UNSPSC 57040000: Educational or recreational items

This family describes items used for recreational education, which means education offered for purposes of play, amusement, refreshment, or relaxation. It also means education offered for the purpose of teaching the fundamentals, skills or techniques of sports or games.

UNSPSC 57040000 Educational or recreational items is a Family code that encompasses instructional materials, supplies, equipment, and services that state and local governments procure to support classroom instruction, career and technical education, early learning, and athletics across schools and school districts. The code captures the breadth of consumables and durable goods schools buy—from curricula and textbooks to art supplies, robotics kits, welding materials, athletic equipment, and specialized machinery like CNC milling machines—as well as related services such as software licensing, instructor training, and equipment installation. Recent solicitations show school districts issuing RFPs for teaching materials covering English language arts, mathematics, science, and special education; college and vocational programs sourcing welding supplies and precision machining equipment; and early learning providers procuring age-appropriate curricula and classroom furniture. Issuers include independent school districts of varying sizes (Katy ISD in Texas, Northside ISD in San Antonio, Los Fresnos Consolidated ISD, Amarillo ISD), community and intermediate colleges (Collin College, Ingham ISD), and smaller municipal school systems; school districts dominate the activity under this code, with occasional participation by county education departments and special education nonprofits. No apparent set-aside preferences or restrictions emerge from the recent solicitations.

Texas and Connecticut dominate recent activity, with Katy ISD, Amarillo ISD, Northside ISD, Pasadena ISD, and Collin College all issuing opportunities in the past four months; New London Connecticut Board of Education, Meriden Connecticut Public Schools, Madison Wisconsin Metropolitan School District, and Ingham Michigan ISD also posted active solicitations. Representative recent opportunities include Katy ISD's RFP #2428KD-A (posted July 10, 2026, due May 29, 2026) for teaching and instructional materials, supplies, equipment, and services across multiple campuses, evaluated on a 30–30–15–10–10–5 basis of purchase price, vendor reputation, district needs alignment, past relationship, long-term cost, and terms acceptance; Amarillo ISD's RFP 3709-26.02 (posted June 11, 2026, due June 29, 2026) for instructional materials and software with firm fixed discounts from catalog pricing through June 30, 2027, evaluated on discount percentage (40 points), vendor reputation (27 points), quality and compliance (30 points), past relationship (2 points), and HUB compliance (1 point); Collin College's three-year welding materials ITBs for May 1, 2024–April 30, 2027 and June 1, 2024–May 31, 2027, with evaluation on purchase price (35 percent), references (15 percent), district needs (15 percent), quality (15 percent), vendor history (5 percent), total cost of ownership (5 percent), and Texas vendor status (5 percent); and Northside ISD's IFB 2026-066 (posted March 31, 2026, due April 30, 2026) for curriculum and instructional supplies districtwide, with multiple award options based on best value. Response windows are typically 30–60 days, and contracts commonly include one to three optional renewal years. These solicitations show active, ongoing procurement with multi-year contract terms, modest to substantial estimated annual values (Collin College welding supplies at approximately $400,000 annually; Birdville ISD distribution center supplies at $97,114.29 annually), and preference for catalog discount models or firm fixed pricing through cooperative purchasing platforms.