UNSPSC 50406506: Cherry tomatoes

The variety of tomates known as cherry tomatoes

UNSPSC 50406506 Cherry tomatoes (Commodity) is solicited by state and local education agencies—primarily school districts and nutrition programs—to supply fresh produce for child nutrition meal programs, with recent activity dominated by sealed-bid competitions for school year 2026–2027 produce contracts across school districts and a small number of institutional food service operations serving correction and early childhood care settings. The code sees sustained, concentrated activity among Georgia, Texas, and Florida school districts procuring fresh produce in weekly or seasonal volumes for National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, and USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program compliance. Scope of work centers on fresh, ready-to-eat or minimally processed produce—often pre-cut, pre-packaged, or in case format—delivered to school sites with temperature control, traceability documentation by farm of origin, and compliance with USDA food safety standards including HACCP plans and 24/7 recall capability. Issuing bodies span mid-sized independent school districts (Northside ISD in San Antonio, McAllen ISD with 20,000 students, Austin ISD), county boards of education (Bartow County, Bulloch County, Glynn County, Douglas County systems), and special-purpose cooperative purchasing vehicles like the GEC Buying Cooperative serving 30 districts across Georgia. Contracts typically run July 1 through June 30 annually with options for 1–4 renewal periods. Evaluation criteria cluster around price (25–50% weight), product quality and availability (15–30%), delivery and service capability (10–20%), and compliance with specifications and local-preference mandates.

Geographic concentration is heaviest in Georgia and Texas, with notable activity in Florida and South Carolina. Recent representative solicitations include the Madison Metropolitan School District (Wisconsin) RFB 4163 for Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Snacks (response due July 29, 2026), requiring 5,900 servings weekly sourced within 400 miles with 5% preference for Wisconsin-certified diverse-owned vendors and organic produce at $0.20/lb discount; Bartow County Schools (Georgia) RFP 10-2026-019 for local fresh fruits and vegetables (proposals due June 22, 2026) with 400-mile local-sourcing requirement and weighted scoring on cost (30%), seasonal variety (25%), ordering/delivery proficiency (20%), quality (15%), and support (10%); Northside ISD (Texas) RFP 2026-048 for fresh produce (proposals due May 7, 2026) to 117 school campuses five days per week with USDA Child Nutrition Reimbursable compliance and monthly price adjustments; and Douglas County Schools (Georgia) RFP SN 26-004 through GEC Buying Cooperative (proposals due March 4, 2026) serving 30 districts with $4.4–1.1 million estimated annual spend per geographic area and line-item award authority. Head Start of Greater Dallas IFB 26-GP (response due June 24, 2026) and Hillsborough County Schools (Florida) RFP 26039RFPDST for USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program specialty fruits (proposals due March 11, 2026, estimated budget $600,000) illustrate the parallel early-childhood and elementary-focused demand. Texas Department of Criminal Justice has issued multiple commodity-specific IFBs including IW253079 (carrots), IW253121 (sweet potatoes for canning), and IW253099 (white potatoes), posted June 23, 2026 with June 23 response dates. Most procurement documents require vendor insurance (typically $500,000–2,000,000 general liability), Buy American Act compliance, E-Verify certification, debarment status verification, and HACCP documentation. No explicit set-asides for disadvantaged enterprises appear in most solicitations, though Texas and Texas-based vendors receive geographic preference in TDCJ procurements, and Wisconsin and Georgia districts flag diverse-owned and local-supplier preferences.