary supplier selections and a $969,460.94 estimated annual value; and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice posting multiple IFBs for carrots (1,200 tons under IW241979-A, March 17, 2026) and potatoes under bulk commodity contracts with firm pricing for 30 days and extended contract terms. School districts typically award on lowest responsive bidder for produce, with annual contract terms (July 1–June 30) and options for two to four one-year renewals; evaluation often weights cost at 30–50 percent, product quality and availability at 15–30 percent, and vendor qualifications or service capability at 10–25 percent. Insurance requirements are standard (general liability $500,000 to $2,000,000 per occurrence), Buy American certification mandatory, and delivery schedules firm (typically Monday–Friday, 6:00 a.m.–2:30 p.m.). Federal set-asides and state-level small business or diverse-owned preferences appear in many notices; Texas procurement includes service-disabled veteran and Texas-based vendor preferences under 34 TAC Rule 20.306.