Household Consumer Food Purchase Panel

Sources Sought Notice

Household Consumer Food Purchase Panel

Sources Sought #1176113-SS

This is a Sources Sought notice Only.  This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations.  This Sources Sought is issued for information and planning purposes only as part of USDA ARS market research and does not itself constitute an RFQ.

General Information

This request is for The USDA requires high-quality household consumer food purchase panel data to support current, ongoing, and planned research and data analytics activities. USDA will use the data for projects that support economic and policy research within the realm of USDA’s mission. Use purposes include (but are not limited to):

1.            Describing the types and amounts of foods SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) participants purchase using SNAP benefits and other methods of payment and comparing these households’ purchases against those of other households not participating in SNAP.

2.            Estimating the effects of various SNAP food restrictions introduced via food restriction waivers (FRWs) on households’ food purchases, food purchase healthfulness, shopping behaviors, and other outcomes.

3.            Using machine learning prediction methods to impute SNAP benefit distribution days.

4.            Examining item substitutions over the SNAP distribution cycle.

5.            Estimating food demand systems to obtain income and price elasticities across different household types (e.g., by SNAP participation status and by income quartile).

The data will support research projects on a variety of topics of interest to USDA agencies. The data may be used in combination (or linked to) other data to conduct this research, including commercial and proprietary data sources as well as administrative data sources owned by Federal, State, or local governments. USDA research projects are often undertaken in collaboration with experts within the Federal government and external to it, including but not limited to economists, policy researchers, and survey and data methodologists. Research using the data may be conducted by teams consisting of only USDA staff or a combination of USDA staff and external researchers at academic or non-profit institutions. The resulting aggregated findings (not the raw data) will be disseminated through multiple media, including but not limited to professional academic journals, USDA publications, the USDA website, internal briefings, and presentations at meetings of professional economics or other research associations. Before public release, all publications and reports will be reviewed by USDA to meet data disclosure requirements and to strictly maintain privacy and confidentiality requirements of data purveyors. USDA will also provide a two-week window (ten business days) for data purveyor review of outputs and projects to assess compliance with the data agreement and confidentiality requirements, after which USDA assumes the approval for outputs and projects has been granted and will proceed with the projects and outputs. The USDA will retain the right to use the data and information indefinitely to undertake its projects as specified above.

This Sources Sought is only for the purpose of identifying potential sources as part of USDA ARS market research. The Government does not intend to make an award based on responses to this inquiry. This notice does not constitute a commitment by the Government.

Responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible.  

The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capability of qualified sources including any Small Businesses; HUBZone small business; service-disabled, veteran-owned small business; 8(a) small business; veteran-owned small business; woman-owned small business; or small disadvantaged businesses. This is also to obtain information on the availability of domestically available end-products. Please state if you are a large business or a small business according to the NAICS code listed in this Sources Sought.

All information submitted in response to this announcement is voluntary, and the Government will not pay for information requested nor will it compensate any respondent for any cost incurred in developing information provided to the Government.

Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response defines how it can specifically meet the specifications for the items requested.  Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted.  After reviewing the responses received, a Combined Synopsis solicitation notice may be published on Sam.gov.

Submit ALL the Following in order to be a valid response to this Sources Sought Notice:

1. Capability Statement and that demonstrates your ability to meet all of the specific requirements of Statement of Work and must include Company Contact Info.
2. SAM.gov UEI Number.
3. Identify if you are a Large business or a Small business with NACIS 541720.

Original Point of Contact: All responses to this Sources Sought Notice must be received by August 17, 2027 by 9:00 AM PT, the specified due date and time to be considered and must include all items requested above. 

Email responses to Elizabeth Calhoun at Elizabeth.Calhoun@usda.gov.

Responses will not be returned. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this Inquiry.

Do not submit pricing information in response to this Request.