Questions-Answers 2_25.11.04~1.pdf

S-DASOBO-00013701 USDA CNP Food Distribution Agreements – Q&A #2 Page 1 of 10

Questions & Answers #2 Questions submitted before 11/3/2025 at 2:00pm

Request for Proposal (RFP) S-DASOBO-00013701

USDA Child Nutrition Program Food Distribution Agreements

Question #1:

A) Columns in the product spec spreadsheet for “Reduced Sodium” and “Reduced Fat” what are we looking for in those cells? Is this a Yes/No question?

B) Column Reduced Sodium - what qualifies a product as "Reduced" sodium, do you have a max sodium amount to qualify?

C) Column Reduced Fat - what qualifies a product as "Reduced" fat, do you have a max fat content to qualify?

D) Can you confirm that if an item is CN labeled, then a PFS would not be required.

Answer:

A) Yes, it is a “check if this description applies” column B) If the item description in the SEPDS says “reduced sodium”, select “Reduced Sodium” from the dropdown. The max sodium limit per portion has been removed via Addenda #3.

C) If the item description in the SEPDS says “reduced fat”, select “Reduced Fat” from the dropdown.

There is no max fat content.

D) Correct. Crediting documentation needs to be CN or USDA-compliant PFS.

Question #2:

Page 9 in the RFP states “< 460mg sodium per serving” is this a requirement or should this be removed?

Answer:

This language will be removed via Addenda #3.

Question #3:

Attachment E - Product Specs spreadsheet – Beef tab – non whole muscle vs whole muscle ground… can we describe what we’re looking for in this section or does it need to be amended?

The processor can choose what fits their product best or “other”.

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Question #4:

Since the time frame of this RFP extends across 2 school years, would our initial pricing be for SY 25/26 (Feb-June 2026)? The USDA donated food value changes each school year, so we wanted to ensure we were placing our initial offer information correctly.

Answer:

No. Pricing submitted is for SY 2026-27 only. The USDA Foods request period for SY 2026-27 occurs in February/March 2026. Price Agreement purchases would begin July 1, 2026. If the Agency chooses to extend past the first term, the pricing for the extended time frame will be requested and updated.

Question #5:

For Column X – Sauce/Seasoning in the Price Proposal, for the drop down “Sauce added”, does that mean if the product comes with the sauce or if it comes together with the product? Example, our Tangerine Chicken is packaged with the chicken and sauce separate.

Answer:

Both examples would meet the “sauce added” definition. If the item ships with sauce, whether incorporated in the item or separate but provided in the same box, select “sauce added”.

Question #6:

For Column AX – Uniform Sizing Price Proposal, our products is not cut to the same size, but they whole muscles pieces that fall within a specified range – how should we best respond to this portion?

If pieces are not cut to the same size, then please select ‘no uniform sizing’.

Question #7:

For column H – Case weight Price Proposal, are you looking for Gross Weight or Net Weight?

It is the net weight per case (pound) as approved in the SEPDS.

Question #8:

With the government still in shut down, if we do not have access to the 26-27 SEPDS, should we submit the 25.26 one instead?

Answer:

No. Only SY 26-27 documents apply. We will be extending the closing date of the RFP to allow proposers time to submit a proposal with the USDA issued 26-27 prices and 26-27 SEPDS.

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Question #9:

Do we need to submit Buy American statements with our proposal? Attachment M specifically references the BA requirement, but on Attachment N, there is a waiver with wording about the 51% domestic products, so I wanted to be clear on the expectation!

Answer:

Section 2.5.3.4 on p. 10-11 of the RFP is the same at Attachment M. Processors need to complete Attachment N to either certify their products are compliant or request a waiver and supply the supporting documentation.

Question #10:

On page 19, under Evaluation Item 2, there is a question regarding how the proposer understands the issues surrounding hormone and antibiotic usage in beef, cheese, and apples, and how the Proposer’s reduction efforts support this goal. Is this a typo regarding apples?

Answer:

Evaluation Item #2 has been reviewed and it has been decided to remove bullet #3 referring to hormones and antibiotic usage from evaluation. Please refer to Addenda #3 to review updated evaluation criteria.

Question #11:

Due to the government shutdown and the potential of a delayed release of USDA commodity information, will you consider extending the RFP opening date?

Answer:

The RFP closing date will be extended in response to the Federal Government shutdown to allow for proposers to propose with the appropriate school year pricing and approved SEPDS. Closing date will be addressed via Addenda #3.

Question #12:

A) Will this RFP be serviced direct through the manufacture or through distribution?

B) If through distribution, which distributor partner will be servicing this business?

Answer:

A) Distribution is not a part of these price agreements, only product cost.

B) RAs may use an ordering instrument to utilize the price agreement with any distributor or manufacturer, following methods of PTV and direct delivery for each manufacturer.

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Question #13:

Will you be sending out the recording of the Pre-Bid Conference?

No, the pre-proposal meeting recording will not be distributed.

Question #14:

RFP Section 3.2 Minimum Qualifications/3.2.4, page 12: RFP document states that product needs to be made available for taste testing. Do samples need to be supplied? If so, will more information regarding samples and the requirements be communicated? Will samples need to be supplied at time of submission or upon request?

Answer:

The products do not need to be available for sampling to submit a proposal to the RFP. Samples may be requested by Recipient Agencies prior to submitting a Purchase Order.

Question #15:

RFP Section 3.3 Minimum Submission Requirements/3.3.2 Proposal Page Limits, pages 12-13 – Please confirm that only the Administrative Proposal items and the Technical Proposal items are to be included in the 20-page limit.

Answer:

Section 3.3.2 is a list of items/documents that do not count toward the page limit please refer to the list when counting pages in proposal.

Question #16:

RFP Section 3.3 Minimum Submission Requirements/3.3.3, page 13 – RFP document states that sections/subsections should be labeled. Are you requiring separate sections/dividers/title page to be included to separate the sections? If so, will the dividing pages be included in the page count?

Headers/titles to clearly differentiate sections is fine.

Question #17:

RFP Section 3.4 Proposal Requirements/3.4.2 Technical Proposal, page 14 – RFP document requests proposers to provide written policy/procedures for handling returns and recalls and a recall history for the past 5 years. If this information is considered confidential to our company, will you accept a written statement detailing our position to fulfill this RFP requirement?

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Please refer to Attachment B – Disclosure Exemption Affidavit to include potentially confidential items.

ORS 192.311 through 192.478 and ORS 646.461 discuss the Public Records Laws and Trade Secrets.

Please include all required information in the Technical Proposal and include what you consider confidential on the completed and notarized Attachment B.

Question #18:

RFP Section 3.4 Proposal Requirements/3.4.5 Product Specification/Attachment E, page 15 – RFP provides the USDA commodities that they intend to divert for; however, no end-product specifications are included with the RFP. During the pre-bid conference end-product surveys and usage reports were discussed. Could you provide proposers with the survey results and/or the usage reports to review to see what types of end-products the RAs are interested in?

Answer:

The survey mentioned was for ODE use only – the intent was to find what items the Recipient Agencies were most likely to order off of the Price Agreement. The results of the survey were incorporated into the Attachment E. The intent of the RFP is to allow for proposers to tell us the specification of their end products listed in Attachment E.

Question #19:

RFP Section 4.1 Public Notice, page 15 – Amendments are mentioned. Do amendments and/or amendment acknowledgements need to be incorporated into the proposer’s submission? If so, where should they be incorporated? If included, will this count towards the 20-page limit?

Answer:

Amendment acknowledgement is only required if a signature line is on the amendment/addendum and it is explicitly stated. At this time, posted Addendum #3 is the only Addendum requiring an acknowledgment. Addenda acknowledgements do not count toward the page limit.

Question #20:

RFP Section 4.1 Public Notice, page 15 – Amendments are mentioned. When is the latest an amendment could be issued?

Answer:

The latest an Amendment/Addenda may be posted is no less than 72 hours prior to the closing date (per OAR 137-047-0430(3)(a)).

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Question #21:

RFP Section 4.8 Public Opening, page 17 – RFP document states that proposals will not be available for inspection until after notice of intent to award. How can the documentation and award results be obtained? Will it be posted on OregonBuys or can we request via email?

Answer:

A public records request must be submitted to obtain proposals. The following link will lead you to instructions to submit a public records request:

https://www.oregon.gov/das/procurement/pages/publicrecords.aspx

Question #22:

RFP Section 4.10 Evaluation Process/4.10.2.1 & 4.10.2.2, page 19 – Where in the proposal submission should the evaluation criteria mentioned in Evaluation Item 1 and Evaluation Item 2 be located? Are these to be included in the Administrative Proposal, the Technical Proposal, or other? If these need to be included in addition to either the Administrative or Technical Proposal sections, will this count towards the 20-page limit?

Answer:

It is up to the proposer on how to handle describing the criteria – if proposer chooses to include them separately from their administrative and technical proposals they do indeed count toward the page limit.

Question #23:

RFP Section 5.3 Apparent Successful Proposer Submission Requirements/5.3.1, page 24 – Please clarify if proof of insurance (COI) is to be supplied with the proposer’s submission or upon award.

Answer:

Please review RFP Section 5.3 regarding submission of additional information after selection for Price Agreement.

Question #24:

Attachment A Section 2.11, page 15 – Per my understanding, Safety Data Sheets are need for hazardous chemicals. Does this requirement pertain to frozen food?

For any item that OSHA requires a Safety Data Sheet for, this section applies.

Question #25:

A) Attachment A Section 3, page 23 – Please advise what you mean by reserved and what type of information this section is being reserved for. Also, will this reserved information be available for proposers to review prior to submission so we know what we are agreeing to?

https://www.oregon.gov/das/procurement/pages/publicrecords.aspx

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B) RFP Section 5.4.1, page 25 – Verbiage states that by submitting a proposal, the prosper is agreeing to comply with the requirements of the RFP, including T&C from the Sample Price Agreement (Attachment A) – we will need to know what the “reserved information” is in Attachment A, Section 3 so we know what information we are going to be agreeing to with the submission of our proposal.

Answer:

A) Any item marked “Reserved” in the Price Agreement indicates a section that has been removed and is not required for the contractor to agree to.

B) “Reserved” sections in the Price Agreement have been removed and do not apply to the Contractor.

Question #26:

Attachment A Section 4, page 24 – Does this need to be completed with proposer’s RFP submission or is this to be completed upon award? Please confirm “contractor” is the Proposer submitting a response to the RFP.

Answer:

Attachment A is a Sample Price Agreement and does not require completion from proposers. The Price Agreement will be finalized and sent for signature to awarded proposers.

Question #27:

Attachment A Section 5, page 24 – Does this need to be completed with proposer’s RFP submission or is this to be completed upon award? Please confirm “agency” is the State of Oregon DAS.

Answer:

Please refer to Answer to Question #26. Refer to Attachment A, page 4, paragraph one to see the definition of “Agency”.

Question #28:

Attachment A/Exhibit A, page 25 – Verbiage states that a separate document named “Attachment A-1 Product Specs” is included. No specific product specs were provided with the RFP release to date, please provide this document ASAP if it is being included as part of the RFP.

Answer:

Attachment A is a Sample Price Agreement, it is not the final document. Attachment A-1 will be unique based on awarded Price Agreements. Attachment A-1 will not be completed until Price Agreements are awarded and drafted.

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Question #29:

Attachment A/Exhibit B, page 26 – Please advise if an example of our company’s purchase order needs to be supplied with the proposer’s RFP submission. Please advise how to complete/meet the requirement of Exhibit B.

Answer:

All Exhibits included in Attachment A are parts of a Sample Price Agreement. Documents listed in Section 3.3 – Minimum Submission Requirements of the RFP are required to be returned with proposal.

Question #30:

Attachment E – Please clarify what SPP/ISP is (column S).

Answer:

There is help text in the cells. ‘Soy Protein Added in end-product’. Indicate if either Soy Protein Product (SPP) or Isolated Soy Protein (ISP) are an ingredient of the end product.

Question #31:

A) Attachment E – Depending on when the contract is to start (February vs July), which USDA values do you want entered into the pricing sheet in columns AM-AP? Please note, the spreadsheet is asking for SY26/27 pricing, and the time frame of February 2026-June 2026 is technically considered SY25/26, not SY26/27 according to USDA.

B) Because the USDA has not yet released commodity rates for SY26/27, what is your expectation for the pricing that is to be entered into the commercial price columns (columns AQ-AT) when we don’t have the necessary information available to us yet?

Answer:

A) USDA Materials pricing for SY26-27 is released in advance of the school year (the previous

November). The pricing for SY26-27 is required.

B) Pricing for SY26-27 is required. If needed based on USDA releasing pricing and SEPDS for SY 2026-27, we will be extending the closing date to allow for proposers to submit a complete SY26-27 proposal.

Question #32:

Can you please clarify where the awarded manufacturer will be responsible for delivering product to?

Answer:

See 2.5.2.4 Deliveries in the RFP. Currently, there are approx. 220 RAs in Oregon, with approx. 65 participating in the USDA Foods Diversion/Processing Program.

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Question #33:

Will it be to multiple RA's in Oregon and each RA will be responsible for meeting the manufacturers minimum delivery requirements?

Answer:

VPT methods are collected in Attachment E - Product Specs workbook. FFS Direct Ship to RA minimums are not superseded by awarded contracts.

Question #34:

Would you please clarify who needs to be listed as additionally insured on the COI? Would it be the Oregon Department of Education?

Answer:

Please include the below statement:

“State of Oregon, its officers, employees, and agents as Additional Insureds, but only with respect to Contractor’s goods to be delivered and Services to be performed under this Contract. Coverage shall be primary and non-contributory with any other insurance and self-insurance”

Question #35:

We wanted to point out that the attachments listed on Attachment A Sample Price Agreement page 11 are incorrect. They do not match the attachment name and title of the current solicitation.

Answer:

The Solicitation (RFP) and Sample Price Agreement are two different documents and therefore have different attachments/exhibits lettering. The State is aware they do not match.

Question #36:

On Attachment B-Disclosure Exemption Affidavit, would you please advise what date we should enter on section 2? Should it be the date we sign Attachment B or should we enter the start date of the contract?

This should be the date the Proposer is submitting their Proposal.

Question #37:

Regarding Attachment F-Certified Disadvantaged Business Outreach Plan, do bidders have to complete this attachment if we will not utilize any subcontractors for this contract? We are a Minority Owned Business registered in Southern California. Please advise on how we should complete this attachment.

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Yes, all Proposers are required to complete Attachment F – Certified Disadvantaged Business Outreach Plan. Any proposer that does not return a completed Attachment F will be considered non-responsive and will not be considered for award.

Answer the questions to the best of your ability. If you do not utilize subcontractors, explain that in your answers.

Question #38:

Attachment E (Tab: Cheese Products):

A) The descriptions in Attachment E are pretty vague. For Example, what kind/size of WG Pepperoni

Pizza are you looking for? For example, 16” or personalized 5”. Pre-sliced or wedge?

B) Cheese Sauce – are we allow to bid multiple SKUs to one spec’d product. For example, if we make 5 different cheese sauces and want to offer them on this bid are we allow to do so?

Answer:

A) The State is not providing product specifications This area is where the processor/manufacturer provides a list of the end products they are proposing to enter into a price agreement for.

B) Yes, if the end products are listed separately on the SY26-27 SEPDS, each may be proposed for a price agreement.

END OF QUESTION & ANSWERS #2