Market Research Survey 2026 - Iowa Zone.pdf

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MARKET RESEARCH

Produce Long Term Contracts: The Government is conducting market research for Full Line Fresh Fruit and Vegetables (FF&V) in the Iowa Zone to be re-solicited. The solicitation will be for the support of Non-DoD USDA (School) customers.

There are two attached excel files. Attachment 1 (Group 1: IA Schools) is a list of items required for the contract and Attachment 2 (Group 1: IA Schools) is a list of all proposed delivery points for the zone.

If interested, please answer the questions below, as well as provide any additional feedback/comments you may have.

24 month period of performance:

5 year contract estimate:

250% maximum value:

$15,850,128.48 $39,625,321.20 $99,063,303.00

Any questions feel free to contact Harry Carpenter, 445-737-3557, Harry.Carpenter@dla.mil and Paul Le, 445-737-0931, Paul.Le@dla.mil.

Company Name:

Cage Code:

# of Employees:

Point of Contact:

Phone:

Fax:

E-Mail:

1. Would you be interested in offering and delivering a Full Line FF&V to ALL customers listed in the attached customer list?

Yes No

a. If YES, please provide brief description on how/why you would be able to service all customers.

mailto:Jillian.Blaney@dla.mil mailto:Matthew.Sacca@dla.mil

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b. If NO, would you be able to service any of the listed customers? If so, which, ones? If not interested at ALL, please indicate below.

c. What would be your firm’s minimum dollar delivery requirement, if any?

d. Is your firm currently operating as a commercial FF&V distributor offering a full line of FF&V products?

Yes No

e. Have you done business with the Federal Government in the past? If yes, when, how long, and what areas?

f. Are you registered in the System for Award Management ("SAM.GOV" - https:// www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM)? And do you maintain a valid Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act ("PACA") License?

Yes No https://www.uscontractorregistration.com/ https://www.uscontractorregistration.com/

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g. Is your firm registered on the DLA Internet Bid Board System ("DIBBS" -https://www.dibbs.bsm.dla.mil/) and Contracting Opportunities website (https:// SAM.gov/), formerly Federal Business Opportunities ("FedBizOps" -https:// www.fbo.gov/)? If not, you must register for future solicitations.

Yes No

h. Is your firm a small or large business (small businesses have <700 employees)?

Small Business Large Business

2. Can you provide any feedback on the layout of the zone? As it stands, this contract would support all Schools in the Iowa Zone.

a. Is this feasible? Explain any limitations.

b. Would you need to subcontract any part of the contract? If so, what areas would have to be subcontracted out? For the purposes of this future solicitation, subcontracting refers to the need to contract with a similarly situated vendor in order to support all requirements.

3. Please provide any additional comments/information about your company that you feel may be beneficial to help us better understand your firm’s capabilities to deliver to all the customers listed. Also, confirm your company’s ability to use the two systems required for cataloging, invoicing and ordering: Subsistence Total Order and Receipt Electronic System (“STORES”, an Electronic Data Interchange system used for Troops) and Fresh Fruit & Vegetables Order & Receipt System (“FFAVORS”, a web-based system used for Schools and Tribes). (More information on FFAVORS and STORES is listed on pages 5 and 6).

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4. What percentage (if any) of Fresh Fruit & Vegetable items are procured from Small Businesses?

Proposed vendors must have access to the Internet and shall comply with any findings or corrective actions noted on all of its mandatory monthly and yearly inspections and audits performed by County, State, and Federal Agencies including the FDA and U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Offerors indicating a Place of Performance (manufacturing location) that is not under the day-to-day control and management of the offeror shall submit documentation that an agreement for production and distribution is in effect at the time of offer covering the period of the contract.

Please e-mail all responses and feedback to the following addresses: Harry Carpenter, Contract Specialist, Harry.Carpenter@dla.mil and Paul Le, Contracting Officer, Paul.Le@dla.mil by January 21st, 2026.

We appreciate your time and consideration for replying to the questionnaire.

mailto:Jillian.Blaney@dla.mil mailto:Matthew.Sacca@dla.mil

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Subsistence Total Order & Receipt Electronic System (STORES)

DoD Customers will order using the Subsistence Total Order and Receipt Electronic System (STORES) catalog. STORES EDI information can be found in attachment. The vendor is responsible for establishing and maintaining the STORES catalog in accordance with attachment.

1. Accessed via the Internet, STORES is the Government’s translator/ordering system that is capable of accepting orders from any of the Services, i.e. Army, Air Force, Navy, or Marines, individual ordering systems and translating them into an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) format. In addition, this information is passed to DLA Troop Support for the purposes of contractor payment and customer billing.

2. Customers will be able to order all of their requirements through STORES. The System will transmit orders to the vendor and DLA Troop Support.

3. The awardee shall be required to interface with STORES and must be able to support the following EDI transactions:

810 Electronic Invoice 820 Payment Voucher Information 832 Catalog (Outbound - Vendor to DLA Troop Support) 850 Purchase Order 861 Receipt 997 Functional Acknowledgement

4. The vendor shall have access to the Internet and be able to send and receive electronic mail (email).

5. Unit prices must be formatted not more than two (2) places to the right of the decimal point in all ordering catalogs.

6. Vendors are required to utilize the Government’s item descriptions on all electronic ordering catalogs (832 transmissions) as well as on its invoices, delivery ticket to customer and 810 invoice transaction set.

7. The offeror may be required to transmit 810, 832, and 997 transactions, prior to award and during proposed evaluations, in order to demonstrate its EDI capability.

8. The vendor will utilize the DLA Troop Support invoice reconciliation process, or other such systems as may become available, to the maximum extent, towards the goal of correcting invoices early and facilitating the payment process.

9. In the event the STORES system or the vendors interface is not operational, the vendor must provide alternate ways for the customer to order (e.g., by fax by phone, pick up orders, etc.)

A complete description of these transaction sets is included in the “EDI Implementation Guidelines” has been provided as an attachment.

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FFAVORS Web

The vendor who receives the potential award may be required to use the ordering system

FFAVORS WEB.

Non-DoD customers (USDA school and reservation customers) will utilize the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Order Receipt System (FFAVORS) Web catalog. The successful awardee will be provided a User ID and password to Log in and receive orders through FFAVORS Web, a web-based ordering system. The vendor is responsible for establishing and maintaining the FFAVORS WEB catalog.

1. Accessed via the Internet. FFAVORS WEB is the Government’s ordering system for USDA Customers. It is capable of accepting orders from the schools.

2. Customers will be able to order all of their requirements through FFAVORS WEB. The system will transmit orders to the vendor and DLA Troop Support.

3. In the event the FFAVORS WEB system is not operational, the vendor must provide alternate ways for the customer to order (e.g., by fax, by phone, pick up orders.)

4. The vendor shall have access to the Internet and be able to send and receive electronic mail (email).

We appreciate your time and consideration for replying to the questionnaire.