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Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Recommit, enacting clause stricken
- Referred to education
- Referred to rules
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S5881
Title of bill
An act to amend the education law, in relation to contracts for the provision, maintenance and operation of cafeteria or restaurant service by a private food service management company
Purpose
To allow school districts to pick a proposal for services based on the "best value" which may take into account factors beyond cost.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 would amend § 305(14)(e) of the Education Law to allow for transportation and cafeteria contracts to be awarded through a request for proposals process based on "best value". Currently, State law requires the awarding of school district contracts to lowest, responsible bidders. For complex technical and service contracts, this would allow districts to consider other factors in awarding contracts. This might include costs, such as conversion costs, rather than solely the price bid for a product.
Section 2 provides the effective date.
Justification
Amendments to § 305 (14)(e) of the Education Law would eliminate the requirement that contracts for maintenance and operation of cafeteria or restaurant services be competitively bid. Instead, this act would allow these contracts and transportation contracts to be awarded through a request for proposals process by "best value" consistent with Chapter 2 of the Laws of 2012.
Best value procurement is most useful when a service has a unique objective or challenge that may be difficult to meet using traditional low bid procurement. Child Nutrition Food Services is an excellent candidate for a best value approach. School districts from across the state, including several in Westchester County, support changing the current bidding process in order to allow them to improve the quality of the food served, recognizing that a healthy diet is essential to succeeding in school. Using a best value approach would offer each school district the opportunity to improve the quality of food for their students taking into account the uniqueness of the district including geographic location, free and reduced population, current facilities, and interest in wellness.
Understanding that price must be a primary evaluation criterion, additional evaluation criteria should be established that addresses the other needs of school district communities such as: menus and food offerings, ability to procure locally sourced ingredients, ability to increase student participation, management expertise, past performance and history, evidence of training programs, and nutrition education and awareness programs. Recognizing that the lowest bidder process often produces low quality programs, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania currently solicit food
service contracts via a best value RFP process utilizing evaluation criteria beyond just price.
Legislative history
New Bill
Fiscal implications
None to the State.
Effective date
This act shall take effect on July 1, 2015.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.