Dr. Katie Wilson, SNS, USFA’s Executive Director, highlights the importance of this initiative. “Federal, state, and local procurement rules in public entities are not designed for purchasing food,” she says, “Our cooperative agreement is for the purpose of getting all the stakeholders at the table and redesigning a more efficient, cost-effective way for schools to purchase the freshest, healthiest food for their communities in a manner consistent with large food purchases.”
When the project first launched in Fall 2023, USFA invited several organizations, including ASBO International, to serve on a School Food Procurement Advisory Group and support its rollout and implementation. ASBO member Christina Berta, MBA, SFO, SBA—who served as Assistant Superintendent of Business and Operations in Hanover County Public Schools, VA, at the time—represented the association on the advisory group with the support of ASBO’s Director of Advocacy & Research, Elleka Yost.
USFA’s 2024 School Food Procurement Advisory Working Group (during Year One of the cooperative agreement).
In February 2024, ASBO joined USFA and other stakeholders in Alexandria, VA, for a convening to identify major challenges in school food procurement, develop preliminary ideas and action plans to address those challenges, and assess training opportunities to support stakeholders. At that meeting, 109 pain points were identified, which were narrowed down into six categories. (Read the full summary here.)
- A lack of alignment with state/federal/local procurement rules and processes.
- School districts must compete/be competitive in the broader food service sector.
- Electronic bid process/technology challenges.
- Training challenges.
- Forecasting challenges.
- Navigating regulatory complexity.
In Fall 2024, as the cooperative’s second phase was underway, ASBO International asked Sacha Pouliot, SFO, School Business Administrator for Hillsdale Public Schools, NJ, and Darin Crawford, Assistant Superintendent of Support Services for Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District, TX, to serve on the advisory group. They were asked to help USFA build upon the progress made during Year 1 and add their small- and large-sized district perspectives to the conversation on how to improve procurement and provide nutritious, cost-effective meals for students.
In February 2025, Sacha and Darin joined USFA for another convening in Alexandria, VA, to discuss resources to support better procurement practices. When asked to provide a summary of the meeting, Sacha said, “This year’s discussions focused on refining the pain points previously identified and advancing the development of a national procurement tool designed to streamline and standardize the RFP process.” The tool would be a national bid template that any school food service professional could use, no matter their district. It would be a resource districts could voluntarily choose to adopt, but not mandatory. He explained further, “By enhancing uniformity and efficiency, this tool seeks to alleviate the complexities that districts—especially those in small-urban settings—face when navigating procurement regulations, vendor limitations, and rising costs.”
By enhancing uniformity and efficiency, this tool seeks to alleviate the complexities that districts—especially those in small-urban settings—face when navigating procurement regulations, vendor limitations, and rising costs.
In addition to developing a national bid template, attendees discussed training challenges affecting school nutrition stakeholders. USFA shared data collected from a Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab survey, which identified problems with outdated national and state school nutrition program websites, inefficient guidance for training for schools and vendors, and inconsistent language or term usage that could cause confusion in the field. Other conversations focused on balancing state and federal regulations, supply chain disruptions, and financial sustainability concerns.
For the final year of the cooperative agreement, USFA and USDA will plan to finalize the national bid template and launch a pilot to test it out in select districts. USFA will also prepare a new school food procurement business plan for USDA and Congress to consider for addressing many of the issues raised during stakeholder discussions throughout the project. Dr. Wilson shared, “Our pilot, in at least five school districts around the country, will be an accumulation of the information we collected and the learnings from the previous two years to pilot a new business plan, that includes the use of an electronic procurement bid template, customized training and technical assistance. This new plan will be presented to USDA and Congress to share what needs to be changed to make this a better system.”
Darin is excited about the potential of this pilot and is considering implementing the pilot in his own district. “I would love for my district to be a part of the pilot program. I am eager to see how the tool will perform in a district of my size.”
“With rising costs and logistical hurdles affecting food access, our collective goal remains clear: to develop solutions that prioritize student nutrition while ensuring operational feasibility for districts of all sizes,” said Sacha. “As an honored participant of this workgroup, I and all of the stakeholders who participated remain steadfast in addressing the critical nature of shaping equitable and effective procurement practices.”
For more information on the USFA/USDA Cooperative Agreement, visit USFA’s website and check out these episodes from ASBO International’s School Business Insider podcast:
- Better Food, Better Futures: Solving School Food Procurement Challenges (December 2024; listen on Apple or Spotify)
- The School Food Procurement Puzzle: Challenges, Solutions, & Innovation (April 2025; listen on Apple or Spotify)