Request for Information and Sources Sought Notice for Availability and Specifications of Wild Rice

Request for Information and Sources Sought Notice for Availability and Specifications of Wild Rice

Solicitation Number:
AG-DPRO-Notice-12-0001

Notice Type:
Sources Sought

Synopsis:
SUBJECT: Availability and Specifications of Wild Rice

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is interested in purchasing Wild Rice packaged in consumer-sized packages for Domestic Food Distribution Programs.

This Request for Information (RFI) and Sources Sought Notice (Notice) will serve as market research to obtain information for the availability and specifications of wild rice. All information gathered in response to this RFI/Notice will be used solely for planning purposes. This is not a formal solicitation, but a request for interested parties to provide information. No current solicitation for wild rice currently exists.

All information provided with regard to the commercial practices for wild rice should take in to account USDA's 100 percent domestic origin requirement.

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) harvest method (commercial or traditional);

13) organic or non-organic product. If both organic and non-organic 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, website, 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, distribution of the product within the commercial marketplace. The delivered product shall comply with all applicable provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, and regulations promulgated there under.

Responses and questions shall be emailed to the attention of Mara Whitaker at mara.whitaker@kcc.usda.gov. These responses are requested to be received no later than March 30, 2012.

Contracting Office Address:
PO Box 419205
Mail Stop 8718
Kansas City, Missouri 64141-6205

Primary Point of Contact.
Mara Whitaker, Agricultural Marketing Specialist
mara.whitaker@kcc.usda.gov
Phone: 816-926-6063
Fax: 816-448-5874

Secondary Point of Contact:
Roy R. Boyd, Contracting Officer
roy.boyd@kcc.usda.gov
Phone: (816) 926-2612
Fax: (816) 823-4195