Finding, Buying and Serving Local Food - Introduction to Procurement

In 2014, USDA's Farm to School Program hosted a 12-part webinar series to showcase the variety of ways school districts can purchase local foods. The series starts with an introduction to basic procurement principles, and then walks participants through strategies and tactics for buying local foods.

In this webinar, the first of the series, Christina Conell and Maggie Gosselin from USDA's Food and Nutrition Service, covered basic procurement fundamentals relevant to the Federal Child Nutrition Programs. Topics include informal and formal procurement methods and maintaining competition.

Presentation Slides

Resource Handout

	Introduction to Procurement
	Conducting a Local Procurement Baseline Assessment
	Finding Local Producers
	Using the Informal Procurement Method
	Using the Specifications, Requirements and Evaluation Criteria to Target Local Products
	Working with Distributors
	Using a Forward Contract
	Introduction to Geographic Preference
	Using Geographic Preference
	Using USDA Foods as Resource to Purchase Local
	Using DOD Fresh to Purchase Local
	Tying It All Together and Digging In