MURFREESBORO CITY SCHOOLS

INVITATION TO BID ON PRODUCE PRODUCTS

The Murfreesboro City Schools system requests price quotes to be submitted on individual items specified on the attached sheets as well as the remainder of the bidder’s entire product listing, even if some seasonal items are not available for purchase at this time. All items should be priced according to the pricing structure contained in this document. All of the items are to be purchased by and used in the School Nutrition Program. Minority and small businesses are encouraged to bid.

There are twelve schools in the Murfreesboro City Schools system with cafeterias serving breakfast and lunch each day, with an average of 5750+ lunches and 1500+ breakfasts served daily and an extended school program (ESP) providing various snacks after school. MCS also operates an extensive Summer Feeding Program. Murfreesboro City Schools is only closed during legal holidays, one week in the fall and spring and approximately three weeks during the winter holiday season. Service would be required at all other times during the year.

The objective of this invitation to bid is to select one primary produce supplier for all fresh and pre-cut fruits, vegetables and fresh eggs as requested in this bid. This bid is being requested in this manner to determine the one best supplier to meet the systems unique needs on the items requested in this bid document.

All food must be processed and packaged under the best possible sanitary conditions in accordance with local, State of Tennessee, and Federal Pure Food laws and health regulations.

I. BID PROCESS, PERIOD COVERED & PRICE ADJUSTMENTS

Murfreesboro City Schools will receive sealed bids delivered to the office of the Supervisor of School Nutrition, 2552 S. Church St, Murfreesboro, TN37127, untilMonday, June 21, 2010 11:00am. The sealed bids will be publicly opened promptly at 11:30am, June 21, 2010, in the office of the Supervisor of School Nutrition, 2552 S. Church St., Murfreesboro, TN37127.

Price quotes and bids will receive the appropriate confidentiality during the entire bid determination process.

The bid period for this award shall be July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011. The bid may be extended to cover a total of three (3) school years. Provided the awarded vendor and the Murfreesboro City Schools Nutrition Department are in mutual agreement to renew, at the end of each school year.

PRICE ADJUSTMENTS: The bid prices contained in your initial bid submission are considered “firm” for one (1) week and those prices may be adjusted weekly to accurately reflect the changes in the produce market conditions, but the pricing structure that your initial bid is based on must remain in effect throughout the entire course of the contract period. Every Friday before 11:00 am, the contractor shall either fax or e-mail to each Murfreesboro City School site and the district’s School Nutrition Department Central Office, a copy of the price list that will be in effect the following week. (See attached list of schools with e-mail addresses and fax numbers). Because of market conditions, the successful contractor will be able to adjust upward or downward in verifiable market conditions either upward or downward shall indicate a price adjustment to take effect on the following week of said notice. Murfreesboro City Schools requires appropriate documentation to support the price adjustment be available for audit by school system officials or their designee. (Verifiable resources for documentation include supplier/distributor invoices, Food Institute Report, AMS Market Report, and other third party market sources.) At no time shall the requested price adjustment reflect an increase in the overall mark-up amount of the original pricing structure achieved on an item as originally bid by the vendor. All revised prices must be held firm for one week.

PRICE ADJUSTMENT OF RENEWAL CONTRACTS: If Murfreesboro City Schools determines that it is in the best interest of the school district to renew the contract in subsequent years as described above, and not put the contract out for new bids, then price adjustments will be handled in the same manner as described above.

II. CONTRACT AWARD

The contract will be awarded to the responsive and responsible bidder whose bid is the lowest in price. Only one vendor will receive the bid award for the period covered above.

Murfreesboro City Schools agrees to use the designated contract distributor as an exclusive source for fresh produce items, eggs and services as listed herein as well as for comparable substitutes. But, from time to time, the district may have the opportunity to take advantage of special purchases/deliveries from other sources such as the Department of Defense (DOD) produce program. This agreement does not preclude the district from its ability to purchase such items from, thru other sources when it is in the best overall interest of the district.

The successful vendor who receives the contract agrees to provide total requirements as listed herein thereby minimizing occurrence when the school system may have to seek other interim products sources.

Murfreesboro City Schools reserves

the right to accept or reject any and all bids.

All bidders will be notified of the official decision by mail prior to the award starting date.

III.BID FORM

Attached is the bid form that you should use to submit your bid or if you choose to use computer sheets, the items are to be listed in the same order as our bid form. Your bid should reflect the price you would be selling Murfreesboro City Schools, fresh and pre-cut produce & eggs for the week of 7/04/10-7/10/10. The selling prices quoted should utilize the formula you will use to determine all future selling prices for the remainder of the contract period if you are selected as the successful bidder.

If you have more items in stock that are not listed individually on the bid form, you should include all of these other items to indicate the variety you have available during this time of year. Bidders are required to submit with the bid a complete list of items carried by the bidder reflecting the items that are currently available in their warehouse. (Murfreesboro City Schools recognizes that all of these items will not be available at all times during the year due to seasonal availability and would not expect any distributor to have every seasonal item to be in stock year round.)

All bids must be complete, showing the brand or trade name of each item and the price of the unit to be shipped. If the unit to be shipped is different from the one listed, the bidder must state the shipping unit on which a price is quoted.

  1. All bids shall be made on the attached forms or if computer sheets are used, the items must be in order using our line item numbers.
  2. All bids must be sealed in an envelope, plainly marked on the outside with the words “BID – Produce & Egg Supplier for School Nutrition Department” along with the opening date. An authorized official of the vendor must sign the bid form in ink, indicating his/her title and his/her authority to bind his/her company to this bid.
  3. If the bidder changes pack, size, brand, or any other specifications, the changes must be clearly made on the bid form before the bid will be considered. All bid prices must be written in ink.
  4. If an error is made in quoting the price or items that are not available after the bids are opened, Murfreesboro City Schools reserves the right to award the contract to the next qualified vendor. Any time an accepted item is not available, the School Nutrition Supervisor will select the acceptable alternate. Vendors must let the Bookkeeper know within a reasonable time period when an item is unavailable. In the event a critical item is not received, the School Nutrition Department may purchase the item from another source.

IV.SAMPLES AND QUALITY

SAMPLES: Vendors may be required to submit samples of the items bid. Samples requested will be marked on the bid sheet or requested by the Supervisor of School Nutrition. Samples are to be sent to the Murfreesboro City Schools Office of School Nutrition and marked “Sample”. The samples will be used to help determine selection of items if so requested and will be paid for by Murfreesboro City Schools after an invoice has been presented and then processed for payment.

QUALITY: All produce items shall be of the quality standards as listed below unless otherwise noted:

Fresh Fruits:U.S. Grade “A” or U.S. Fancy

Fresh Vegetables:U.S. Grade “A” or U.S. Fancy

EggsGrade “A” Large

All Pre-Cut produce should have minimum of a

seven (7) day shelf life remaining upon receipt at the school facility.

V.ORDERS AND ON-SITE ORDER PROCESSING

The Cafeteria Manager of each school will place orders with the awarded vendor either via email or fax on a weekly basis. A time will be established when it is mutually agreeable and convenient for all parties involved. Murfreesboro City Schools utilizes a centralized ordering system. Every order requires an individual purchase order number assigned by the Central Office computer system.

VI.DELIVERIES

Deliveries shall be made to each school in Murfreesboro City Schools regardless of size of order or weight, between the hours of 6:30 am and 1:30 pm. Deliveries will not be accepted after 1:30 pm unless prior permission is given by the Supervisor of School Nutrition to delivery after 1:30 pm. The days of delivery each week will be established by mutual agreement between the Supervisor of School Nutrition and/or Cafeteria Manager and the vendor representative. Delivery schedules will be altered to meet holiday and snow day schedules.

Delivery will be made FOB destination to each school. Stock is to be placed inside or adjacent to the appropriate storage area as designated by the Cafeteria Manager or his/her designee.

Deliveries must be made in a mechanically refrigerated truck maintaining an appropriate temperature for the items being shipped (33-40 F.). Murfreesboro City Schools reserves the right to reject the use of any equipment used by a carrier if it is not in a clean, sanitary condition suitable for the transport of food items, supplies, etc.

NOTE: Murfreesboro City Schools follows the principals of HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) in accepting all deliveries. Therefore, upon delivery, temperatures of products will be taken and recorded and overall product condition will be inspected.

The successful bidder shall furnish a Certificate of Insurance issued by an insurance company showing that the Murfreesboro City Schools Board of Education will be protected from loss or damage to property of third persons or to the carrier’s own property, loss or damage to the Murfreesboro City Schools System Board of Education commodities, and injury or death to third persons or the carrier’s employees. Carrier will assume full common liability of all shipments.

If a vendor fails to deliver on a specified date, and does not notify the Supervisor of School Nutrition, Murfreesboro City Schools Board of Education reserves the right to terminate the contract in whole or in part after notification in writing.

VII.SELECTION OF POTENTIAL VENDOR

Potential bidders must meet the following criteria:

Be able to provide a quality product as specified

Reasonable Pricing

Provide dependable delivery of items ordered

Meet specifications and bid conditions

Successful past performance of vendor

Students acceptance of products

Serviceability of items carried by the vendor

A potential bidder may be rejected for one or more of the following reasons:

Inadequate or unacceptable product lines

Inadequate facilities with respect to excess capacities, capable of accommodating surges in volume

Inadequate truck fleets to handle predicted volume of refrigerated goods

Inadequate technical assistance and product information

NOTE: The selection process that will be utilized to determine the best overall price will be based on a “Bottom Line” approach with Murfreesboro City Schools choosing the items that would make up a typical sample order taking into consideration the varying amounts of individual items that would be ordered. Each item will be weighted depending on its individual volume usage during the given period. The amounts of products indicated are estimates for a given period of time and should not be construed as a commitment to purchase the amounts indicated.

VIII.VENDOR PERFORMANCE

The vendor will be expected to maintain a 97% “fill rate” average on all combined orders for any given monthly period. (Substitutions on items will not help to satisfy the above requirement.) With prior approval, 24 hours ahead of time, an item that is temporarily out of stock may be substituted with an item of equal or superior product quality at an equal or lower price.

Failure to deliver within the time specified or within a reasonable amount of time, or failure to make replacements of a rejected commodity immediately will constitute authority to purchase on the open market so as to replace the item(s) rejected and/or not received. On all such purchases, the Contractor agrees to promptly reimburse schools for excess costs caused by such a purchase.

Reasons for product rejection may be any one of the following:

  1. Quality
  2. Price
  3. Student Acceptance
  4. Serviceability of item

Any one and/or a combination of the following penalties will result from the Vendor’s failure to perform according to contract:

  1. Cost adjustment
  2. Termination of Contract
  3. Suspension from future bidding
  4. Legal action and civil penalties
  5. Criminal Action

IX. INVOICES AND STATEMENTS

An invoice for the purchase of items must accompany each delivery and be signed by the Cafeteria Manager or his/her designee. All invoices must be in duplicate. Unsigned invoices will not be paid. Purchase order number must be on all invoices. If an item must be returned or is rejected, the invoice must be signed by the Manager and the delivery person indicating that the product is rejected.

All monthly statements are to be issued to include and end with the cut-off date which will be the last day of the month. Billing should be made through the final day of the month. The statements are to be sent to the School Nutrition Department, broken down by individual schools. Bills must be sent as soon after the last day of the month as possible. Payment will be made to the vendor when the contract has been met and verified, and has met the System’s procedures for payments. NOTE: Murfreesboro City Schools is a tax-exempt organization.

X.REGULATION COMPLIANCE

All contracts awarded in excess of $10,000.00 by grantees and their contractors or sub-contractors shall comply with Executive Order 11246, entitled “Equal Employment Opportunity”, as amended by Executive Order 11375 and supplemented under Department of Labor regulations (41 CFI, Part 60). All contracts over $100,000.00 additionally require compliance with the Clean Air Act issued under Section 306, Executive Order 11738.

Bidders must comply with mandatory standards and policies related to energy efficiency which are contained in the State Energy Plan issued in compliance with the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (PL94-165). Positive efforts must be made to involve minority and small business.

All bidders must sign and return with the bid the “Certification Regarding Debarment, Suspension, Ineligibility and Voluntary Exclusion – Lower Tier Covered Contracts.”

All bidders must sign and return with this bid the “Buy American” Certificate and “Certification Regarding Lobbying.”

XI. RECORDS

All contractors are required to keep records for three years after Murfreesboro City Schools makes final payment and all other pending matters are closed. Contractors must agree that the School Food Authority, the State Agency, the United State Department of Agriculture, or Comptroller General may review any books, documents, papers, and records of the contractor which are directly pertinent to all negotiated contracts.

Any questions concerning the bids should be directed to the Supervisor of School Nutrition, MurfreesboroCitySchools, 2552 S. Church St., Murfreesboro, TN37127. Telephone: 615-893-2313, Fax: 615-893-2352.

XII.PERSONAL CONDUCT

The following conduct will be expected of all persons who are engaged in the awarding and administration of contracts supported by School Food and Nutrition Program Funds. All bidders and their agents will abide by all of the rules and regulations for personal conduct while they are on a Murfreesboro City Schools System campus.

  1. No employee, officer or agent of the Murfreesboro City School Nutrition Department shall participate in selection or in the award or administration of a contract supported by Program funds if a conflict of interest, real or apparent, would be involved.
  1. Conflicts of interest arise when one of the following has a financial or other interest in the firm selected for the award:

a)The employee, officer or agent