Sources Sought Notice for USDA Grade No.1 or better quality, Fresh Fruits and Vegetable (FF&V products) for Non-DoD Schools on the island of Oahu.

This Request for Information (RFI) is issued by the DLA Troop Support (the “Agency”), Indo-Pacific Procurement Office-Hawaii. The Agency seeks comments and feedback regarding the Agency’s request for a Full line of United States Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) Grade Number 1 or higher Fresh Fruits and Vegetables (“FF&V”) products.  The FF&V products will be utilized at Non-Department of Defense ("DoD") Schools on the island of Oahu, State of Hawaii.

No solicitation is available at this time, and requests for solicitation will not receive a response. The Government will neither reimburse costs incurred in responding to this RFI nor compensate respondents for any expenses related to the information provided.

This RFI does not represent a commitment by the Government, and all responses will be used solely for informational purposes. Any proprietary information submitted will remain confidential if properly marked. Responding to this RFI does not guarantee future business opportunities with the Government.

Potential offerors are responsible for monitoring SAM.gov for updates or additional information related to this RFI. Participation in this RFI is not mandatory and will not exclude potential offerors from future solicitations.

The primary purpose of this RFI is to gather market research to aid the Agency in preparing a future solicitation.

Background Information: The Agency plans to issue a solicitation to establish a Simplified Indefinite Delivery Contract (SIDC) with one or more commercial firms. The objective is to supply a full line of United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Grade No. 1 or higher quality fresh fruits and vegetables to non-DoD school customers on the island of Oahu.  Additionally, customers may request new items, which vendors must be able to provide. The purpose of this notice is to assess the availability of sources and their capabilities.  This is a competitive effort and sole source requests will not be considered.

The successful offeror(s) will be required to source, purchase, store, and deliver a variety of FF&V items to DLA Troop Support Indo-Pacific customers on an ongoing basis, while at the same time maintaining acceptable fill rates, levels of customer service, and product quality. Therefore, an offeror must currently possess the physical, logistical, and financial resources to serve as a commercial distributor of a variety of FF&V items.  It is neither sufficient nor acceptable for an offeror to be a third-party logistics (“3PL”) company (i.e. a company that does not intend to serve as the FF&V supplier but instead intends to subcontract out the majority of aspects required by the contract, including but not limited to ordering, warehousing, distribution, etc.).

By offering, an offeror affirms its status as a current and functioning commercial distributor of FF&V items. In order to determine whether an offeror meets the technical requirement of being a current and functioning commercial FF&V distributor, the Contracting Officer will require an offeror as well as its major logistical partners in the supply chain to provide its current and valid Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (“PACA”) license.

Attachments:  Please review the following attachments: 1) Schedule of Items, 2) Customer List, and 3) Market Research Survey.

Submission Instructions: Please respond to the questions and submit Attachment 3 – Market Research Survey, along with any questions, via email to: 

• Floyd Shiroma, Floyd.Shiroma@dla.mil
• Kirk Moser, Kirk.Moser@dla.mil

Responses are due by Monday 14 April 2025@ 0800 HST.