Del Valle ISD board approves Sodexo as food service management company

The Del Valle ISD Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve Sodexo Operations as the district's food service management company on the special board meeting held in June.

Deputy Superintendent Dina Edgar, who presented the procurement, said the district issued a request for proposals to 22 food-service management companies and received six responses. "22 food service management companies were included in the RFP, and we received proposals up until May 21," Edgar said, adding that the district's evaluation committee scored proposals using the Texas Department of Agriculture rubric.

Edgar told the board the TDA review required additional detail, which delayed final acceptance. "Last week, we were notified that the evaluation needed additional detail which is why this got pulled from the Board meeting last week. We resubmitted this last week and it was accepted by TDA just this past Friday," she said.

Board President Wagner asked for a motion; the record shows Secretary Guadion moved approval and Trustee Burton seconded. The motion carried 5-0 by show of hands.

The district noted pricing was weighted heavily under the TDA rubric and that staff followed the RFP timeline and evaluation process discussed at prior meetings. Other vendors named in the procurement record were Aramark, Chartwells, Southwest Food Service Excellence, Tahir and Whitsons.

No additional contract terms, award amount, contract length or start date were specified during the meeting. The board did not request an informational workshop before the vote; the item was presented as an action item and approved the same evening.

The board opened the meeting with a statement that the notice had been posted in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act.