The Michigan Department of Education’s (MDE) 10 Cents A Meal for Michigan’s Kids & Farms Program (10 Cents a Meal) is requesting bids for partners to provide regional support staff positions to assist with administrative tasks for sponsors.   

Those interested in bidding on this partnership project should submit responses and a brief budget, including salary/wages and fringe benefits, to Wendy Crowley, [email protected], by 12:00 pm on March 18, 2022. The winner(s) of the bid will be notified via email by April 1, 2022.

Purpose of the positions:

Positions will support 10 Cents a Meal grantees (sponsors) with administrative tasks associated with participating in the program. The program has recently moved from a pilot to full program status with a $4.5 million* budget. With program participation increasing by over 100 sponsors this year, there is a need for additional administrative support.

Project Overview and Background:

MDE has a long history of incorporating farm to school efforts into USDA Child Nutrition programs. This is due to program leaders prioritizing local food procurement and because of the strong partnerships that MDE has within other farm to school advocates such as the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), Michigan State University (MSU) Center for Regional Food Systems (CRFS), MSU Extension, Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities, Michigan Fitness Foundation (MFF), and many more.

Scope:

The 10 Cents a Meal team is seeking to fund regional administrative support staff who will assist sponsors with the requirements of the 10 Cents a Meal program. The positions will be funded through August 31, 2022, with potential for new funding availability next program year (September 1, 2022, through August 31, 2023). The support that sponsors need include data entry, local food sourcing, and outreach.  

PROJECT PLAN

The Partner must provide a proposal that details how the Partner plans to ensure equal   opportunity for all grantees (school and non-school) in the region to use the services, a description of the type of administrative support the position will provide, the counties/regions the Partner will service (refer to 10 Cent 2021-2022 Grantee Map), and a brief budget (including salary/wages and fringe benefits) for this position. 

EVALUATION PROCESS

MDE will evaluate each proposal based on the Partner Questions Worksheet. All questions are to be answered fully and completely (3 points given per question answered).

Please contact Wendy Crowley, Farm to Program Consultant, at [email protected] with any questions or for more information.

For a PDF version of this Request for Bids and the Partner Questions Worksheet please click here.

*Edit 5/2/22: The 10 Cents a Meal budget is $4.5 million, corrected here from the previously published $5 million due to an error in the state’s budget language.