Bongards Creameries

Bongards Creameries, operating through its Bongards' Creameries Division, supplies natural American cheese, processed cheese blends, and specialty cheese products to the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a prime contractor under multiple indefinite delivery vehicles, competing full-and-open with no set-aside designations. The vendor is a small agricultural cooperative headquartered in Norwood Young America, Minnesota, with manufacturing and distribution facilities in Perham and Humboldt, Tennessee, and operates exclusively as a dairy commodity supplier with no subcontracting footprint.

Bongards' federal work centers on cheese commodities for domestic food assistance programs. The vendor manufactures and delivers natural American cheese in 500-pound barrels, processed cheese blends in 12/2-pound loaves and 6/5-pound sliced packages in yellow and white varieties, and specialty formatted products to support school meal programs, food banks, and other USDA nutrition initiatives. Representative recent work includes a $3.3 million delivery order (September 22, 2026) for natural American cheese barrels with completion by December 31, 2026; a $5.4 million order (September 8, 2026) for American skim milk cheese blends, both issued by the Food and Nutrition Service; a $4.4 million delivery order (December 4, 2025) for cheese blend commodities; and a $6.3 million order (December 31, 2025) for American skim milk solids in loaves.

Customer concentration is extreme and single-source. The Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service accounts for 657 of 822 total awards (80% of award count) and $2.95 billion of $3.25 billion combined potential value (91%). The remaining federal customer base—Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service Washington Office ($280.5 million across 24 awards), Farm Service Agency Kansas City Commodity Office ($6 million), and other USDA sub-agencies—is negligible by comparison. This concentration reflects Bongards' exclusive positioning as a commodity supplier to the USDA's food donation infrastructure.

Bongards holds ten named indefinite delivery contracts with the USDA Food and Nutrition Service spanning multiple completion dates through June 2027. The largest vehicles are Indefinite Delivery Contract AGDPROC120008 ($63.7 million ceiling, 36 task orders), Indefinite Delivery Contract 123J1421D0076 ($77.2 million ceiling, 27 task orders), and a $104.139 million multiple-award IDV (February 9, 2026) for processed cheese commodities. Recent IDVs awarded in February 2026 include a $55.3 million vehicle for natural American cheese in barrel format and a $104.139 million vehicle for processed cheese blends. Task order flow is consistent: delivery orders typically range from $2 million to $8 million and are issued quarterly in response to USDA food assistance demand.

Activity has been steady but declined modestly in 2026 (26 awards year-to-date) compared to 2024–2025 (48 and 37 awards respectively), reflecting normal commodity procurement cycles rather than competitive loss. Over the past five years, annual award counts have ranged 37–48 awards per year. In the next twenty-four months, eight awards with combined potential value of $21.4 million reach ultimate completion date, presenting recompete opportunity for competitors and recompete exposure for the vendor.

In December 2021, Bongards received a $185,622 cooperative agreement from the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service under the Pandemic Market Volatility Assistance Program (CFDA 10.183) to distribute pandemic relief payments to eligible dairy farmers in Minnesota through June 30, 2022, positioning the vendor as both commodity supplier and program administrator within the USDA dairy support ecosystem. In November 2024, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture awarded Bongards a sub-grant to purchase and install sliced cheese wrapper and diverter lane equipment at its manufacturing location, expanding capacity for Minnesota-made sliced processed cheese by 5.5 million pounds annually.

Bongards competes exclusively in the full-and-open federal market without SBA set-aside certifications. The vendor's footprint is entirely dependent on USDA Food and Nutrition Service commodity procurement vehicles; competitive exposure is limited to other certified dairy commodity suppliers on the same indefinite delivery contracts. No parent contractor relationships, subcontracting arrangements, or teaming partnerships appear in the award record.

Bongards is a Minnesota farmer owned cooperative. With the milk produced on our family farms we produces block and barrel cheese as well as process slice and loaf. A variety of blended and analog cheeses are also produced at our Southern facility.