Request for Proposals: Prime Vendor Food Program

Williams College seeks proposals from experienced and qualified vendors to supply the College with USDA grade meats, dairy, produce, grocery, paper products, and frozen food products on an as needed basis.

Williams Dining provides meals to approximately 2,100 resident students, seven (7) days a week. Core student dining locations include seven (7) locations around the perimeter of the campus. In addition to those student dining locations, we have four (4) other locations where food and meals are served. During the school year, approximately 31,250 meals are served weekly for an annual total of approximately 1 million meals.

Instructions:

Please download and fill out the Market Baskets and submit them with your copy of the RFP by September 04, 2024.

Please direct any questions to Jillian Brothers at [email protected].

Deadline:

September 04, 2024

Dining Services Outside Affiliations:

 

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    • Request for Proposals: Prime Vendor Food Program

      Questions and Answers:

      Question 1: 

      We have an issue with the date of pricing (May 6, 2024) they have requested.  With products that we stock it is no problem to get them at the accurate price, however there is absolutely no way to get accurate costs on items that we didn’t have in stock at that time.   Can you please ask if they can move the date to a recent week?   If not, we will not be able to give them pricing on the entire market basket.

      • Answer 1: 

        Unfortunately, we are unable to move the pricing date to a recent week. We require the pricing as of May 6, 2024, to align with our records. We understand this may cause some difficulty in providing accurate costs, but it's important for us to adhere to that specific date. If you don’t have exact pricing for certain items from that time, you can substitute pricing for a similar item that was in stock on that date.

      Question 2:

      I have a question on PART IV – Specifications, 4.0 Product Specifications:

      As written in RFP:

      The proposal should include a detailed list of all foods sold or distributed by the Prime Vendor Food Program Supplier, specifying portion sizes, packaging, nutritional information for use with the College’s Nutrislice program, and dispensing capability in concentration (if applicable) for each item.

       

      We have over 16,000 items available for next day delivery.  I am interpreting the above verbiage to mean that I supply every item in our inventory in this bid with the above information.  Are you looking for this information on the Market Basket items only?

      • Answer 2: 

        As written in the RFP, the requirement does state that a detailed list should be provided for all items sold or distributed by the Prime Vendor Food Program Supplier, including portion sizes, packaging, nutritional information for the College’s Nutrislice program, and dispensing capability (if applicable). However, to confirm, we are specifically requesting this detailed information for the Market Basket items only, not for every item in your full inventory. In addition, if you are awarded Prime or Secondary Vendor you will need to supply the above information on products we require.

      Questions:
      There is important language around bidding on Specific Brand Name Only

      Questions
      If there is a supplier exclusive brand on the market basket may be bid a like item if available in different brand? Example: “Roma” Brand is a PFG Exclusive Brand
      If We Meet a Item Description Perfectly but a brand or pack size is slightly different. May we bid on that? Example: Requested Heavy Cream in Half Gallon but Supplier has it in 32 oz. Ok to use 32 oz?
      What is the best way to identify where a brand or pack size has been changed in market basket? You have noted to “Please Specify the brand your bidding on?”. Just with a yellow highlight? Or something like that in excel?

      • Answer:

        If a product is specific to another vendor, yes please bid and provide pricing for the product you deem is similar. Except in the examples where "clean cuisine" is at the end of the description. Those items have been vetted for our Clean Cuisine allergen free station. We would need a product with the same ingredients.
        Yes, if the pack size and brand are different, it is totally fine to bid on those items with what you carry in the pack size you carry. What I will do is make sure it's a like for like comparison and smooth out any variances.
        I would say the yellow highlighting in excel would be great to highlight any differences on pack size.

      Question
      I have another question in regards to the current RFP:

      4.10 Market Basket:

      4.10.1 The products listed on the attached Market Basket A – H are a representative sampling of the products purchased by the College for the period 07/01/2023- 06/30/2024. This list is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a commitment of future purchases. Please supply prices, effective May 6 – 10, 2024 for Market Basket A – H based on your landed cost, plus freight plus the appropriate mark-up percentage as identified in 4.7.3. These prices will be weighted according to usage and used as the price component of the evaluation process. Please complete the attached Market Basket sheets and staple a corresponding landed invoice for the product indicated.

      Note: Vendors must supply a landed cost, plus percentage mark-up figure for the entire product line available.

      Is the “Note” saying that for every item on the market basket you want every item we stock from that vendor and landed+freight+markup?

       

      • Answer

        We only need your landed price + freight x mark up for the items listed on Market Basket A-H.

      Question

      I don’t see any payment term info in the RFP. Yes I see this referencing 4.2 but that is Allergen info. I feel like we might be missing some aspect or Schedule that I don’t see about Payment Term. I only see the 4.5 Quick Pay Incentive at 10 Days and 20 Days. Just want to know if we are missing anything.

      • Answer

        Apologies, the 4.2 referenced under payment terms should actually read section 4.5.

      Question
      I am working on the market basket and trying to find this particular piantedosi roll. I have checked the piantedosi website, the dot expressway and even google but can’t seem to come up with a 6.5” roll that they make. Do have their manufacturer number possibly or I did find these that are close could it be one of these? The GIT numbers don’t match, however, when I search the GIT number provided nothing comes up either. Maybe I am missing something on this item. Can you verify the info for me please?

      • Answer
        I had our AP person get the manufacturer number

        This is the MFG# C-468-S .

      Question
      What are the guidelines for the disposable items from vegware that need to be present in a offered alternative.

      • Answer

        Our compostable products must be 100% compostable and perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) free

      Question:

      1. In building out market basket- You have a column asking for cost per unit.  What unit would you like- example- Dairy is 12/32 oz containers would you want per ounce or per unit?

      2. In instance that we changed the item do to the pack size change- are you OK with us adding a column to denote the usage change?

      • Answer 

        1. Column I is Cost Per LB and column J is Cost per case - you can use either you choose. You may have to make row 8 larger to see the complete headings if they are hidden. In the example you provided I would rather a per case or per unit cost not the ounce cost.

        2. There is no need to do the conversion on changing the volume/usage - that is the work I will do to make sure I am comparing like items

        I hope this helps.

      Question

      1. Do you have an average cost annually for Lean path or will they share that with us if we contact them?
      2. Market Basket: If we are bidding like items that we were not purchasing we will not be able to provide a PO. How would you like us to show what our landed cost would have been?

      • Answer

        1. The average cost for Lean Path currently is $20K - $25K a year for our locations currently. The contract is yearly.

        2. If you can provide the PO or any documentation of where the landed price came even if from a different OPCO we will accept that. Just make sure it has all the information on it and which OPCO it came from.

         

      Questions:
      1. Would it be acceptable to add an additional column to the market basket to enter manufacture allowances?
      2. Can we get a list of equipment that will be needed to install our chemical program at the college? On the dispensing equipment, is there a way to find out how many dispensers are installed throughout the college. i.e., dishwashers have equipment, pot, and pan sinks will have dispensers, mop rooms will have dispensers.
      3. 4.8 – Prices: Is the annual volume schedule supposed to be under 4.7 – Volume Discount or did you want it under 4.8 Prices?

      • Answers:

        1. Yes it would be acceptable to add an additional column to the market basket to enter manufacturer allowances.

        Here is a list of what I received from the manager for equipment. 26 dispensers and then I would add 4 more - 2 for CDE and 2 for JRC.
        Mission Park – 4

        4 Dispensers – 1 in the mop room; 3 in the dish room

         

        Paresky Building- 16

        13 liquid dispensers -3 solid dispensers (dish machines)

         

        Driscoll - 3

        2 – Dispense sanitizer and soap; one at the pot sink and one In the mop closet

        1 – dispenses silverware cleaner

         

        Faculty House -3

        3 dispensers – 1 mop solution; 1 dish machine and 1 pot sink

         

        3. I would reference section 4.7 for Volume schedules and information.