United States Department of Agriculture Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Farm Service Agency Kansas City Commodity Office P.O. Box 419205 Kansas City, Missouri 64141-6205 DATE: March 7, 2011 REQUEST FOR INFORMATION and SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE, number KCCO-DPD-11-0001 SUBJECT: Availability and Specifications of Commercial Reduced Fat and/or Commercial Reduced Sodium Peanut Butter. The USDA is interested in purchasing reduced sodium and/or reduced fat peanut butter for use in its Domestic Food Distribution Programs. This notice will serve as the market research to obtain information for the availability and specifications of commercial reduced fat and/or commercial reduced sodium peanut butter. All information gathered in response to this Sources Sought Notice will be used solely for planning purposes. This is not a formal solicitation but a request for interested parties to provide information. No current solicitation for reduced sodium and or reduced fat peanut butter currently exists. All peanut butter shall be equivalent to the requirements for U.S. Grade A as defined in the "United States Standards for Grades of Peanut Butter. The standards are available at http://www.ams.usda.gov/standards/peanutbu.pdf. All information provided with regard to the commercial practices for peanut butter should take in to account USDA's 100 percent domestic origin requirement and USDA Commodity Requirements, PP12 Peanut Products for Domestic Programs, available online at: http://www.fsa.usda.gov/Internet/FSA_File/pp12.pdf . REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) 1. A comparison of reduced sodium and/or reduced fat peanut butter would have compared to the regular sodium/fat peanut butter in terms of cost, quantity, and quality that companies may offer to supply the USDA under quarterly contracts. 2. Are sodium and fat test results reported on certificates of analysis for commercial customers? 3. History of successful distribution and use in domestic commercial channels (e.g. amount of time in commercial distribution, yearly/monthly quantities distributed, and customer reorder rates). 4. Level of consumer acceptance compared to the corresponding type of regular sodium/fat peanut butter. 5. Product bulletin/brochure, commercial label, and commercial warranty. 6. Any other relevant information, recommendations, and/or comments beneficial to the Government. 7. Name, Title, contact information, and organization name, as applicable. SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE (SSN) USDA is also seeking responsible companies to supply: • Reduced sodium and/or reduced fat peanut butter; • "613 Council of Kashruth" Kosher reduced sodium and/or reduced fat peanut butter. Interested suppliers should submit the following information: Name, address, contact person, title, telephone and fax numbers, email address, available website, capacity capabilities, business size, and manufacturing locations. In addition, each supplier must provide product brand name, ingredient composition, nutrition facts, servings per container, available pack sizes and shelf life. All vendors that are considering offering peanut products to USDA must comply with all applicable Federal and State mandatory requirements and regulations relating to the preparation, packaging, labeling, storage, distribution of the product within the commercial marketplace. The delivered product shall comply with all applicable provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, and regulations promulgated there under. RESPONSES DUE and POINT OF CONTACT RFI / SSN responses are requested to be received no later than April 7, 2011, to: Attention: Cheryl Davis, Agricultural Marketing Specialist, Phone (816) 926-3377 Email
[email protected] .