Source: http://www.nyc.gov/html/mocs/html/vendors/food_purchasing_guidelines.shtml
Timestamp: 2013-12-11 11:12:40
Document Index: 12864313

Matched Legal Cases: ['§103', '§329', '§103', '§103', '§103', '§103']

- Doing Business Accountability ("Pay to Play" Reform)
- Capacity Building and Oversight (CBO)
- Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP)
- Discretionary Award Tracking
- Contracting Assistance for Nonprofits
- Agency Indicator Reports
- Human Services Plan
- Appeals & Determinations
Hearings, Classes, and Events
New York State Food Purchasing
Pursuant to Local Law 50 of 2011, MOCS works with City agencies to encourage the purchase of New York State food. This page presents guidelines for agency food purchases, as well as additional resources for agencies and vendors. Please contact MOCSFood@cityhall.nyc.gov for assistance.
GuidelinesResourcesCrafting Solicitations
Pursuant to Local Law 50 of 2011, MOCS has promulgated guidelines for purchases of food by Mayoral agencies, and human service providers purchasing substantial amounts of food as part of their contract.
Visit the Department of Health's page on the New York City food standards.
NYC Food Homepage
Find information about New York City programs, resources, and policies relating to healthy eating, food systems, and food businesses.
NYS Food Product List
The New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets has promulgated a list of food items available from New York State sources.
For Nonprofits with City Contracts	To help its nonprofit human service partners leverage their purchasing power, and reduce administrative costs, the City has established a Group Purchasing partnership with Essensa.In addition to its other offerings, Essensa's Buy Local program allows nonprofits to purchase local food at low prices.
More information on Buy Local
More information on Group Purchasing
New York Market Maker
A website portal aimed at connecting willing markets and quality sources of food from farm and fisheries to fork in New York.
Greenmarket Co., GrowNYC’s new Long Island City based wholesale local food distribution hub, brings farm grown produce at good prices to New York City neighborhoods. Greenmarket Co. delivers local produce to bodegas, grocery stores, caterers, restaurants, institutional buyers and more, as well as brokering deals between purchasers and regional farmers. The hub also serves as a central distribution point to move wholesale produce to GrowNYC’s food access initiatives including Youthmarket farm stands, YUM Food Box, healthy school fundraisers along with sourcing for city and other projects such as DOE’s Garden to Café program and more.
To find out more, contact 212-788-7900, or visit the link below.
GrowNYC’s Wholesale Greenmarket
Learn more about Greenmarket
FarmersWeb is an online marketplace connecting local farms with wholesale buyers. Farms post and maintain their current availability along with delivery settings. Buyers can browse by item or farm and shop directly online. On FarmersWeb, buyers can learn about the farms, growing methods used, and where the products are coming from.
Pure Catskills is a buy local campaign aimed at supporting the local food community in the Catskills region. We work with hundreds of farm and food businesses throughout Delaware, Greene, Otsego, Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster Counties in New York State. Access the searchable database of producers online or request a printed copy. Learn more
Increasingly, purchasers can connect to farmers through Food Hubs.
Crafting Solicitations
Under New York State General Municipal Law (GML) §103, City agencies have a number procurement tools to increase their options for purchasing New York State food products. For any direct purchase of food products covered by this option, pursuant to City Charter §329(b), the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) would be the purchaser. For food-related services, such as catering or meal delivery services, other City agencies could be the purchasers. These tools include the following:
a) Under Subsection (8)(a) of GML §103, City agencies may grant a “price preference” for New York State food, e.g., agencies may determine that it is appropriate to award a particular contract to a bidder offering New York State food products whose price falls within 10% of the lowest responsive, responsible bidder’s price, where that low bidder does not offer New York State food products. For example, the model language below was adapted from a DOE food solicitation:
Bidders are instructed to insert in the highlighted designated cells of the spreadsheet the information required. Bid will be awarded to the lowest responsive responsible bidder offering the best combination of price and percentage of New York State Food Products by aggregate class. Vendors will be required to meet their committed percentage of New York State Food Products specified in their bid.
Bid calculation will be as follows:
●	Annual Quantity Requested by Agency * Bid Price per Unit of Measurement= Food Cost (FC)
●	Bidder to indicate per item the Percentage of New York State Food Products (%L) that vendor will provide the agency annually. Awarded vendor must provide New York State Food Products when available.
●	Bidders will receive a 10% Credit for supplying New York State Food Products annually. %L will be multiplied by .10 to calculate the Total Credit (TC) for each item. Credit multiplier is for evaluation purposes only. ●	Total Credit will be deducted from Product Cost to calculate the Net Total Food Cost for bid evaluation purposes.
Contact MOCSFood@cityhall.nyc.gov for an example bid sheet.
b) Under Subsection (8)(a) of GML §103, the purchasing agency may also mandate that a particular product, e.g., apples, come from New York State, thereby limiting competition to bidders that can supply such products, rather than similar products sourced from other locations.
c) Under Subsection (8)(a) of GML §103, the purchasing agency may purchase the types of products included on the NYSDA list, using solicitations that seek bidders for multiple “classes” of goods. Using this procedure, bidders can be invited to submit offers to provide either a bundle of goods that includes New York State food products (e.g., with a requirement for 30% of the class as such New York State food products) and/or a bundle of goods with no sourcing restrictions. Upon reviewing the bids received, DCAS may then decide to award a contract to either the low bidder in the first “class,” or the low bidder in the second “class.” d) In addition to the above-described bid solicitation terms that specifically prefer New York State food products, purchasing agencies may use the new “best value” provisions of GML §103 to craft solicitations that consider the freshness and perishability of the food being purchased, such as the number of days from harvest to delivery. e) For City agencies that procure human services contracts that include (as part of their scopes of work) the provision of food products, the solicitations for those programs may incorporate requirements applicable to such provision of food products, along the lines described above in a) through d). Service providers responding to such solicitations may be evaluated with regard to their experience, organizational capability and/or approach to ensuring the appropriate use of New York State food products in their programs. Where a New York State sourcing requirement is a material term of the contract, agencies may require vendors to submit reports detailing the source of the food provided and/or require vendors to ensure that all cases of New York State food products are labeled as such.