Sources Sought for Co-Brand Agreement for Roll Mix and Sweet Roll Mix

On behalf of the AbilityOne Program, NISH, a designated central nonprofit agency, is pursuing potential partnerships with U.S. commercial manufacturers of Roll Mix and Sweet Roll Mix for the purpose of providing employment for people who are blind or severely disabled. If successful, the result will be a co-brand agreement between the manufacturer and the AbilityOne Program, and its registered brands. The ultimate expectation is that the co-branded product will be placed on the AbilityOne Procurement List (PL). The Roll Mix and Sweet Roll Mix must meet and/or exceed FAR and other Federal Government published standards, Executive Orders and Federal Agency requirements. At a minimum, the following criteria must be met: 1. Possession of a nationally known brand name that can be demonstrated to have significant appeal through evidence of substantial sales. 2. This project represents a potential new addition to the Procurement List (PL). This will be a Co-Branding Opportunity pending Committee approval. The Transylvania Vocational Services (TVS) located in Brevard, North Carolina, will Co-Brand with a nationally recognized supplier of Roll Mix that currently supplies Roll Mix and Sweet Roll Mix to the U.S. Military through the DLA Prime Vendor Program. TVS will blend the mix according to the Co-Branding Partners proprietary blend or receive the blended mix in super sacks or totes from the Co-Branding Partner. Preference will be given to the Co-Branding Partner that allows TVS to blend mixes in their plant. TVS will then package the mix into 5lb Bag/Box and #10 Cans, label, mark, and unitize the finished product. The estimated annual requirement is approximately 84,000 Cases of Roll Mix and 4,600 Cases of Sweet Roll Mix in a 5lb Bag/Box and 237,000 of Roll Mix & Sweet Roll Mix in a #10 Can. TVS will be responsible for receiving orders from the DLA Prime Vendors who provide food products to the United States Military and ship worldwide. They will be required to provide a high quality product at a competitive price and to provide customer service to DLA Troop Support, the military customer, and the DLA Prime Vendors, for the life cycle of the product. 3. This product must meet industry performance specifications and standards for construction, performance, sustainability and reliability. 4. The chosen manufacturer must be willing to set a high priority for delivering bulk materials to the non-profit agency in order to assure the agency of on-time deliveries to the federal government customer(s). 5. All products must be manufactured and lab tested, certified and customer tested to be effective according to their purpose, have current Material Safety Data sheets if necessary, and meet certifications with corresponding documentation designated by customers. 6. A willingness to enter into a multi-year agreement which includes on-going technical and production assistance and the necessary factory trained technical field support while enabling the non-profit agency to meet the criteria of the AbilityOne Program to convert material, fill containers, label, assemble and package the products thereby creating employment for people who are blind or severely disabled. 7. Commitment to working independently with the AbilityOne to market products to the Government customers under the AbilityOne Program. It is preferred that the chosen manufacturer has a dedicated team for Federal Government sales and marketing. 8. Willingness to work with the non-profit agency, NISH) and AbilityOne to ensure that the price to the end-users is a fair and reasonable price. 9. Manufacturers' submissions must demonstrate that proposed products meet the various criteria, as well as indicate what functions the nonprofit agency's employees would perform. The deadline for response is April 18, 2011. Responses should be directed to the contact listed in this Notice. Questions should be directed to Rose Tallant at rtallant@nish.org.