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SFE protests Hendry County Schools' decision to negotiate with Sodexo; board votes to refer dispute
Summary
SFE, the top-scoring proposer on RFP 25-00033, told the Hendry County School Board it was improperly passed over in favor of Sodexo. After presentations from both sides the board voted the protest "unresolved," opening the possibility of a Department of Administrative Hearings review.
SFE, the company that ranked highest in initial scoring for RFP 25-00033, told the Hendry County School Board on Wednesday that district staff and board members relied on information outside the solicitation when recommending negotiations with Sodexo.
The dispute concerns the district's procurement for food-service management. Monte Staggs, chief executive officer of SFE, told the board that SFE’s proposal and its oral presentation together produced the highest score and that SFE “by all account of the procurement procedures listed in the RFP and by state regulation, should have been awarded the contract.”
The meeting matters because the award would determine the district’s food-service vendor and because SFE grounded its protest in procurement rules tied to federal and state guidance governing school-food funds. SFE’s counsel argued the district had an obligation to follow the written evaluation criteria set in the RFP…
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