Commodity Processing Chicken

The Savannah-Chatham County Board of Education on behalf of the Savannah-Chatham County School Nutrition Department solicited sealed bids for processing USDA commodity chicken under ITB 22-12, with bids due October 7, 2021. Bidders must be approved by the State of Georgia Food Processing Program and supply only end products from Georgia's list of approved processors—a mandatory eligibility filter.

The scope covers eight chicken product lines: bone-in chicken, chicken nuggets, chicken patties, spicy chicken patties, chicken wings, chicken sausage bites, chicken sausage patties, and chicken tenders, with projected annual servings ranging from 10,080 (wings) to 132,210 (tenders). The contractor must make multiple deliveries throughout the school year with delivery quantities mutually agreed upon between the School Nutrition Program and the processor. All freight and delivery charges must be included in unit pricing. The contract prioritizes domestically grown and processed foods to the maximum extent practicable under Section 104(d) of the William F. Goodling Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act and Section 12(n) of the National School Lunch Act; suppliers may be required to certify the percentage of U.S. content in products supplied.

The contract term is one year with options to renew for two additional one-year periods, subject to Director of School Nutrition and Superintendent recommendation and School Board approval. Pricing is fixed for the initial performance period and any transition period, with no fixed fees, markup increases, fuel surcharges, or additional costs permitted. Four bidders were solicited; Tyson Prepared Foods, Inc. and Gold Creek Foods submitted bids across all line items at $0.927 per pound, while Rich Chicks and Schwan's Food Services submitted no bids. Both Tyson and Gold Creek Foods received contract awards. Two addenda were issued prior to bid opening, extending the deadline to October 7, 2021 at 11:00 a.m.