REQUEST FOR EXTERNAL EVALUATION CONTRACT PROPOSALS

FoodCorps School Food Environment and Lunchroom Consumption Project 

Application period closes Friday, August 29, 2014

About FoodCorps

FoodCorps is a national service organization that seeks to give all children the opportunity to grow up in a 

vibrant, healthful food environment. Through our partnership with AmeriCorps, we recruit, train and place 

emerging leaders into limited-resource schools for a year of service implementing our three-ingredient recipe 

for healthy kids:

• Knowledge – We teach hands-on lessons about food and nutrition;

• Engagement – We build and tend school gardens and teach cooking lessons so kids can taste the 

fresh food they’ve grown;

• Access – We change what’s on children’s lunch trays, giving them healthy food from local farms.

FoodCorps envisions a future in which all our nation’s children know what healthy food is, care where it comes 

from, and have access to it every day. When our work is done, future generations will grow up enveloped in a 

healthy school food environment––and will go on to lead healthier, more productive, and longer lives. In each 

state where we operate, FoodCorps identifies a lead partner (host site) to coordinate our efforts across the 

state. In collaboration with those state partners, community organizations (service sites) within each of those 

states support and oversee one or more FoodCorps AmeriCorps members throughout their year of service. 

Service sites may be local non-profit organizations, university extension programs, or schools/school districts 

themselves, for example. Throughout their one year term, FoodCorps service members partner primarily with 

local schools to provide indoor- and garden-based food education, build and tend school gardens, and work to 

promote healthy food for school lunch menus. Our 2014-2015 class of 180+ service members will be

embedded in over 140 communities and 400+ schools in 17 states across the country. 

Evaluation Purpose and Scope

FoodCorps seeks proposals from experienced researchers and evaluators for a two-year project to 

collaborate on instrument development as well as assess FoodCorps’ impact related to the key outcomes 

of our program: (1) The contractor will work with FoodCorps to refine our existing farm to schoolfocused school food environment assessment and implementation rubric. (2) The contractor will also 

assess the influence our school-based programming (from classes to school-wide environmental 

changes) has on children’s consumption of healthy food during school meals. As a whole, we seek a 

study designed to assess impacts of a multi-component, holistic farm to school program.

Over the past two years, FoodCorps has developed and piloted an internal healthy school food 

environment rubric (currently called the “FoodCorps Landscape Assessment”), which captures change over 
time across FoodCorps’ three pillars of farm to school programming at participating schools. The 

instrument rates a school environment across 30 environmental and programmatic features that contribute 

to creating a healthy food environment. FoodCorps service members along with a group of key 

stakeholders conduct the pre/post assessment at each school site. As such, it has the ability to track 

program implementation and key changes at each school over time. FoodCorps is interested in partnering 

with evaluators or researchers that will provide expertise in environmental assessment, with an aim toward 

strengthening and validating the instrument. We seek researchers and evaluators to further develop this 

instrument and to subsequently analyze whether there is a relationship between the state of the school 

food environment and student food consumption at school. 

The contractors will assess student food consumption behavior at FoodCorps schools that implement a full 

suite of farm to school programming (across all three pillars of FoodCorps: knowledge, engagement, and 

access, as described above). The evaluation will also assess and compare these findings to appropriately 

matched non-FoodCorps schools, with the purpose of comparing food consumption at intervention 

schools to school food consumption in the absence of the FoodCorps program.

Evaluation Questions

FoodCorps seeks to understand the impact of its programming on individual child behavior as well as on 

school food environments over time. The key evaluation topics are listed below, with the expectation that the 

applicant will refine the questions based on collaboration with a group of FoodCorps staff and stakeholders. 

1. How can we best measure school food environment change through a farm to school lens, using 

FoodCorps’ Landscape Assessment tool as a starting point? What updates should be made to 

strengthen the tool and further ground it in best practice and research?

2. Do students who participate in the FoodCorps program consume more fruits, vegetables, and 

whole grains; fewer saturated fats; and a greater overall variety of foods at school than students 

who not participate in the FoodCorps program (either from the same school or from nonFoodCorps schools)? 

3. Does the extent of a school’s adoption of a healthy school food environment, as measured by the 

Landscape Assessment or a similar tool, play a role in student food consumption?

To answer these primary evaluation questions, the evaluation will measure (a) the type and amount of 

food consumed by students in a cafeteria setting (for example, through visual estimation plate waste 

analysis), and (b) the health of the school food environment. 

Deliverables

Contract deliverables include:

● Engage with FoodCorps project committee, made up of staff and stakeholders, throughout the 

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evaluation timeline

● Collaborate with FoodCorps to further develop and strengthen a farm to school food environment 

analysis instrument; advise FoodCorps on the data collection and analysis plan for the instrument

● Design an evaluation plan for the project outlining data collection methods, sampling technique, 

evaluation approach and instruments

● Determine feasible number of matched pair study sites given project timeline and budget

● Collaborate with FoodCorps staff to engage and coordinate with those sites that participate in the 

evaluation project, as well as provide necessary training for implementing the evaluation

● Collect and analyze data measuring school food consumption and school food environment

● Provide final written reports on both instrument development and use as well as evaluation 

findings

● Provide final presentation (in-person or virtual) to FoodCorps staff and key site partners

● Provide regular updates to FoodCorps staff lead and project advisory committee, as agreed upon 

by both parties

● Submit invoices for work performed quarterly

● Obtain Institutional Review Board approval for the project, as necessary

Request for Proposals (RFP) and Project Timeline

This study will unfold according to the following two-year timeline. Specific dates are subject to 

modification. 

● November 2014: Contractors identified

● November 2014 through May 2015: Planning, design, and instrument development; identification of 

sites for consumption study the following school year

● May 2015: Instrument completed and available to be integrated into programming for the 

upcoming program year

● June through July 2015: Site training and preparation 

● July 2015 through November 2016: Data collection and analysis

● December 2016 (negotiable): Final report and presentation

● Winter 2016 onward: Evaluation findings reviewed, distributed, and implemented

Activity Date

Release RFP Monday, June 30, 2014

Optional Q&A Call #1 Monday, July 7, 2014

Optional Q&A Call #2 Friday, July 11, 2014

RFP closes Friday, August 29, 2014

Respondents notified of outcome Week of November 3, 2014

Contract commencement December 2014

Final report and presentation November/December 2016

(negotiable)

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Contract Application Process and Timeline

To be considered for this contract, applicants must submit a succinct proposal that addresses the following 

topics, totaling no more than ten (10) single-spaced pages (excluding appendix materials). 

Upon review, applicants may receive a request for additional information or for a phone interview.

A. Executive Summary

The executive summary will consist of the proposal cover letter highlighting the contents of the proposal. 

Please include a description of your interest in performing this evaluation, including interest in specific 

elements.

B. Organizational Overview

This section will include background information on the applicant’s organization and should give details of 

organizational experience with similar projects. Provide an overview of the business or academic philosophy,

values, practices, and areas of expertise and specialization that distinguish your organization from your 

competitors/colleagues. Include information about what your organization is best known for, the signature 

approach and strengths of your organization, and other information that describes your organization’s unique 

capacity to perform this project, including the method by which your clients’ needs are understood and 

integrated into project designs. 

C. Project Staffing and Experience

This section will detail your organization’s professional expertise and experience as it relates to the staff 

working on this specific evaluation. This section must include the proposed staffing, deployment, and 

organization of personnel to be assigned to this project. Staffing changes may be made through the mutual 

consent of the selected contractor and FoodCorps after the contract award. 

The applicant shall provide information as to the qualifications and experience of the project staff as well as the 

responsibilities to be assigned to each person as follows: 

1. Lead Evaluator or Researcher: Identify one (1) individual who will lead and manage the contract work. 

Provide details of this person’s experience, education, affiliations, memberships, awards, and 

recognitions received for similar services. Define the percent of this person’s time that will be devoted 

exclusively to managing the FoodCorps project. The lead evaluator or researcher’s resume should be 

included in the appendix.

2. Project Team: Identify by name, title and role each proposed project team member on the proposed 

FoodCorps project. Include relevant experience and responsibilities to be assigned for this project.

3. Other Staff: Identify other staff member(s) who will work on the FoodCorps evaluation, and how much 

time would be spent on the FoodCorps project. 

D. Technical Proposal

This section shall include, in narrative, outline, and/or graph form, the strategic plan proposed to accomplish 

the scope of work and address the evaluation questions. This section must provide a comprehensive narrative 

that sets out the proposed evaluation plan and methodology intended as well as how the methodology meets 

the needs of the project. The applicant must present a thorough understanding of the goals of the program and 

scope of the project and demonstrate an adherence to the required timeline. Please include a detailed timeline 

that relates to the approach that you are proposing.

E. Budgetary Proposal

This section shall outline costs associated with the proposed project. Note that the contractor will be expected 

to provide its own space and equipment to conduct work on the project and may be expected to cover ordinary 

and necessary business expenses. 

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1. Personnel Costs: Identify the daily rates of propose team member, distinguishing between in-house and 

subcontracted personnel, and calculate the total costs required to execute the proposed evaluation 

within the required timeline.

2. Material Production Costs: Identify all costs related to the production of materials for the evaluation 

project.

3. Travel Expenses: Identify all reimbursable travel expenses. 

4. Institutional Indirect Cost Rates: If the organization is an academic institution, please include the 

organization’s indirect cost rate, to which FoodCorps would apply its indirect cost rate policy.

5. Miscellaneous Expenses: Identify all miscellaneous expenses that will be incurred in performance of 

this contract, not previously covered in the items listed above. Submit rates for each miscellaneous 

expense identified. Any costs associated with the FoodCorps account outside the scope of this price 

proposal should also be listed. Detail how the expenses will be verified. 

F. Appendix

As an appendix, please provide copies of up to three recent, related research projects or evaluation reports the 

lead contractor(s) have conducted/led, including: (A) relevant evaluation of school food consumption, and (B) 

projects including relevant environmental assessment or implementation rubrics. For highly relevant projects, 

full reports are preferred. Otherwise, executive summaries are acceptable. Please also include the resume or 

curriculum vitae for the lead contractor. 

Have questions? There will be two optional Q&A phone calls leading up to the proposal submission deadline. 

They will take place at 1pm Pacific Time (4pm Eastern Time) on Monday, July 7 and Friday, July 11. To 

join the call, dial --------. For those who cannot attend, a call recording will be made available upon request.

Submit proposals via email to -------- by Friday, August 29, 2014 at 5pm Eastern Time. Subject line 

should indicate “RFP – FoodCorps Environment and Consumption Evaluation – Contractor Name.” Late 

submissions will not be considered. Phone interviews or additional materials may be requested with applicants 

prior to final selection. The candidates will be notified in November. 

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Selection Criteria

A contractor will be selected based on key criteria that include: 

● Completeness of required proposal elements

● Demonstrated expertise in food environment research, analysis, and instrument development

● Demonstrated expertise in nutritional analysis, such as plate waste methods

● Demonstrated experience in farm to school or school garden research and evaluation

● Demonstrated experience conducting multiple successful school-based food consumption studies 

utilizing control schools

● Strong experience conducting multi-site evaluations from a distance

● Clarity, rigor, and feasibility of evaluation methodology and approach

● Capacity to manage data collection across all sites, including ability to travel where necessary and 

to inform and train service site supervisors, school staff, and FoodCorps AmeriCorps members who 

will be involved as a study sites

● Ability to complete the evaluation project within the required timeline, as evidenced in the proposal

● Ability to obtain and manage Institutional Review Board approval for all study sites as necessary

Contract Compensation

Total funds available for the two-year contract are up to $-------- (all inclusive, payable quarterly over a 

period of November 2014 through December 2016 (negotiable)). Contractors from research organizations 

who are interested in applying existing funding to the project are welcome to include information about 

such opportunities in their application.

Position Classification

The position described is an independent contractor position. Employees of the contractor shall not be 

employees of FoodCorps.

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