UNSPSC 50403903: Bottle gourd

The variety of gourds known as bottle gourd

UNSPSC 50403903 Bottle gourd, a Commodity code, nominally covers dried or processed bottle gourd; state and local governments procuring under this code are actually buying fresh produce—predominantly fresh fruits and vegetables for school nutrition programs, child care facilities, senior services, and institutional food service operations. Recent solicitations show school districts and state procurement offices sourcing commodity-grade fresh produce for high-volume distribution across multiple sites, with deliveries typically five to seven days per week to central warehouses or individual school locations. The issuing bodies are predominantly school districts (elementary through high school nutrition programs across multiple states), state departments of criminal justice and agriculture, county school nutrition programs, Head Start child care operations, and municipal senior services divisions. Individual school districts and county systems represent the largest segment of recent activity, each conducting annual or multi-year produce procurement RFPs, RFQs, and IFBs with response dates typically spanning March through August. State-level procurement offices in Texas, Georgia, and Connecticut also issue solicitations for produce destined for institutional food service, canning operations for correctional facilities, and state-funded school lunch programs.

Recent opportunities span Texas, Georgia, Florida, Missouri, Connecticut, and South Carolina, with particularly dense activity among Georgia school districts (Bulloch County, Douglas County, Bryan County, Liberty County, Muscogee County, Savannah-Chatham County, Glynn County, Henry County, Dougherty County, and Bartow County), Texas state agencies (TDCJ and Department of Criminal Justice), and large urban school districts (Austin ISD, Northside ISD in San Antonio, Hillsborough County in Tampa, McAllen ISD, and Meriden Public Schools in Connecticut). The Bartow County School System (Georgia) issued RFP 10-2026-019 for local fresh fruits and vegetables with a June 22, 2026 deadline, requiring sourcing within 400 miles and emphasizing seasonal availability; Glynn County Board of Education (Georgia) posted IFB 27-02 for fresh produce with an April 14, 2026 response date covering 60 produce line items for 16 school locations; the Texas Department of Criminal Justice issued multiple IFBs (IW253099, IW253121, IW241979-A) for bulk white potatoes, sweet potatoes, and carrots for institutional canning and food service between February and June 2026; and Hillsborough County Public Schools (Tampa, Florida) solicited a cost-plus fixed-fee contract (RFP 26039RFQDST, due March 11, 2026) for specialty fresh produce delivery to 18 elementary schools participating in the USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program. Procurement values range from single-vendor school district contracts under $1 million annually to cooperative multi-district buys exceeding $5 million (Douglas County GEC Buying Cooperative estimated approximately $5.5 million across two geographic areas). Evaluation criteria consistently weight cost at 30–50 percent, product quality at 15–25 percent, delivery and service reliability at 10–20 percent, and vendor qualifications at 5–15 percent, with buy-local or geographic-preference provisions appearing in roughly half of recent solicitations. Most contracts require HACCP certification, product traceability by farm of origin, general liability insurance in the $500,000 to $2 million range, and compliance with USDA Buy American provisions for domestic agricultural content.