UNSPSC 50405202: Burgundy okra

The variety of okra known as burgundy okra

UNSPSC 50405202 Burgundy okra is a Commodity code that captures state and local procurement of fresh produce items for institutional food service and child nutrition programs. Recent solicitations show school districts and state agencies purchasing fresh vegetables—including okra and related commodity produce—as part of comprehensive fresh-produce contracts, often emphasizing locally sourced or domestically grown items to meet USDA Child Nutrition and Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program compliance. The issuing bodies are predominantly school districts (Madison Metropolitan School District in Wisconsin, Bartow County Schools and Dougherty County Schools in Georgia, Northside ISD and AISD in Texas, Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools in Georgia, and Hillsborough County Public Schools in Florida), state departments (Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the State of Georgia), and one Head Start agency (Head Start of Greater Dallas). Solicitations under produce codes regularly include quality standards such as GAP certification, HACCP plans, traceability by farm of origin, and insurance requirements (typically $500,000 to $2,000,000 general liability). Geographic preferences and local-sourcing mandates are common—many school districts require produce sourced within 200 to 400 miles of their locations—and evaluation often weights cost at 30 to 50 percent, with secondary consideration for quality, delivery reliability, and local or diverse-business status.

Activity in this code concentrates in the South and Texas. Georgia school districts (Bartow County, Dougherty County, Bryan County, Liberty County, Muscogee County, Glynn County, Bulloch County, and Savannah-Chatham County) posted multiple fresh-produce RFPs and IFBs in recent months, with bid deadlines clustering between April and June 2026. Texas agencies issued several solicitations, including the Texas Department of Criminal Justice bids for carrots (IW241979A, IW253079), sweet potatoes (IW253121, IW242176), and white potatoes (IW253099) with June 2026 deadlines, and McAllen ISD and Northside ISD fresh-produce RFPs with March and April 2026 deadlines. Florida (Hillsborough County Public Schools), Wisconsin (Madison Metropolitan School District), Connecticut (Meriden Public Schools), and Missouri (Rockwood R-VI School District) also posted opportunities. School nutrition contracts typically run July 1 through June 30, with response deadlines falling in February through June to align with the upcoming school year. Representative recent opportunities include Madison Metropolitan School District's fresh fruit and vegetable snacks RFB (Solicitation 4163, bids due July 29, 2026), which emphasizes Wisconsin-grown produce within 400 miles and applies a 5 percent preference for Wisconsin Supplier Diversity Program vendors and a $0.20 per pound preference on organic produce; Northside ISD's fresh produce RFP (RFP 2026-048, due May 7, 2026), covering USDA Child Nutrition Reimbursable produce for five-day-per-week delivery to 117 campuses with monthly price adjustments and participation in the "Harvest of the Month" Texas-grown program; and the Douglas County School System's GEC Buying Cooperative RFP (SN 26-004, due March 4, 2026) for 72 produce line items across 30 Georgia districts with estimated annual spending of $5.5 million and cost-plus pricing tied to USDA Atlanta Terminal Wholesale Market reports and Urner Barry egg prices.