Availability of and Specifications for Organic or Non-Organic Wild Rice, Traditionally Harvested or Not Traditionally Harvested

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is interested in purchasing organic traditionally-harvested wild rice packaged in consumer-sized packages for Domestic Food Distribution Programs.

This Request for Information/Sources Sought Notice (Notice) will serve as market research to obtain information for the availability and specifications of organic traditionally-harvested wild rice In response to this Notice, USDA will also accept information on organic mechanically harvested wild rice or non-organic mechanically harvested wild rice. All information gathered in response to this Notice will be used solely for planning purposes. This is not a formal solicitation, but a request for interested parties to provide information. No solicitation for organic traditionally-harvested wild rice currently exists.

Pursuant to Agricultural Acquisition Regulation 470.103(b), commodities and the products of agricultural commodities acquired under this contract must be a product of the United States, and shall be considered to be such a product if it is grown, processed, and otherwise prepared for sale or distribution exclusively in the United States.

USDA is seeking specific information from interested suppliers regarding this product. Please provide the following information:

1) Product brand name

2) Your interest in this procurement;

3) Capacity capabilities;

4) Pack size(s), and commercial prevalence of each pack size; USDA is particularly interested in obtaining details on household or family sized packages of 1-pound or smaller;

5) Shipment configuration (packages per case; cases per pallet; pallets per truckload; cases per truckload; net product weight per case (in pounds); gross case weight (in pounds); net product weight per truckload (in pounds); gross truckload weight (in pounds));

6) Servings per container;

7) Ingredients composition;

8) Nutritional information;

9) Cost/price;

10) Shelf life, including recommendations for optimal storage conditions;

11) Product bulletin/brochure, commercial label and commercial warranty;

12) Harvesting process, traditional or mechanical;

13) Organic traditionally-harvested wild rice. If both organic traditionally-harvested wild rice and organic mechanically-harvested wild rice can be provided, please indicate pertinent variances;

14) Grading methodology, please indicate what grading and size standards are utilized by your organization;

15) Any other relevant information, recommendations, comments, issues and/or concerns that would be beneficial to the Government; and

16) Name, Title, Contact information, and Organization name, as applicable.

All vendors that are considering offering wild rice to USDA must comply with all applicable Federal and State mandatory requirements and regulations relating to the preparation, packaging, labeling, storage, and distribution of the product within the commercial marketplace. All offered products must have a history of acceptance in the commercial marketplace. The delivered product shall comply with all applicable provisions of the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, and regulations promulgated there under. All vendor facilities must be in compliance with the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act inspection requirements.

Responses and questions shall be emailed to the attention of Mara Whitaker, Contracting Officer's Representative at Mara.Whitaker@kcc.usda.gov. These responses are requested to be received Not-Later-Than February 23, 2015.

Contracting Office Address:
USDA/Farm Service Agency
Kansas City Commodity Office/Domestic Procurement Division
PO Box 419205
Mail Stop 8718
Kansas City, Missouri 64141-6205

Primary Point of Contact.
Mara Whitaker, Contracting Officer's Representative
Email Mara.Whitaker@kcc.usda.gov
Telephone 816 926 6063

Secondary Point of Contact:
Ray Boyd, Contracting Officer
Email Roy.boyd@kcc.usda.gov
Telephone 816 926 2612