Title: WIC Healthy Beginnings Act of 2021
Policy area: Agriculture and Food

Summary:
WIC Healthy Beginnings Act of 2021
This bill requires the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to maintain a publicly available, searchable database that contains solicitations for infant formula bids under the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
Under current law, state agencies must control infant formula costs in the WIC program through competitive bidding for infant formula rebate contracts. The bill requires state WIC agencies to provide USDA with open solicitations for these competitive bids to populate the database.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3216 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 3216

 To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to require the Secretary of 
     Agriculture to establish a publicly available database of bid 
    solicitations for infant formula under the special supplemental 
          nutrition program for women, infants, and children.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 17, 2021

Mr. Marshall (for himself and Mrs. Gillibrand) introduced the following 
      bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                  Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to require the Secretary of 
     Agriculture to establish a publicly available database of bid 
    solicitations for infant formula under the special supplemental 
          nutrition program for women, infants, and children.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``WIC Healthy Beginnings Act of 
2021''.

SEC. 2. DATABASE OF BID SOLICITATIONS FOR INFANT FORMULA UNDER THE WIC 
              PROGRAM.

    Section 17(h)(8)(A) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 
1786(h)(8)(A)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
                            ``(xi) Database of bid solicitations.--
                                    ``(I) In general.--Not later than 
                                180 days after the date of enactment of 
                                this clause, the Secretary shall make 
                                available to the public on a website of 
                                the Department of Agriculture a fully 
                                searchable database that shall contain 
                                the information described in items (aa) 
                                through (dd) of subclause (II) relating 
                                to bid solicitations of State agencies 
                                for infant formula under the program.
                                    ``(II) State agencies.--In 
                                soliciting bids for infant formula 
                                under the program, a State agency shall 
                                submit to the Secretary, not later than 
                                5 business days after the date of the 
                                bid solicitation, a description of the 
                                bid solicitation, including--
                                            ``(aa) the title of the bid 
                                        solicitation and the State 
                                        agency administering the bid 
                                        solicitation;
                                            ``(bb) the website 
                                        hyperlink and other information 
                                        needed for the purpose of 
                                        submitting a bid in response to 
                                        the bid solicitation;
                                            ``(cc) the contact 
                                        information and website 
                                        hyperlink for the State agency 
                                        administering the bid 
                                        solicitation, for the purpose 
                                        of gathering additional 
                                        information relating to the bid 
                                        solicitation; and
                                            ``(dd) the period during 
                                        which bids are accepted or the 
                                        due date for bids, as 
                                        applicable, under the bid 
                                        solicitation.
                                    ``(III) Publication.--Not later 
                                than 5 days after receiving a 
                                description of a bid solicitation under 
                                subclause (II), the Secretary shall 
                                publish the information on the database 
                                established under subclause (I).
                                    ``(IV) Guidance.--The Secretary 
                                shall issue guidance to implement this 
                                clause.
                                    ``(V) Liability limitation.--A 
                                State, State agency, or the Federal 
                                Government shall not be liable in a 
                                civil suit or claim in a State or 
                                Federal court based on the performance 
                                or failure to perform a duty, function, 
                                or activity required by this clause.''.
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