The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has announced plans to purchase frozen cooked diced chicken for use in school lunch and other domestic food nutrition assistance programs.

Offers will be invited from the trade for frozen cooked diced chicken meat, produced from ready-to-cook fowl (a class of mature female chickens). Diced chicken will be packaged in four 10-pound (4.54 kg) packages to a net weight of 40 pounds (18.14 kg) in each fiberboard shipping container. A purchase unit will consist of 1,000 shipping containers totaling 40,000 pounds (18,144 kg).

Invitations will be issued on the first and third Monday of each month.  All offers must be submitted electronically through the Domestic Electronic Bid Entry System (DEBES) website at https://pcsd.usda.gov:3077/mdbc1000.exe?. Offers submitted by any means other than DEBES will be considered nonresponsive.

There are some important changes to this year's program. Under the food defense requirements, all non-conformances listed in the audit report must be addressed in writing to both the Contracting Officer and Auditor within 14 calendar days of the audit. Plans must also have been audited since March 1, 2009. Also, qualified bidders must provide annual financial updates to Dun & Bradstreet as detailed in the Qualification Requirements.

As with previous diced chicken programs, processors who wish to participate in the purchase program must apply in writing to the Contracting Officer. The written application must include an outline of formulation and production processes to be used in producing diced chicken. In addition, processors must develop a documented quality control program that specifically addresses the removal of bone and bone-like material from the raw materials used in production of diced chicken. The documented program is to be submitted to the Contracting Officer for review and approval. Additional requirement information can be accessed at www.ams.usda.gov/poultry.

Although most other provisions of the program are similar to the program operated last year, offerors are urged to carefully read all applicable terms and conditions of the Master Solicitation for Commodity Procurement dated April 2009; Qualification Requirements for Prospective Contractors dated April 2009; Commodity Specification for Diced Chicken dated
May 2008; and each Invitation.

Inquiries may be made by telephoning (202) 720-7693 or addressing the Contracting Officer; USDA/AMS/Poultry Programs, Commodity Procurement Branch STOP 0260; 1400 Independence Ave., SW; Washington, DC 20250. An electronic version of this Food Purchase Report can be obtained through the world-wide-web via the Commodity Procurement Home Page at: http://www.ams.usda.gov/PYProcurement.

 The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or a part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA's TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD).

To file a complaint of discrimination write to USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (800) 795-3272 (voice) or (202) 720-6382 (TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.