It has come to our attention that a number of state agencies and school food authorities are failing to maintain appropriate records for procurement transactions occurring in connection with the child nutrition programs.
This guidance was issued upon our learning that a number of school food authorities were not drafting their own specifications and procurement documents for certain software acquisitions but instead directly incorporating a list of features written by a prospective bidder.
We are continuing to receive questions regarding procurements in the child nutrition programs, particularly in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. Attached are the most recently received questions and answers.
We have recently received a series of questions regarding the procurement of automated meal accountability systems in conjunction with the procurement of a food service management company.
Periodically, we receive questions concerning the procurement requirements of 7 CFR Parts 3016 and 3019 and certain procurement procedures used by public and nonprofit school food authorities. Attached are a number of these recent questions and their corresponding answers.
This final policy memorandum provides clarification on several questions raised during the state plan guidance sessions at the NAFMNP meeting in October 2000.
This is to inform you of changes that will be made to the FMNP interim regulations. Because some aspects of this year's FMNP season have already begun, and the process of issuing regulations is long and complex, we wanted to offer state agencies the opportunity to implement the following provisions prior to publication of the final FMNP regulation.