The California Department of Education (CDE) is contacting Local Food for Schools (LFS) applicants to share funding amounts and to provide information on the July 21, 2023, 5 p.m. deadline for LFS awardees to provide the additional required documentation.
This notification provides the following information:
- Link to funding amounts
- Accounting codes to use for this allocation
- Deadline and instructions for submitting the required documentation by the July 21, 2023, 5 p.m. deadline
- Vendor information
- Procurement documentation and purchasing schedule(s)
- Procurement guidelines
- Allowable expenditures overview
- Quarterly reporting requirement
- Expenditure deadline
Funding Amounts and Accounting Codes
Funding amounts are posted on the CDE Funding Results web page. LFS funds have been allocated to 399 participating school food authorities (SFAs) based on a pre-determined formula:
- Base payment of $5,000; and
- Proportional funding based on the SFA’s share of statewide enrollment data from October 2021.
The CDE will issue an advance payment of 80 percent of the award, with the remaining 20 percent distributed at the end of the performance period as a reimbursement payment.
Warrants for the 80 percent advance payment will be mailed to each county treasurer or paid directly to the applicants, as applicable, in early September 2023.
The CDE encourages this revenue to be deposited into your SFA’s Nonprofit Food Service Account (Fund 13) using the codes below:
- Standardized account code structure (SACS) Resource Code: 5467
- Revenue Object Code: 8220
Deadline for Submitting Required Documentation
The LFS funding requires a two-part opt-in process. You are receiving this email because you have completed part one. To complete the second and secure funding, you must submit the required vendor information, procurement documents, and purchasing schedule(s) by Friday, July 21, 2023, at 5 p.m.
- Vendor information is submitted via an online survey.
- Procurement documents and purchasing schedules are submitted via Box.com
The submission of this information is mandatory. A lack of response by the due date will jeopardize funding. More information on how to submit each of the required documents is below.
Instructions for Submitting Vendor Information via an Online Survey
The USDA requires CDE to collect detailed vendor information in order to validate the initial 80 percent advance payment.
For each vendor, please be prepared to provide the following information:
- Vendor name
- Type of vendor, such as a farmer, rancher, producer, processor, or distributor
- Vendor designation, i.e., a small business and/or a socially disadvantaged group
- Distance of the vendor to the SFA
- Type of contact, i.e., new or an addition to an existing contact
- Food to be purchased
- Dollar value of the contract
- Length of the contract
If there are multiple contracts for the same vendor, you may consolidate them into one line representing the full dollar value for the combined contracts.
All required vendor information must be entered into the CDE web survey, by the deadline. The CDE recommends printing your responses prior to submitting the survey.
Submitting Procurement Documentation and Purchasing Schedule(s) via Box.com
For all vendors you list in the online survey described above, you must upload scanned copies of the related procurement contracts or vendor agreements along with an established purchasing schedule defining your plans for utilizing the LFS funding for each vendor if it is not included in the contract or agreement language.
The CDE will utilize Box.com, a file transfer service, to collect the required procurement documentation and purchasing schedules. The contact email provided in the LFS Opt-in Attestation form will receive an invitation to the CDE LFS Participant folder in Box.com. The sender will appear as noreply@box.com . If you have questions, contact the LFS Team at LFSGrant@cde.ca.gov .
Prior to uploading, each file should be saved with a name containing:
- Your SFA’s Child Nutrition Information and Payment Systems (CNIPS) Identification (ID) number;
- The type of document (contract or purchasing schedule);
- The vendor name as entered into the online survey; and
- If there are multiple contracts or schedules for the same vendor, include a unique number at the end to clarify the unique documents.
Example: An SFA with CNIPS ID 01248 entered ABC Vegetables as a vendor in the online survey. Using the naming conventions described above, documents would be named as follows:
- Contract file: 01248_Contract_ABCVegetables
- Purchasing schedule: 01248_PurchasingSchedule_ABCVegetables
- For multiple documents:
- 01248_Contract_ ABCVegetables-1; and
- 01248_Contract_ ABCVegetables-2
Be consistent across all documentation.
Procurement Guidelines
At minimum, SFAs must follow all applicable procurement processes and guidelines, which may include, but are not limited to:
- Complying with all existing recordkeeping and review requirements per Title 7, Code of Federal Regulations (7 CFR), 210.9(b)(17) and 7 CFR, 210.18, which includes maintaining documentation demonstrating appropriate use of the funds;
- Complying with the Federal procurement and financial management regulations outlined in 2,CFR, 200 titled, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards;
- Conducting procurements in a manner that is compliant with your agency’s procurement procedures; and
- Complying with your agency’s written standard (or code) of conduct that covers conflicts of interest, including organizational conflicts of interest, and that governs the performance of employees engaged in the selection, award, and administration of contracts and purchases.
Allowable Expenditures
LFS funds may only be used for current and future expenses made after completion of the Part One: Opt-in Attestation process.
LFS funds must be used exclusively for the purchase of local or regional, California grown, raised, and packaged food products that are unprocessed or minimally processed for use in school meal programs, with an emphasis on purchasing from small businesses and socially disadvantaged businesses.
Examples of allowable food products are:
- Fluid milk
- Cheese
- Yogurt
- Fruits and vegetables (including 100 percent juices)
- Grain products such as pastas and rice
- Meats (whole, pieces, or food items such as ground meats)
- Beans
- Legumes
- Foods in a wide variety of minimal processed states (e.g., whole, cut, pureed, etc.) and/or forms (e.g., fresh, frozen, canned, dried, etc.)
Incidental costs (such as those related to shipping and handling or packaging) that are a part of the normal or customary purchase price charged by a vendor for any given food product are also an allowable use of LFS funds.
More information on allowable expenses can be found on the LFS web page.
Reporting
To ensure the goals and compliance requirements of the LFS are met, SFAs will be required to submit to the CDE:
- Quarterly detailed progress and financial data reports on purchases; and
- A final report, due on April 15, 2024.
Instructions and quarterly report due dates will be forthcoming. SFAs are required to retain supporting documentation that demonstrates how these funds were expended. Supporting documentation must be consistent with the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP) recordkeeping requirements and may be subject to an audit.
Expenditure Deadline
LFS funds must be expended by March 31, 2024.
If you are no longer participating in the NSLP and SBP, or if you do not plan to spend any amount of LFS funds awarded to your SFA, please email the LFS Team at LFSGrant@cde.ca.gov.
Contact Information
If you have any questions regarding this subject, please email LFSGrant@cde.ca.gov.