Milk for Middletown Public Schools

Middletown Public Schools (MPS) in Middlesex County, Connecticut, is issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) to procure milk products for the district's school meal programs under a two-year contract effective July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2028. The procurement encompasses multiple milk varieties including 1/2 pint 1% milk (2,700 cases), 1/2 pint skim fat-free milk (450 cases), 1/2 pint chocolate fat-free milk (4,000 cases), Lactaid fat-free milk in 27-count cases (320 cases), 1% gallons (50 cases), half and half (100 quarts), and heavy cream (100 quarts). Vendors must deliver products weekly to ten school locations—Bielefield, Farm Hill, Lawrence, MacDonough, Van Buren Moody, Wilbert Snow, Spencer, Wesley, Beman Middle, and Middletown High School—with deliveries preferably on Mondays and Wednesdays between 6:30 AM and 2:00 PM, with offloading by 2:30 PM. Vendors must maintain milk coolers in schools at their expense and ensure all products comply with Connecticut Nutrition Standards for Child Nutrition Programs and Buy American requirements, with preference for "clean label" products free of artificial chemicals, flavors, preservatives, or dyes. Proposals must be submitted electronically through the Middletown Board of Education's e-Procurement Portal at https://mpsct.bonfirehub.com by April 24, 2026, at 11:00 AM EST, with written questions due by April 15, 2026, at 12:00 PM EST. Award decisions will be based on price (80 percent) and customer services (20 percent), with pricing fixed for the first contract year and opportunity for price refresh in April 2027. Vendors must provide three references from similarly sized school districts and submit all Nutrition Fact Labels, CN Labels, and PFS Statements within thirty days of contract signing.

The RFP does not specify set-aside designations or restrictions limiting participation to particular enterprise categories or disadvantaged organizations. Vendors must maintain a Certificate of Insurance naming the City of Middletown and Middletown Board of Education as additional insureds, with minimum general liability coverage of $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate, plus auto liability of $1,000,000 combined single limit. Background checks, including fingerprinting and drug screening, are required for the vendor and all employees. The contract requires compliance with equal employment opportunity requirements and the Americans with Employees with Disabilities Act, as well as comprehensive student data privacy provisions aligned with Connecticut General Statutes sections 10-234aa through 10-234gg, prohibiting the sale, rental, or trade of student data. The Middletown Board of Education is exempt from federal excise taxes and Connecticut sales and use taxes, which should not be included in proposal pricing, and fuel surcharges are not permitted. No incumbent vendor information or specific award value is provided in the procurement documents; the contract includes termination provisions allowing the Board to terminate with or without cause upon thirty days' written notice and permits mutual extension for additional terms upon ninety days' written notice prior to expiration.