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