Overview
Sourcing Local Goods and Services
- Prime vendor (AKA commercial distributor)
- Direct to farmer
- School garden
- Farmer’s market or auction
- Food hub, coop, or aggregator
- Community garden
- USDA Foods, like DoD
- Direct to Processor
Common Procurement Methods
Local Procurement Decision Tree
Informal
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Micro-purchase (non-competitive)
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Small-purchase (3 Bids and a Buy)
Formal
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Invitation for Bid (IFB)
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Request for Proposal (RFP)
Identify Needs and Define Local
Geographic Preference
As of July 1, 2024 the geographic preference option has expanded to allow use of the term “local” (e.g., “locally grown”, “locally raised”, or “locally caught”) as a required procurement specification for unprocessed agricultural products for the Child Nutrition Programs (CNPs).
Operators may choose to:
- Use local as a specification (i.e., the written description of a product or service that a vendor must meet to be considered responsive to a solicitation) for local unprocessed agricultural products;
- Use a defined scoring advantage (e.g., additional credit or points given to local unprocessed agricultural products during the evaluation of responses to a solicitation) for local unprocessed agricultural products;
- Adopt a mix of both strategies; or,
- Elect not to use any of these approaches.
For more information on using the Geographic Preference, visit the USDA Procuring Local Foods webpage.
Wisconsin Local Food for Schools (WI LFS) Program
Overview
Outcomes
The below resources were developed during the first round of funding in collaboration with internal and external partners to support sustainability of local procurement activities. If you want to learn more about the first round of the LFS Program, review the Announcement Memo, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and resources below.
Resources and Policy Memos
- USDA Resources for Procuring Local Foods
- Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
- Informal Solicitation Request Template
- WI LFS Reimbursement Instructions and Form
Policy Memos
- Purchases of Locally Produced Foods in the School Nutrition Programs Memo #02-26, USDA Policy Memo, 05/22/2002
- Procuring Local Meat, Poultry, Game, and Eggs for Child Nutrition, SP 01-2016, CACFP 01-2016, SFSP 01-2016, USDA, 10/22/2015
- Procurement Geographic Preference Q&As – Part II SP 03-2013, CACFP 02-2013, SFSP 02-2013, USDA,10/09/2012
- Procurement Geographic Preference Q&As SP 18-2011, USDA, 02/01/2011
- Geographic Preference for the Procurement of Unprocessed Agricultural Products in the CNP SP 08-2010, USDA,11/13/2009
- Applying Geographic Preference in Procurement for the CNP - Updates SP 01-2010 CACFP 01-2010 SFSP 01-2010, USDA,10/09/2009