A School Food Services Purchasing Cooperative
The P.O.W.E.R. Buying Group aims to facilitate the procurement of quality food and supply products at competitive prices while achieving and maintaining compliance with all current USDA and state guidance. Members throughout the state of Florida with a combined enrollment of 343,000 students work together to increase their purchasing power to the benefit of all members.
Schools in Florida
Student Enrollment
Total Meals Served
Combined Budget
*These numbers are an approximation
About Us
P.O.W.E.R. BUYING GROUP RFP INFORMATION AND SERVICES
The current Request for Proposal (RFP) lead agency is the School Board of Highlands County (SBHC)
Purchase Smaart, LLC is the awarded Group Purchasing Service for pricing and providing distribution services for food and supplies for PBG members. Purchase Smaart has 12 BILLION dollars in PURCHASING POWER nationwide and leverages all its members collective buying powers to obtain discounts from suppliers and manufactures.
All members utilize Sysco Distribution, Gulf Coast, Jacksonville, Central FL, West FL and SouthEast FL
Click on “Member Profiles” to see all member districts and information about their programs
Mission
The mission of the POWER Buying Group is to work collaboratively to procure high quality, competitively priced foods and supplies that will enhance the health and nutritional well-being of students participating in Florida Child Nutrition Programs.
Beliefs
- We believe we need to be flexible to accommodate the uniqueness of each member school district.
- We believe we are a grass roots effort that has lead to a cooperative venture among the member school districts.
- We believe all member school districts to have an equitable voice in decisions.
- We believe in procuring high quality items at a low cost.
Vision
Participation in the P.O.W.E.R. Buying Group will maximize each member school district’s ability to provide high quality cost-effective meals at reasonable prices to enhance the student’s ability to learn.
Member Benefits
Preparation of food and supply product specifications that facilitate compliance with all current USDA and state guidance for the USDA meal patterns and Dietary Standards
Solicitation of product pricing with a large number of vendors/brokers interested in working with The P.O.W.E.R. Buying Group (PBG)
Increased purchasing power of a large coop results in lower prices
Networking with many program directors/administrators sharing their expertise in many aspects of program administration
Work with state agency procurement team to aid members to maintain compliance and prepare for state reviews
Revaluation of products as guidelines are updated, products are reformulated, etc.
Assistance with resolving members’ product “incidents”, receiving credits or product replacements as needed
Long term GPS relationship promotes stability – the SBHC RFP contract is effective July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2028
Access to useful information on the Members Only section of the PBG website
Access to the most current information on PBG-awarded products, guidance updates, policies/procedures via the posted minutes of the Executive Committee conference calls and meetings
Members and vendors may participate in the online, interactive process to request additional products to be considered for competitive pricing and addition to the awarded products
Detailed information on all PBG-awarded products available to be viewed and/or downloaded by members via the website 1FS, that use the Global Data Network. This information includes:
- Nutrition information per serving
- Meal pattern crediting information
- Allergen information
- Packaging information
- Picture of the products
- Smart Snack Compliance
- Complete specification files