The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Tuesday announced plans to purchase up to $60 million in chicken products (to include whole bagged chicken, consumer split breast, and dark meat parts) for distribution to various food nutrition assistance programs.
Purchases will be made under the authority of Section 32 of the Act of August 24, 1935, with the purpose to encourage the continued domestic consumption of these products by diverting them from the normal channels of trade and commerce. These purchases are part of the normal operations of administering Section 32 and are not related or associated with the authority or administration of possible purchases under Section 5 of the Commodity Credit Corporation related to trade mitigation.
The National Chicken Council on July 25, 2018 requested that USDA consider this special purchase for chicken, especially dark meat parts, in the amount of $60 million. With inventories up, NCC believes this request was timely and adequate. This is the largest bonus buy approved by the agency to date, surpassing our 2015 request eventually granted at $36 million.
In response to the announcement, National Chicken Council President Mike Brown released the following statement:
“On behalf of U.S. chicken producers, I want to thank Secretary Perdue for this timely action and for his steadfast leadership at USDA, and commend the dedicated officials at the Agricultural Marketing Service and Food Nutrition Service.
“Today’s announcement will help in balancing the supply and demand situation in the market. As such, it will provide continued and improved employment in the poultry industry, underpin steadier family farm grower incomes, and enhance better feed demand for the on-coming expected bumper harvest of corn and soybeans.
“It is a real victory for chicken producers, rural America and U.S. agriculture. But the real winners are the actual recipients of these programs that provide high-quality and nutritious chicken to financially-stressed families, group feeding kitchens, disaster-relief operations, schools and consumers needing food assistance.”
Solicitations will be issued in the near future, and will be available electronically through the Web-Based Supply Chain Management (WBSCM) system. A hard copy of the solicitation will not be available. Public WBSCM information is available without an account on the WBSCM Public Procurement Page.
All future information regarding this acquisition, including solicitation amendments and award notices, will be published through WBSCM, and on the Agricultural Marketing Service’s website at www.ams.usda.gov/selling-food. Interested parties shall be responsible for ensuring that they have the most up-to-date information about this acquisition. The contract type is anticipated to be firm-fixed price. Deliveries are expected to be to various locations in the United States on an FOB destination basis.
Offerors are urged to review all documents as they pertain to this program, including the latest:
- AMS Master Solicitation for Commodity Procurements (MSCP), April 12, 2017;
- Applicable commodity specification(s) identified in the subsequent solicitation(s); and
- Qualification Requirements for Prospective Contractors Selling Commodities to USDA, March 1, 2017.
These documents are available on the AMS Commodity Procurement website.
To be eligible to submit offers, potential contractors must meet the AMS vendor qualification requirements. The AMS point of contact for new vendors is Andrea Lang who can be reached by phone at (202) 720-4237 or by email to [email protected]. Details of these requirements are available online at: https://www.ams.usda.gov/selling-food/becoming-approved. Once qualification requirements have been met, access to WBSCM will be provided. Bids, modifications, withdrawals of bids, and price adjustments shall be submitted using this system. Submission of the above by any means other than WBSCM will be determined nonresponsive.
Inquiries may be directed to the Contracting Officer, Hilary Cole, via email at [email protected].
