USDA Food Carrier and Warehouse Services

The State of Oregon Department of Administrative Services, State Procurement Services, on behalf of the Department of Education, is soliciting competitive sealed bids for USDA Food Carrier and Warehouse Services under ITB S-DASOBO-00015789. This procurement seeks a single qualified contractor to serve as Oregon's statewide USDA Foods warehouser and distributor, providing comprehensive inbound receiving, storage, allocation, inventory control, order fulfillment, distribution, and reporting services to approximately 210 school districts and 200 recipient agencies representing approximately 300 active delivery sites. The contractor must manage approximately 210,000 cases of USDA foods annually, comprising approximately 107,000 cases of dry foods, 13,000 cases of refrigerated foods, and 90,000 cases of frozen foods, with delivery to schools, childcare institutions, and charitable organizations across Oregon. Core deliverables include inventory management using web-based systems, biweekly delivery during school months with specified temperature controls (0°F or below for frozen, 41°F or below for refrigerated, and 39°F to 70°F for dry storage), route consolidation, proof of delivery documentation, physical inventory counts, and compliance reporting to USDA's Web-Based Supply Chain Management (WBSCM) system. Required qualifications include a minimum of five years of experience in wholesale food distribution or public warehouse food distribution, active FDA Food Facility registration, an active Oregon Food Warehouse license, and certification of compliance with all Warehouse Computer System and Reporting Requirements. Evaluation employs a two-step competitive sealed bidding method, with Step One requiring pass/fail evaluation of system technology and reporting capabilities, and Step Two evaluating price bids from eligible bidders; award will be made to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. The bid is due April 6, 2026, at 5:00 PM Pacific Time, with a voluntary pre-bid conference scheduled for March 30, 2026, at 9:00 AM, questions and requests for clarification due by 5:00 PM on March 30, 2026, and Notice of Intent to Award anticipated for April 10, 2026.

There are no specific set-aside designations restricting bidder eligibility; however, the procurement requires submission of a Certified Disadvantaged Business Outreach Plan documenting bidders' efforts to ensure Oregon-certified disadvantaged business enterprises (minority-owned, woman-owned, veteran-owned, and emerging small businesses certified by the Oregon Certification Office for Business Inclusion and Diversity) have equal opportunity to compete for and participate in subcontracts. Additionally, bidders must demonstrate pay equity compliance if the contract exceeds $500,000 and the bidder has 50 or more employees. No incumbent contractor or current vendor is identified in the solicitation documents. The contractor must integrate with Oregon's existing WBSCM system for inbound and inventory reporting, maintain a comprehensive web-based inventory management and ordering portal for recipient agencies, and comply with USDA regulations (7 CFR 250 and FNS Instructions 709-5 and 410-1), federal civil rights laws, and all applicable Oregon state laws. The contractor must obtain and maintain multiple insurance policies including commercial general liability ($1,000,000 per occurrence), automobile liability ($5,000,000 combined single limit), motor truck cargo liability ($250,000 per occurrence), and bailees' customer property insurance ($2,000,000 per occurrence). The contract term is five years effective July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2031, with no renewal options, and compensation is structured as fixed pricing per case for each product category (dry, refrigerated, and freezer foods) for the first 12 months, with annual adjustments thereafter limited to Producer Price Index increases; the maximum not-to-exceed amount is redacted in the available documentation.