Entitlement Usage & Monitoring
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The document outlines the entitlement usage and monitoring process by the Nevada Department of Agriculture for the school year 2016-2017, detailing how federal funds for USDA foods are allocated and utilized by sponsors. It describes three main ways to use entitlement funds: USDA direct delivery foods, processed end products, and DOD fresh produce, while providing a timeline for monitoring and reporting requirements. Additionally, it explains the competitive procurement process for requesting proposals (RFPs) and the evaluation of submitted proposals for food products.
Entitlement Usage & Monitoring
- 1. agri.nv.gov Entitlement Usage & Monitoring Nevada Department of Agriculture Food & Nutrition Division Bernadette DeMars November 10, 2016
- 2. agri.nv.gov Entitlement What is Entitlement? • It is the federal dollar value of USDA food How is Entitlement Allocated to a Sponsor? • Based on the sponsor’s total number of lunches reported from the prior school year and current federal meal rate. Nevada School District 68,127 lunches x ($0.3044) $ 20,737.86
- 3. agri.nv.gov How to Utilize Entitlement? Three ways to use entitlement: 1. USDA Direct Delivery Foods (formerly known as Brown Box or Commodities) Canned Fruit such as applesauce, diced pears and peaches, mixed fruit, frozen potato wedges, frozen unseasoned chicken strips, and frozen ground beef 2. Processed End Products pepperoni or cheese pizza, bean & cheese burritos, chicken filets and nuggets, nacho cheese sauce and grilled cheese sandwiches 3. DOD Fresh Produce Depending on season and vendor, variety of apples, oranges, grapes, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, celery, onions, potatoes, salad mix and watermelon chunks
- 4. agri.nv.gov Entitlement Timeline for SY 2016-2017 Sponsors received their entitlement in February 2016 – Data used: • Final SY 15 Meal Counts Reported to USDA • SY 16/17 Meal Rate of 0.3175 USDA published the final meal rate for SY 2016-2017 in July – FND updated sponsor entitlement and issued additional entitlement – Sponsors received notification via Numbered Memo NSLP 2017-13 and RCCI 2017-12 on 8/19/16
- 6. agri.nv.gov Monitoring Entitlement SY 2016-2017 Our Plan to Monitor Entitlement – November 18, 2016 • All sponsors should review and finalize all surveys through May 2017 in CNP2000 • FND will review sponsor’s remaining entitlement – December 16, 2016 • FND will contact sponsors that have not used 80% of their entitlement • Assist sponsors with options to fully utilize entitlement – January 22, 2017 • Sponsors that cannot utilize their entitlement should consider surrendering their balance • FND will contact sponsors
- 7. agri.nv.gov Requesting or Surrendering Need More Entitlement? – Submit the Entitlement form to FND http://commodityfoods.nv.gov/Resources/Resources/ – FND to approve or deny request – Sponsors must utilize all entitlement before requesting more Sponsors Not Utilizing Entitlement? – Submit the Entitlement form to FND (on FND’s Resource Page) http://commodityfoods.nv.gov/Resources/Resources/ – Allows FND to redistribute entitlement to other sponsors
- 8. agri.nv.gov Past Webinars/Training Webinars on • USDA Entitlement/Food Costing with USDA Foods • USDA Foods NSNA Director’s Update 2016 • Regulatory Update-NSNA Conference 2016
- 9. agri.nv.gov Request For Proposal What is an RFP? – It’s a competitive procurement process – FND needs to be in compliance with USDA – Competitive Pricing for Sponsors Why do we need to do an RFP? – USDA requires a competitive procurement of products when using USDA foods
- 10. agri.nv.gov Timeline for an RFP • Month 1 – Evaluation Committee and Industry Advisory Group – Discuss and determine products to be on RFP • RFP Evaluation Committee + NDA • Month 2 – Set specific criteria in the RFP • NDA • Month 3 – Review final RFP document • NDA + State Purchasing • Month 4 – Release the RFP to public • Month 5 – Evaluate RFP • Month 6 – Award contracts to vendors
- 11. agri.nv.gov Process of Evaluating RFPs 1st Phase – Proposals were evaluated for completeness and had to pass the first evaluation phase 2nd Phase – Products were taste tested and scored by the evaluation committee – Final products were determined – Pizzas and Mexican food had to go out for re-bid as these two categories did not pass the evaluation phases
- 12. agri.nv.gov Survey Monkey A survey will be sent to all sponsors in January Only one submission per district/sponsor We want to know……….. 1. How does the product taste? 2. How is the product’s appearance? 3. How is the packaging for the product? 4. How do you feel about the product’s price/value? 5. Do the students in your district enjoy/accept this product? 6. Overall, did this product meet your expectation?
- 14. agri.nv.gov New RFP for Eggs – Spring 2017! – FND has been working on the beginning stage of the RFP. • Getting product specifications refined for scrambled eggs, egg patties and hard boiled eggs. – Get Involved!! – An email was sent to all Sponsors for feedback on egg products. – Input from Sponsors is highly encouraged! – Being involved in the process is important! – Would you like to be a part of the RFP evaluation committee?
Editor's Notes
- #2: Good morning everyone. Today I will be giving a brief review on entitlement-- what it is, and the different ways you can utilize your entitlement dollars. I will also go over the way NDA will be monitoring entitlement for this year. And another topic I will talk about is the Request for Proposal process and why it’s important for sponsors to be involved with the process.
- #3: Entitlement means the federal value of USDA food. This is not an out of pocket cost. Each sponsor receives entitlement and it’s their responsibility to use what’s been entitled to them. There is a basic calculation we use when giving entitlement to sponsors. We take your total lunches served from the prior year and multiply them by the USDA meal rate. For example if a school reports 68,127 lunches from their prior year and the meal rate is .3044 cents, their entitlement for the year is $20,737.86. So, the more meals served the more entitlement you will get the following year. It’s a benefit for your district to keep serving those lunches!!
- #4: There are 3 ways sponsors can use entitlement. One way to utilize entitlement is by ordering the USDA Direct Delivery Foods. This has also been known as brown box or commodities. This would be the 6#10 canned items such as applesauce, peaches and pears and frozen products as well such as frozen potatoes, frozen ground beef and unseasoned chicken strips. Another option to use entitlement is by ordering the processed end products such as pizza and chicken nuggets. These draw down your entitlement and sponsors must pay a processing fee for the products which we call the fee for service. A final option to utilize entitlement is the DOD Fresh Produce Program. Once you are signed up for the program, sponsors can receive weekly deliveries of fresh fruit and vegetables from a DOD contracted vendor. There is no out of pocket cost and the process it simple. We currently have several sponsors doing this program. Using any of these options is a cost advantage while planning your menus.
- #5: Here is timeline overview of the entitlement distribution for SY16-17. We issued entitlement back in February of this year. This was the initial issuance so that sponsors could begin working on their surveys. We took your SY15 meal counts and multiplied them by the preliminary meal rate for SY 16/17 which was .3175cents. In July, USDA published the final meal rate for SY16-17 and NDA recalculated entitlement for all of our sponsors. We notified sponsors of the entitlement update Numbered Memos NSLP 2017-13 and RCCI 2017-12 back on August 19th
- #6: This is the spreadsheet was sent with the numbered memos so that sponsors can see the additional entitlement they received with USDA’s final meal rate. If you have any questions about the spreadsheet please feel free to call me anytime.
- #7: This year, we plan to monitor entitlement closely. By November 18th, all sponsors should have their surveys complete for the year. When you submit surveys, your entitlement gets reduced. On December 16th, NDA will look at where sponsors are at with their entitlement and those that have not used 80% will be contacted. We want to work with sponsors to help utilize their entitlement. Towards the end of January, sponsors should know if they cannot use their entitlement or maybe they are running short and need more. They can either request more entitlement or surrender their entitlement.
- #8: Sponsors that need more entitlement, must fill out the Entitlement/Surrender Form found on our Resource Page. Before requesting more, sponsors should have depleted their entitlement. If you know you are completely done ordering processed-end products or USDA direct delivery items, please think about surrendering your remaining entitlement. It really does no good if you are leaving your entitlement on the table. Instead, we can offer your remaining entitlement to sponsors that need to order more products to finish out the school year. Our goal is for sponsors to use 100% of their entitlement!
- #9: This concludes our review of entitlement. If you are still wanting more information about entitlement, we have past webinars posted on YouTube and we also have the training slides from the Nevada School Nutrition conference from this past summer. These are available to view at anytime. This webinar will also be posted on our YouTube channel.
- #10: The request for proposal or the RFP is a competitive procurement process. An RFP also allows for competitive bidding as well as providing competitive pricing for sponsors. We need to have a competitive procurement per USDA regulations. Therefore, we must do the RFP for USDA foods.
- #11: If you haven’t been a part of an RFP, you should know that it takes several months to finalize and award new vendors. Listed here is the average time it takes for the RFP process. About 6 months. There are several meetings and discussions that take place. We need to gather data, product specifications are reviewed many times, and there is a lot of proofing of documents. NDA works with the Nevada State Purchasing Division to make sure we do the RFP within state and federal regulations. In Month 1, we form an evaluation committee and an industry advisory group. Members of the evaluation committee include school districts, RCCI’s, as well as non-profit organizations whom all manage the school meal program. The Industry Advisory Group assist with specific product specifications and they provide input on product availability and current industry standards. In Month 2, NDA sets specific criteria in the RFP In Month 3, NDA and State Purchasing finalize the RFP In Month 4, the RFP is released to the public and is out for 6-8 weeks In Month 5, the RFPs are evaluated and we also do the taste testing at this point In Month 6, contracts are awarded and must get approved by the Board of Examiners Then expect a couple of months before product is delivered
- #12: In the previous slide I mentioned that Month 5 is for evaluating the RFP. The evaluation process has 2 phases. The first phase is when we have the actual proposals from the vendors. Proposals are checked for completeness and we ensure that all required documents and attachments are provided. If so, the vendor is approved in the 1st phase and gets moved onto the 2nd phase. The second phase is when the evaluation committee does a taste test of the products. The committee meets together, tastes each item and scores the products with a specific scoring criteria. Once all scoring has been completed, the scores are added up. There is a final discussion amongst the evaluation committee and the vendor is chosen. During our last RFP, the proposals we had for both pizza and Mexican food did not pass the 1st phase of the evaluation and therefore needed to go out for re-bid.
- #13: In January, sponsors will be getting a survey to complete. We want to know how well the processed food products from the new RFPs are working for your district. The questions you will be asked are: … We will use the survey results to help with preparing for the next RFP. We want to provide the best products for our sponsors to utilize and especially provide quality products for the kids.
- #14: The products on the monkey survey will be these items listed on this chart. As you begin to start menuing these products, keep in mind that we want to know what your comments or concerns are. So again, look for the survey in January. We will send out a notification.
- #15: As we just completed the pizza and Mexican food RFPs, we are now working on an Egg RFP. An e-mail was sent out asking sponsors if they were interested in getting scrambled eggs, egg patties and hard boiled eggs. We did get some positive feedback from some sponsors and really appreciate the responses. If you want to be a part of this RFP, please let us know. Being on the committee is a great way to voice your opinion and let us know what your needs are and what the kids like or don’t like. We will be sending out the evaluation committee forms soon.
- #16: At this time, this concludes the USDA foods webinar. We are open for questions at this time. Thank you for joining the webinar today. And please, feel free to contact me anytime.