October 2014

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR 

PROSPECTIVE CONTRACTORS SELLING COMMODITIES TO USDA

I. Introduction

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural 

Marketing Service (AMS) procures various domestically produced and 

processed agricultural products for the National School Lunch Program 

and other domestic food and nutrition assistance programs. 

The qualification requirements requested as part of the application 

package for a prospective contractor are required by the Federal 

Acquisition Regulations (FAR) part 9, Vendor Qualifications, and are 

necessary for AMS to carry out its procurement mission. A prospective 

contractor shall be determined to be qualified by the Contracting Officer 

prior to submitting offers under an AMS solicitation. A prospective 

contractor must complete and submit all materials requested herein to 

the AMS Commodity Procurement Staff. 

The Contracting Officer will review the application package and 

determine if a prospective contractor is eligible to participate in the 

USDA, AMS, commodity procurement programs, and can be added to 

the Qualified Vendors List. Access to the Web-Based Supply Chain 

Management (WBSCM) system for submission of offers (bids) shall be 

granted only to Qualified Vendors after the application process has been 

completed.

Procurement information, including the AMS Master Solicitation for 

Commodity Procurements, Supplements to the AMS Master Solicitation 

and USDA Commodity Specifications, information on WBSCM, current 

Solicitations, and historical contract award information, is located at 

http://www.ams.usda.gov/commoditypurchasing.

A prospective contractor may submit its application package at any time 

and will be notified whether requirements have been satisfied and 

approval to bid is granted. A prospective contractor that is a small 

business concern may be referred to the Small Business Administration 

(SBA) for a Certificate of Competency, if deemed necessary by the 

Contracting Officer. There is no established amount of time to submit, 

review or approve an applicant vendor.

Agricultural Marketing 

Service

Commodity 

Procurement Staff

1400 Independence 

Ave., SW, 

Room 3522-S, 

STOP 0239

Washington, DC 

20250-0239

Voice 202.720.4517 

Fax 202.720.5871
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II. Administrative Requirements

Prospective contractors shall be registered in the System for Award

Management (SAM), which can be accessed at www.sam.gov. SAM requires a 

one-time business registration with mandatory annual updates. An expired SAM 

registration will prohibit a contractor’s ability to enter an offer into WBSCM or to 

receive payments. The SAM registration is valid for one year from the date of 

submission and must be updated annually. SAM will notify you 60, 30 and 15 

days prior to expiration of your record. SAM allows a prospective contractor to 

control the accuracy of its own business information. It is the responsibility of 

the contractor to maintain current SAM registration. There is no fee to register in 

SAM and the data from registration will be used for procurement and payment 

purposes. 

A. Each prospective contractor shall submit the WBSCM Vendor Registration Form, 

available at the website referenced above, as part of the application package. 

Once the prospective contractor is approved, the WBSCM Registration Form will 

be processed to allow the qualified vendor to submit offers. Access to offer entry 

in WBSCM is reserved for qualified vendors only. Please send the form once it 

is completed to the Small Business Coordinator, Dianna Price at 

dianna.price@ams.usda.gov.

B. A prospective contractor who is a certified 8(a) and/or HUBZone, but is not 

certified in SAM as such, must submit a copy of their applicable SBA 

certificate(s) in order to submit bids as an 8(a) or HUBZone vendor.

III. Capability Requirements

In accordance with FAR 9.104-1 and 9.104-3(b), each prospective contractor shall 

certify its capability to perform, by including the following in their application package:

A. A written submission on company letterhead with a signature, authenticating the 

exact legal name, and including the following:

1. A description of historical business experience including the number of years 

it has sold the specific USDA commodity product(s) or similar product in the

commercial marketplace or to governmental organizations.

2. Any additional pertinent information regarding a prospective contractor’s 

capabilities, such as, but not limited to, a satisfactory record of integrity and 

business ethics, and verification that it is otherwise qualified and eligible to 

receive an award under applicable laws and regulations.

B. Three reference letters from customers the prospective contractor has sold 

similar products to (on letterhead with signatures).

C. In accordance with 13 CFR 121.406, a prospective contractor that is a nonmanufacturer must be engaged in the wholesale or retail trade and sell the 

items being offered to the general public.
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1. Non-manufacturer means a person that is primarily engaged in the wholesale 

or retail trade and normally sell the items being supplied to the general public; 

and will supply the end item of a small business manufacturer or processor 

made in the United States.

2. The non-manufacturer must provide a copy of the written agreement in effect 

between itself and the subcontractor to certify compliance with federal 

regulatory requirements and applicable AMS Solicitation requirements. The 

agreement must be on company letterhead and must be signed by both

parties. This requirement only applies to Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned 

Small Business concerns and 8(a) firms. 

3. In addition, non-manufacturers must provide a complaint and dispute 

resolution proposal for rejected or defective products.

IV. Financial Responsibility

 A financial responsibility determination will be made prior to submission of bids.

A. Prospective contractors must provide their most current Dun and Bradstreet 

(D&B) analysis report. In order to facilitate their responsibility determination, 

AMS will request and evaluate D&B’s analysis report for each prospective 

contractor.

B. It is highly recommended that each prospective or qualified contractor review 

and submit its financial statements to D&B as this information impacts the D&B 

reports. 

1. Please contact the D&B at 866-721-2275 and request the Business 

Information Report, or the D&B web address is: 

https://creditreports.dnb.com/m/home#megamenu.html

2. The financial statement submitted to D&B should be the period ending 

December 31st of the previous year. 

C. A prospective contractor shall demonstrate that it has adequate financial 

resources to perform the contract, or has the ability to obtain them, as required 

by FAR part 9.104-3(a), including the availability of necessary working capital 

and satisfactory credit. This may include, but is not limited to, the financial 

protection against losses as set forth in FAR part 28. Firms that are veteranowned or service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSB), and 

those certified under the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program, 

must provide insurance or line of credit equal to, or above, the project contract 

award total (FAR part 28).

The prospective contractors must provide its most current, complete comparative

financial statement.
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1. The financial statement must be prepared in accordance with generally 

accepted accounting principles and be audited or reviewed by an 

independent certified public accountant in accordance with standards 

established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

2. At a minimum, the statement should include a balance sheet, profit and loss 

statement, statement of cash flows, statement of retained earnings and any 

notes to the financial statement.

3. For partnerships, the last fiscal year end or current financial statement of the 

partnership and the personal financial statement of each partner will be 

required.

4. For individuals, financial statements that include all of his/her personal and 

business assets and liabilities will be required.

The Contracting Officer shall examine and revalidate all qualified vendors every 

seven years to assure continued compliance with the requirements of FAR part 

9. 

V. Food Defense Requirements

All qualified contractors and subcontractors must have a documented and operational 

food defense plan that provides for the security of a plant’s production processes and 

includes the storage and transportation of pre-production raw materials and other 

ingredients and post-production finished products. The plan shall address the following 

areas, where applicable: (1) food defense plan management; (2) outside and inside 

security of the production and storage facilities; (3) slaughter and processing, including 

all raw material sources; (4) controlled access to production and storage areas; (5) 

storage; (6) water and ice supply; (7) mail handling; (8) personnel security; and (9) 

transportation, shipping, and receiving (includes the sealing of any transport 

conveyance for truck lot and less-than-truck lot quantities of finished product).

A. The food defense plans are audited by AMS. Any nonconformance identified 

must be addressed in writing to both the Contracting Officer and Auditor. 

Contact the appropriate AMS Audit and Accreditation Programs for information 

on food defense audit services. Contacts for each commodity area are found on 

the AMS website at www.ams.usda.gov/isaap under “Contact Us.”

B. For meat, fish, poultry, and egg products, reference the Food Safety and 

Inspection Service (FSIS) “Security Guidelines for Food Processors” at the 

following website: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OA/topics/SecurityGuide.pdf. 

Information for the transportation and distribution of meat, poultry, and egg 

products is found at the following website: 

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/oa/topics/transportguide.htm.

C. For fruits, vegetables, shell eggs, and other food products regulated by the Food 

and Drug Administration (FDA), reference FDA’s “Food Producers, Processors, 

and Transporters: Food Security Preventive Measures Guidance” dated 

October, 2007 at the following website: 

http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodDefense/FoodSecurity/default.htm.
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VI. Pre-Award Plant Surveys

A. After receiving the qualification information, a pre-award plant survey or 

capability assessment will be conducted to verify that a prospective contractor 

meets AMS qualification requirements. The pre-award survey/assessment will 

be conducted by the applicable AMS Program—Livestock, Poultry and Seed or 

Fruit and Vegetables—to evaluate technical, production, and transportation

capabilities, and quality assurance and production control procedures of the 

vendor.

B. Specific pre-award plant survey/assessment requirements are referenced in the 

Supplement and/or Commodity Specification(s) applicable to the commodities 

the prospective vendor is interested in supplying. These documents can be 

found on the Commodity Purchasing website at 

www.ams.usda.gov/commoditypurchasing. For more information, contact the 

Commodity Procurement Staff at 202-720-4517.

VII. Contractor Approval

Upon successful submission and review of the application package materials, the 

contractor is added to the Qualified Bidders List, given a WBSCM Corporate Vendor 

Administrator role and a Vendor Offeror role, and is ready to submit bids on AMS 

solicitations.

A prospective contractor is encouraged to submit the application package as soon as 

possible to allow ample time for the processes of approval and subsequent WBSCM 

registration prior to the closing date for the targeted solicitation. A checklist (Exhibit 1) 

is provided to assist the applicant with submission of a complete package. Provide all 

of the documents outlined in the Vendor Qualifications Requirements (PDF) document 

to our Small Business Coordinator via email to Dianna.Price@ams.usda.gov. 

Questions regarding this process may be directed to Ms. Price. Except as provided in 

FAR Part 24.2 (the “Freedom of Information Act”) qualification information, including the 

pre-award survey reports, accumulated for purposes of determining the responsibility of 

a prospective contractor shall not be released or disclosed outside the government. All 

information provided will be kept confidential to the extent permitted by law.

Under penalty of perjury, each qualification package must be submitted and signed by 

an individual who has the legal authority to contractually bind a prospective contractor 

on whose behalf that information package is submitted. If any information provided by 

a prospective contractor becomes inaccurate, a prospective contractor must 

immediately notify the contracting officer and provide updated and accurate information 

in writing. AMS reserves the right to waive minor irregularities and omissions in the 

information obtained in the qualification package submitted. 
VENDOR QUALIFICATIONS REQUIREMENTS October 2014

EXHIBIT 1

Print the following checklist and submit along with the completed application package. 

Questions regarding vendor qualifications and approval should be directed to Ms. 

Dianna Price at 202-720-4237.

• System for Award Management (SAM) www.sam.gov

• Business Status. As indicated in SAM, business status is one of the following:

o Large Business

o Small Business

o Small Disadvantaged Business 

o Women-Owned Business

o Veteran-Owned Business

o Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business

o HUBZone Business

o 8(a) Small Business Development Concern

• Completed WBSCM Vendor Registration Form

• Company Letter- certifying capability to perform

• Three (3) Letters of Reference from customers your company 

sold the same or similar products to

• Business Type. Check one:  Manufacturer  Non-manufacturer 

• Check one or more as applicable.  Grower  Grower/Packer/Shipper 

 Processor  Distributor/Wholesaler  Broker 

• Non-manufacturer SDVOSBs or 8(a)s ONLY, the following requirements apply:

o Letter from manufacturer/supplier stating it is willing to provide 

product that meets the USDA commodity specifications

o Complaint and dispute resolution proposal

• Current Dun and Bradstreet Report (Business Information Report)

• Most Recent Financial Statements