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Q&A
Council Member Julie Won questions food contract bidding process and nutritional analysis
1:47:49
ยท
3 min
Council Member Julie Won leads a discussion on food contracts for NYC shelters, questioning why contracts aren't always awarded to the lowest bidder and inquiring about the process for nutritional analysis of meals. Representatives from various city agencies, including MOCS and the Mayor's Office of Food Policy, provide responses about bidding processes and plans for improved nutritional analysis.
- Won expresses concern over higher-priced contracts being awarded despite food quality complaints
- The Mayor's Office of Food Policy discusses plans for a new citywide software program to analyze menus more frequently
- Won concludes by expressing disappointment in the lack of clarity on vendor accountability for food quality
Julie Won
1:47:49
Can you help me understand from mocks why the food contracts are not going to the lowest bidder as your colleagues have been testifying that it's supposed to go to the lowest bidder?
Mehak Kapoor
1:48:03
It could it could vary depending on the procurement vehicle that the agency chose.
1:48:08
Here if you guys did it as a competitive seal proposal, these contracts, or a best value bid, then agencies have the ability to choose more than just the lowest bid.
1:48:25
So it depends on the procurement vehicle that the agency initiated in their process.
Julie Won
1:48:30
Can you share with me what qualifies as the best value bid and why organization would be awarded at a higher value instead of a lower bidder who has had no complaints about food quality, yet you're continuing to award people who have food quality complaints at a higher price over someone else who like for example Rethink Foods that bid at a lower price and has had great history of providing really great food and adding to our local economy by bringing in local vendors.
Mehak Kapoor
1:49:09
I'm gonna defer to the agent the contracting agency that that chose these vendors to award with.
Jill Berry
1:49:21
Right.
1:49:22
So I think you're talking about the the shelter providers are not choosing the lowest bid for their subcontractors.
1:49:30
Right?
1:49:32
So typically, that would only be for reasons of finding of non responsibility or other vendor compliance issues as to why they wouldn't be choosing the lowest
Gale A. Brewer
1:49:46
bidder in
Jill Berry
1:49:46
What
Gale A. Brewer
1:49:46
if
Julie Won
1:49:46
the other lowest bidder had no non responsive or compliance issues like Rethink Foods?
Jill Berry
1:49:51
Right.
1:49:52
I don't have a good answer to that question because it shouldn't be happening and if you have examples of that Yes.
Julie Won
1:49:58
I will definitely email it to you for investigation.
1:50:02
For the 2024 food standards compliance report noted that relevant agencies updated the way that you conduct nutritional analysis on menus and food served by contracted food vendors.
1:50:13
Can you describe the new process and how it differs from your previous process?
Kate MacKenzie
1:50:18
The new process of nutrition compliance?
1:50:23
So we don't have a new process yet, typically each agency is responsible for capturing a sampling of menus, analyzing them, and reporting.
1:50:34
What we are looking to do beginning next fiscal year is put in place a citywide software program that would be able to analyze all menus with much more regularity and be able to analyze like not just more menus but with more frequency so that we can say not just a spot check of, you know, two weeks times over the course of a year, but look at increasing the frequency of menu analysis and helping agencies with a software program universally to be able to do that.
Julie Won
1:51:10
Okay we're going to have a lot of follow ups from this hearing.
1:51:13
I'm really disappointed that a year later there still is no clarity on how we keep vendors accountable for the terrible food that they continue to feed our people at taxpayers expense and the millions and millions and millions of dollars along with other data that we've requested today.