Peanut Standards Verification Services for USDA, AMS

Sources Sought Notice: Peanut Compliance Services

Background: Peanuts in the United States are produced and marketed with the support of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) agencies including the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) and the Farm Service Agency (FSA), as well as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  Several State and private agencies assist locally throughout various parts of the marketing chain.  The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Farm Bill) requires all peanuts marketed in the United States to be inspected and graded by Federal or Federal-State inspectors.  Imported peanuts are subject to the same quality and handling standards as domestically produced peanuts.  As provided under the Farm Bill, the Peanut Standards Board (Board), which is comprised of peanut industry members, consults with USDA on the establishment and revision of peanut standards. 

The Standards regulate both the incoming quality of farmers’ stock peanuts and the outgoing quality of peanuts prepared for human consumption.  The Standards are applicable to all peanuts produced in or imported into the United States.  Grading for quality are performed by Federal or State inspectors authorized by AMS Specialty Crops Inspection Division.  Each lot is identified and is tracked through the entire marketing chain. In addition to grading for quality each lot of peanuts is also required to be laboratory tested and do not exceed the limit for Aflatoxin. Aflatoxin testing and certification is performed by laboratories authorized by AMS’s Science and Technology Program.  Working closely with the AMS Specialty Crops Program Market Development Division (MDD), which oversees the Peanut Standards Program, the contractor verifies compliance with the Standards through routine visits to handler facilities and reviews of inspection and certification documentation.   The contractor prepares and forwards case referrals regarding violations to MDD for enforcement action. 

Scope of Services: The USDA’s, Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) contracts compliance activities for peanuts for human consumption with a firm with experience and knowledge of the peanut industry.  The compliance firm performs audits by assessing handler processes and documentation and conducts cross-collaboration with USDA inspection services and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The food safety joint effort ensures each peanut lot maintains Positive Lot Identification (PLI) throughout the marketing chain.

The contractor’s primary responsibility is to verify handler and importer compliance with the established peanut quality and handling standards.  AMS provides program oversight and requires the services of a private contractor for verification of compliance with the Standards (7 CFR part 996).  The contractor will be responsible for performing the required duties as listed below.

The contractor must be able to obtain proof in the form of documentation from the peanut handler that supports the final disposition of failing and remilled lots.  The contractor is not responsible for monitoring all incoming inspection results, but only those lots that are considered non-edible, including adequate documentation to the contractor that supports the non-edible lots were properly disposed.   

The compliance efforts focus on ensuring that failing and non-edible quality grades of peanuts do not enter the human consumption marketing chain.  Routine surveillance of shelling plants, blanchers, and crushers is a necessary component of the compliance program. 

The frequency of visits to handler facilities depends upon the size of the operation and its activities.  Regular communications between the inspectors and the contractor is essential in monitoring the activities at different handler operations.   

The contractor is responsible for investigating all complaints of alleged violations.  The contractor must maintain an internal record keeping system of complaints received and follow-up actions taken. 

The contractor must report all violation cases to AMS, even if the handler or importer took corrective action.  

Interested parties who believe they can meet the capabilities and performance requirements outlined are requested to respond to this Sources Sought Notice by January 16, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. Central Time to Matthew Phillips (matthew.phillips3@usda.gov), with the information outlined below:

1.        Company Information

-        Name of firm

-        Point of contact (name, phone number, and email address)

-        SAM.gov UEI number

-        Business Size (Large/Small) for NAICS 541690 (Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services, Size Standard is $19.0 million)

-        Socioeconomic Category(ies) (8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, WOSB)

2.      Capabilities Narrative

-        Please indicate if you are seeking opportunities for peanut compliance services.

-        Are you interested in these opportunities as a prime contractor, or a Contractor Teaming Arrangement (CTA)?

-        Provide information in sufficient detail regarding previous experience (indicate whether as a prime contractor or subcontractor) with peanut compliance services or services of a similar nature (scientific and technical consultation services).  Include information such as geographical area, brief description of services performed, dollar value, location, government or commercial requirement, etc. to facilitate making a capability determination for each future requirement.

-        Indicate your experience or approach to assimilating into new markets (geographical areas), including recruiting for staffing and subcontractor needs.

4.      Additional Information

-        Please include any other information and/or recommendations to assist USDA in its structuring of these contract requirements to facilitate competition, its approach to acquiring the services and the manner in which requirements are described for the identified items/services.

Please limit responses to no more than fifteen (15) pages and submit in either Microsoft Word or PDF file format.  It is recommended to submit the information in the format as outlined above to minimize the effort of the respondent and structure the responses for ease of analysis by the Government.

This notice does not constitute a Request for Quote (RFQ)/Invitation for Bid (IFB)/Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFQ, IFB, or RFP in the future. This notice does not commit USDA to contract for any supply or service. Further, USDA is not seeking quotes, bids or proposals at this time and will not accept unsolicited proposals in response to this Sources Sought Notice. USDA will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this notice. Submittals will not be returned to the responder.

All questions regarding this Sources Sought Notice must be submitted by email to the Contract Specialist, Matthew Phillips at Matthew.Phillips3@usda.gov.