Upstate Niagara Cooperative, Inc.

Upstate Niagara Cooperative, Inc., doing business as Bison Products, manufactures and supplies fresh fluid milk, evaporated milk, and dairy products to the federal government as a prime contractor across military, veterans healthcare, and civilian food assistance programs, operating with no set-aside designations in open and full-and-open competitions.

Bison Products is a for-profit dairy manufacturer headquartered in Lancaster, New York, with primary operations in Batavia, New York. The vendor competes exclusively in unrestricted procurements and holds no SBA certifications. Primary NAICS classification is 311514 (Fluid Milk Manufacturing) and PSC 8910 (Dairy Foods and Eggs). The company has been a registered federal supplier since February 2002 and has a SAM.gov footprint across military, veterans healthcare, and USDA food assistance customers.

The award portfolio reveals extreme concentration by customer and vehicle type. Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support Subsistence dominates by transaction count with 2,363 awards valued at $4.4 million combined potential value, but these are small-dollar, high-frequency delivery orders for chocolate milk and cottage cheese to military locations. The Defense Commissary Agency anchors the dollar value with 34 awards carrying $70.5 million combined potential value — a significant gap relative to transaction volume suggests major multi-year or blanket-type agreements. The Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service placed 42 awards ($8.8 million) for evaporated and fresh fluid milk to support domestic food assistance programs. The Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Integrated Service Network 2 has 78 awards ($5.1 million) for milk and dairy products supplied to VA medical centers including Bath, Buffalo, Batavia, and Canandaigua, with a single-award indefinite delivery contract running through September 2027 valued at $129.2 thousand ceiling. The Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service has 47 awards ($4.9 million) for commodity procurement to support federal food donation programs.

The top five customer agencies account for 98 percent of award volume and 98 percent of combined potential value. Two IDCs with Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support Subsistence (SPE30020DV365 and SPE30017DV282) anchor 2,355 task orders collectively but carry only $835 thousand combined value — transactional noise relative to the DECA contract HDEC0107G6712, which shows 23 task orders and $60.5 million combined potential value, representing the bulk of the vendor's dollar exposure.

Activity has declined sharply in recent years. The vendor executed 427 awards in 2022, dropping to 190 in 2023, 14 in 2024, 8 in 2025, and 2 as of June 2026. Combined potential value across all 2,627 awards (prime plus sub) stands at $95.5 million, with $19.9 million (21 percent) obligated to date. Ten awards carrying $650 thousand combined potential value reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months.

Recent representative awards include a $43.1 thousand firm fixed-price definitive contract from the Food and Nutrition Service (May 6, 2026) for evaporated skim milk in 24-pack cases; a $141.7 thousand contract from the same agency (February 2, 2026) for evaporated milk across 13.7 million pounds with deliveries to CONUS, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico; a $427.4 thousand award from FNS (December 10, 2025) for evaporated skim milk supporting domestic food assistance; multiple delivery orders from VA's Veterans Integrated Service Network 2 in the October 2025 to October 2024 window ranging from $16.1 thousand to $119.8 thousand for milk and dairy products to specific VA medical centers; and a $73.2 thousand award from AMS (May 29, 2025) combining frozen whole wheat pancakes and evaporated skim milk. The vendor also received a cooperative agreement from the USDA Dairy Program (April 6, 2023) to distribute Pandemic Market Volatility Assistance Program funds to eligible dairy producers through December 31, 2024, with no sub-recipients identified.

Bison Products holds a single federal sub-award footprint: a grant sub-award from the Vermont Agency of Agriculture (Award Date November 18, 2025) as a sub-recipient under the grant "From Farm to Future: Expanding a model workforce program through apprenticeship to develop the next generation of dairy talent."

The vendor's category concentration is tightly defined — 2,559 of 2,627 awards (97 percent) fall under NAICS 311514 (Fluid Milk Manufacturing), with 2,597 awards under PSC 8910 (Dairy Foods and Eggs). Secondary categories (Dairy Product Merchant Wholesalers, Commercial Bakeries, Dry/Condensed Dairy Products) account for fewer than 50 awards combined and appear to reflect occasional incidental commodity inclusion rather than core capability shifts.

The dramatic year-over-year decline in award count and the gap between transaction volume (2,363 DLA Troop Support orders) and dollar value ($4.4 million) suggest either loss of incumbent vehicles, contract consolidation upstream, or transition away from small-order supply relationships toward fewer, larger agreements. The $70.5 million Defense Commissary Agency exposure concentrated in 34 awards indicates potential dependence on one or two large vehicles that do not appear enumerated in the top parent vehicle listing, creating visibility risk.