Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) Child Nutrition Services (CNS) recently posted a Request For Information (RFI) for food producers and processors regarding our Local Foods for Schools Cooperative Agreement (LFSCA) plans.
The LFSCA Program was established by USDA Agricultural Marketing Service with funding through USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation. This program will allow for the OSPI CNS to procure local, domestic foods and meet the needs of their schools through the School Breakfast Program (SBP) and the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). In addition to increasing local food consumption, funds are expected to help build and expand economic opportunity for local, small, and socially disadvantaged farmers/producers during the project period and create purchasing relationships for the future.
OSPI CNS, as the lead agency, will apply for up to $3,644,643.00 Federal funding. The information gathered from this RFI will inform OSPI CNS implementation of the LFSCA. Upon award, CNS will implement the LFSCA and conduct a procurement process, in accordance with the Uniform Grant Guidance, with the focus of purchasing local food (400 miles from the location where the product will be utilized) from socially disadvantaged farmers and small businesses.
If you would like to respond to this RFI, please follow the link below for instructions.
Request for Information No. 2022-43 (www.k12.wa.us)
Responses to the RFI must arrive by 3:00 p.m. in Olympia, WA, on June 6, 2022 by email or phone (interpretation service available for phone responses). See the RFI linked above for more details.
If you have any questions regarding the LFSCA grant or the RFI, please feel free to email me at nichole.garden@k12.wa.us.
This RFI is available at the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) website and at the Department of Enterprise Services, Washington Electronic Business Solution (WEBS) Procurement website. All RFI amendments and/or Consultant questions and OSPI answers will be posted to these sites. All interested Consultants must be registered with WEBS under the following commodity codes in order to receive automatic notifications:
962-40 Food Distribution Services
