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Welcome to the Program Integrity and Monitoring Branch
The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), Food Distribution Division (FDD) is pleased to announce its newest branch, the Program Integrity and Monitoring Branch (PIMB), as part of a recent reorganization. The branch's oversight responsibilities include the National Processing Program, USDA Foods entitlement for schools, DoD Fresh, USDA Foods customer feedback, and disaster feeding. PIMB members include veteran FDD staff from other branches as well as new hires you may recognize from the State or Regional level.
 PIMB staff (left to right) are Denise Branscome, Linda Hubeny, David Leggett, Blair Tucker-Gruchala, Andre Orange, Branch Chief Kathy Staley, Tony Wilkins, and Karen Laskin. Not pictured are Sherry Thackeray and Janet West.
We would like to see the wonderful
meals you prepare for your students using USDA Foods! Your submissions
will serve to inspire others with fun and creative ways to use their USDA Foods as well.
What to Enter:
- Photos of your school meals on the serving line or on a tray (please indicate which items are USDA Foods)
- Your name, school district, and state
Terms:
The USDA Foods school photo contest begins
December 1, 2015, and ends February 1, 2016, at 11:59 p.m. EST. Please send all entries to the USDA Foods mailbox (USDAFoods@fns.usda.gov).
Winning submissions will be featured in an upcoming
USDA Foods from Farm to Plate e-letter!
By submitting photos to this contest, you consent that photos may be used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and/or others with the consent of USDA, for the purposes of illustration or publication in any legally authorized manner. You understand that these pictures and information will be used in educational materials, such as USDA brochures, newsletters, videos, or news releases, to help others understand how USDA programs help people. The pictures and information will not be used for any commercial, money-making purpose.
USDA Foods Complaints Webinar Series
Our new Program Integrity and Monitoring Branch will be hosting a pair of complaints-geared webinars:
The 1st webinar, Demystifying the USDA Foods Complaint Process, will take place Friday, December 11, 2015, 2-3 p.m. EST. Register here.
The 2nd webinar, Applying the USDA Foods Complaint Process: Common Questions and Scenarios, will follow on Thursday, January 7, 2016, 2-3 p.m. EST.
As always, you can access previous FDD webinar recordings on our YouTube channel by visiting the Food
Distribution playlist.
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School Meals from Around the World
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is expanding its efforts to provide children with affordable school meals. Agriculture Deputy Secretary Krysta Harden announced that seven new school feeding projects could benefit more than 2.5 million children in Africa and Central America. Through the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program, the USDA works with private voluntary organizations and foreign governments in developing countries around the globe to reduce hunger and improve literacy and primary education. Since the program was established in 2002, it has benefited more than 30 million children in 38 countries. Click here to read the USDA press release.
Record Attendance at the 2015 Annual Industry Meeting for
USDA Foods Contractors and Suppliers
On October 27 and 28, the Agricultural Marketing
Service (AMS) Commodity Procurement Staff hosted its annual Industry Meeting
for USDA Foods Contractors and Suppliers in Arlington, Virginia. With 153
companies and industry organizations represented, including over 50 small
business USDA Foods contractors, the AMS Industry Meeting has grown
considerably over the past few years. Opening remarks from AMS Administrator
Anne Alonzo and FNS Deputy Administrator Diane Kriviski started the event off
with gusto!
The record turnout this fall was, in part, due to the recent
consolidation of USDA Foods purchasing activities, which reassigned the
domestic food procurement activities and staff of the Farm Service Agency to
AMS. AMS was pleased to welcome over 25 dairy, cheese, grain, and oilseed
product suppliers to the meeting for the first time ever!
The Industry Meeting featured many formal and informal
networking opportunities, breakout sessions, and discussions on a range of
topics from USDA Foods specifications to delivery and invoicing processes and priorities for the upcoming purchase year.
With stakeholders from across the USDA Foods supply chain in
attendance, this event is tremendously important to USDA’s ongoing commitment
to providing
high quality, nutritious food to our nutrition assistance programs. USDA staff
are already hard at work making improvements to product specification and
procurement activities based on feedback from our industry partners!
 Food Distribution Division Director Laura Castro discusses the USDA/FNS Initiatives at the Industry Conference.
For AMS "Group A" domestic meat, poultry, fruit, and vegetable products, activities
are still being communicated via AMSCPNews. To receive procurement emails for
these products, please subscribe here. AMS plans to
migrate AMSCPNews subscriptions to AMS GovDelivery in the future and have a
single listserv to all stakeholders. At that time, updated information for
receiving the emails will be provided.
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"Group B" procurement communications regarding domestic
dairy, grain, and oilseed products are communicated through AMS
GovDelivery. To receive procurement emails for these products, please
subscribe here.
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 At USDA, we are often asked, “How do you decide what foods
you are going to buy for the USDA Foods program?” That’s not a simple
question to answer as there is an extensive process in place to review and
consider new products for the USDA Foods program that involves stakeholders,
such as school districts and industry partners, as well as our own subject
matter experts at USDA, such as economists, food scientists, contract
specialists, and nutritionists.
Once USDA has identified that there is
widespread interest in a product, we approach industry to collect more
information to facilitate internal discussions and
decisions. This part of the process is known as a Request for Information
(RFI) and involves reaching out to industry with a formal request about a
product to better understand factors such as the current availability,
specifications, and vendor interest in supplying the product to USDA. Recently, USDA has put out a number of RFIs to collect information
that will be used when making decisions about new products for the 2016-17
school year. While the RFI is a signal to industry that USDA and its customers are interested
in a product, this is only the initial step in the process. Subsequent steps include further discussion with interested industry groups, evaluation of the product,
and development of a specification. USDA has been working diligently over
the past year to explore a variety of potential new products and will
announce decisions to States, school districts, and industry through the publication of the Foods Available List. Keep your
eyes open for the announcement of the new SY16-17 Foods Available List next month!
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Rolling
Down WBSCM to School Districts and Other RAs
One
convenient feature of the Web-Based Supply Chain Management (WBSCM) system is
the ability to support real time, request-driven ordering, so school districts
and other recipient agencies (RAs) can anticipate what they will receive.
These RAs are able to review a state-approved catalog of available items and to
request the types and quantities of USDA Foods they would like to receive.
There
are currently three State Distributing Agencies (SDAs) partnering with FNS to
implement WBSCM roll-down to RAs. FNS can provide general resources and
guidance. Ultimately, the decision to implement WBSCM at the RA level is
up to the SDA, who will be responsible for operations decisions, business
processes, setting up RA accounts, and training and supporting RA
staff. SDAs who are interested in extending WBSCM to RAs may contact
Danielle Ziegler in FNS’s Food Distribution Technology Branch at danielle.ziegler@fns.usda.gov
or at 703-305-2925.
Partnering for Pilot Success in Oregon
Last December, USDA announced the selection of eight States
to participate in the Pilot
Project for Procurement of Unprocessed Fruits and Vegetables, as directed
by the Agricultural Act of 2014 (the Farm Bill). The pilot provides
selected States with additional flexibility in the procurement of unprocessed
fruits and vegetables using existing USDA Foods National School Lunch Program
entitlement funds. The pilot also helps create and expand market
opportunities for our nation’s fruit and vegetable producers, opening the door
for a variety of vendors, small growers, food hubs, and distributors to supply unprocessed
fruits and vegetables to participating schools.
One of the selected States – Oregon – has already spent over
$100,000 of its USDA Foods entitlement dollars on unprocessed fruits and
vegetables under the pilot, and plans to spend an additional $400,000 this
school year to help bring even more nutritious and local foods to Oregon
students. Participating Oregon schools have received Oregon-grown
Bartlett and Bosc pears through the pilot, in addition to apples, carrots,
broccoli, and spinach grown in the region.
The Oregon Department of Education is working in partnership
with the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) to implement the pilot and
bring interested fruit and vegetable producers on board in the state. ODA
is conducting trainings and operating a cost-share program to assist farmers in
obtaining required
food safety certifications. Oregon now has five vendors eligible to
participate under the pilot with several more pending approval.
Oregon is one of seven States that started receiving
deliveries under the pilot, with another State to begin receiving deliveries
later this school year. Almost $1 million in USDA Foods entitlement funds
have been spent on the pilot so far and over 60
vendors throughout the country are now eligible to participate.
For
more information on the pilot, visit the Pilot Project for Procurement of
Unprocessed Fruits and Vegetables webpage.
Meals before and after 2012 Regulatory Requirements under "Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch Program"
Food Distribution staff will be participating
in these upcoming national meetings in 2016. We look forward to these
opportunities to meet you and hope to see you there!
May 9-11: American Commodity Distribution Association (ACDA) Annual Conference in St. Pete Beach, Florida
July 10-13: School Nutrition Association (SNA) Annual National Conference in San Antonio, Texas
Here's how to sign up for these updates via GovDelivery:
1. Go to the Food Distribution website.
2. Click on the red envelope on the row of social media icons on
the top right of the page.
3. Enter your email address and click "Submit."
4. Check the boxes to select your topics of interest. For
these e-letters, scroll down to the Food Distribution category and click the
plus sign to the left of the check box to expand the list and view all the
sub-categories. Check these sub-categories to receive the corresponding
e-letters:
*USDA Foods --> receive all "USDA Foods from Farm
to Plate" general + program-specific e-letters
*Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) --> receive
"Household Highlights" e-letter
*The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) --> receive
"Household Highlights" e-letter
*Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) -->
receive "FDPIR Connection" e-letter
*Schools/Child Nutrition Commodity Programs --> receive
"Spotlight on Schools" e-letter
5. Update your
subscription preferences any time by following the above steps or clicking on
the Subscriber Preferences Page link at the bottom
of any of the e-letter email messages you receive from GovDelivery. Questions? Contact us at USDAFoods@fns.usda.gov
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