Top School Food Procurement Topics of Interest and Training Preferences Desired Training Topics School food procurement training varies, and there is not a nationwide standard. Through a series of questions about training topics and format preferences, we aimed to better understand what types of training could help address the procurement challenges named. Respondents were asked to rank a list of six common school food procurement training topics, rating their interest as high, medium, low, or none. The topics were based on USFA’s conversations with over 250 individuals from the school food service ecosystem and a 2021 report, Study of School Food Authority (SFA) Procurement Practices. 10 Respondents were the most interested in training on navigating federal, state, and local regulations (66% stating high interest). Forty percent of respondents were highly interested in procurement forecasting, followed by writing product specifications (38%). Respondents were least interested in more administrative and outreach focused tasks, including optimizing procurement cycle times, managing vendor relationships and pitches, and advertising solicitations.
Figure 5. Interest in Training Topics
Interest in Training Topics
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90% 100%
Navigating federal, state, local regulations
66%
28%
4% 2%
Procurement forecasting
40%
42%
14% 4%
Writing product specfications
38%
38%
18%
7%
Optimizing procurement cycle times
33%
44%
18%
4%
Managing vendor relationships and pitches
29%
39%
25%
6%
Advertising RFPs/IFBs
30%
38%
24%
8%
High
Moderate
Low
None
18 Procuring Good Food at School: From Contracts to Lunch Trays |
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