UNSPSC 50404611: Butterhead lettuces

The variety of lettuce known as butterhead lettuces

UNSPSC 50404611 Butterhead lettuces (Commodity) covers ready-to-eat fresh produce supplied to school districts, Head Start programs, and state institutional food service operations, with deliveries required in pre-washed, packaged form and sourcing often constrained by local geographic preferences. State and local buyers under this code span school nutrition programs across multiple districts (Madison Metropolitan, Northside Independent, Hillsborough County, Austin Independent, Bartow County, Dougherty County, Bryan County, Liberty County, Muscogee County, Glynn County, McAllen Independent, Savannah-Chatham County, Henry County, Bulloch County, Early County, Rockwood R-VI, and others), state departments (Texas Department of Criminal Justice supplying institutional cafeterias), and Head Start child care providers. The work solicited includes fresh produce delivery on weekly or multi-weekly schedules to central warehouses or direct school delivery; compliance with HACCP food safety plans and traceability documentation; cold-chain maintenance with specified temperature controls; and support for USDA Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program compliance. Recent examples include Madison Metropolitan School District's RFB 4163 for 5,900 weekly servings of fresh fruit and vegetable snacks (due July 29, 2026) with a 400-mile sourcing radius and 5% preference for Wisconsin-certified diverse-owned vendors; Northside Independent School District's RFP 2026-048 for fresh produce delivery to 117 campuses five days weekly (due May 7, 2026); and Bartow County Schools' RFP 10-2026-019 for local fresh fruits and vegetables within 400 miles (due June 22, 2026). Pricing models vary widely—fixed per-pound, cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm unit pricing, and USDA market-index-plus-markup structures all appear—with most contracts running July through June on annual terms with optional one- to four-year renewals.

Geographic activity concentrates in Georgia (Bartow County, Dougherty County, Bryan County, Liberty County, Muscogee County, Glynn County, Bulloch County, Savannah-Chatham County, Henry County, Douglas County cooperative spanning 30 districts, and State of Georgia general produce bids) and Texas (Madison Metropolitan near Austin, Northside Independent in San Antonio, McAllen Independent in the Rio Grande Valley, Austin ISD, Hillsborough County Public Schools in Tampa Florida, and Texas Department of Criminal Justice statewide). Connecticut (Meriden Public Schools), Missouri (Rockwood R-VI), and Florida also show recent activity. Issuing bodies are predominantly school districts of varying size, with the largest solicitations spanning 100+ campus sites (Northside Independent, Austin ISD) and serving 20,000+ students; smaller solicitations cover single or multi-school nutrition programs with more modest volumes. Competitive pressure is high—most RFPs and IFBs explicitly permit multiple vendor awards on a line-item basis and benchmark pricing to USDA terminal market reports or cost-plus-markup ceilings to control expense. Set-asides for disadvantaged vendors (SBE, MBE, WBE) appear inconsistently; geographic preference for local/state sourcing is common and often enforced through formal distance-radius requirements or price adjustment mechanisms. Award cycles typically run 60–90 days after bid opening. The code shows consistent, recent procurement activity with moderate-to-high frequency across the past four months, indicating sustained demand for fresh leafy produce in school nutrition and institutional food service supply chains.