NEATO/WIC Retail Infant Formula Rebate Agreement

The New England and Tribal Organizations (NEATO) Invitation to Bid seeks sealed competitive bids from infant formula manufacturers to supply and provide rebates on all infant formula products for the WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) program across seven jurisdictions: Cherokee Nation, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Bidders must offer all six product categories—powdered milk infant formula, powdered soy infant formula, liquid concentrate milk formula, liquid concentrate soy formula, ready-to-feed milk formula, and ready-to-feed soy formula—in compliance with federal regulations (7 CFR 246.10(e)(9) and 246.16a(c)). The successful bidder must guarantee supply of 100 percent of NEATO's caseload requirements (averaging 48,503 infants monthly based on provided data), maintain adequate distribution to all authorized WIC vendors across all jurisdictions, provide substitute formulas during supply disruptions or recalls with 24-hour notice, and remit monthly rebate payments within 30 days of invoice receipt. The bid sheet requires submission of pricing data to three decimal places for the lowest national wholesale full truckload price per unit, rebate bid per unit, and net price per unit for each formula type and form, along with certified Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act registration, a Redundancy Risk Management Plan per Section 424 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and a Product Purchasing Methods and Wholesale Distribution Network Description. Sealed bids must be submitted electronically through COMMBUYS by March 11, 2026, at 10:00 AM ET, with public bid opening at 10:30 AM ET; contract award is estimated for March 19, 2026, with an effective start date of October 1, 2026. Questions must be submitted by January 27, 2026, with responses provided by February 19, 2026. Evaluation criteria require mandatory pass/fail compliance with bid submission requirements, including submission of the signed NEATO Retail Infant Formula Rebate Bid Sheet, Certificate of Incumbency, wholesale and distribution network listing, and nationally published wholesale price lists as of the bid opening date.

No specific set-aside designations or restrictions on organization types are identified in the procurement documents provided. Abbott Nutrition is identified as the current incumbent vendor based on extensive monthly rebate invoices and statements from all participating jurisdictions covering June through August 2025, indicating an established existing contract infrastructure. The agreement period extends for 36 months from October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2029, with a non-negotiable renewal option for one additional two-year period or any portion thereof under identical terms and conditions; either party may request contract continuation for successive one-month periods not exceeding three months during public exigencies. The contract includes cent-for-cent adjustment provisions wherein rebate amounts automatically adjust with changes in the manufacturer's national wholesale prices for full truckloads, and the manufacturer's pricing is non-negotiable once accepted. Historical rebate data demonstrates substantial monthly invoice values, with individual jurisdictions reporting rebate amounts ranging from approximately $127,000 to $2.4 million monthly; for example, Massachusetts invoiced $2,400,394.93 in August 2025 and $2,375,084.11 in June 2025, while Connecticut invoiced $1,144,724.35 for June 2025, and Vermont invoiced $139,727.87 for August 2025. The procurement is funded through federal USDA Food and Nutrition Service funding, with Massachusetts providing supplemental state funding.