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Child nutrition report: six vendors responded to RFP; POS system to switch and audit finds minimal issues
Summary
Director James Kimbrough described the RFP vendor selection process that included student tastings, a planned move to a web-based POS (Mosaic), and a spring audit with no major counting-and-claiming findings and one menu-deviation finding tied to a vendor.
Child Nutrition Director Dr. James Kimbrough briefed the board March 27 on this year's vendor RFP, a planned point-of-sale (POS) upgrade and the results of a recent state audit.
Kimbrough said the district issued an RFP on Feb. 21 for food-service management and received six proposals by the April 2 due date. Student representatives and culinary students participated in vendor tastings at the high school on March 25, and staff visited several campuses (BAMO, LMS and BeltLine) to include student and parent input in the selection process. The evaluation team began reviewing proposals the week of the meeting; Kimbrough said he expects to return in May with a vendor recommendation for a food-service management company (FSMC).
The district is replacing its older POS hardware and moving to a cloud-based Mosaic system. Kimbrough said the new system will allow real-time meal-count visibility rather than waiting until the end of the day and will address prior audit reporting difficulties associated with the prior NutriKey system. The district planned to go live on the new POS system the week after the work session.
Kimbrough summarized the spring administrative and procurement audit conducted by the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) staff and said there were no major findings in counting and claiming, an outcome he said would have risked suspension of program funding. He reported one physical finding: a contracted vendor deviated from the RFP's initial 21-day menu in the base year without TDA permission. Kimbrough said that cost will be charged to the vendor and that the district's contract review practices will enforce menu compliance in future FSMC contracts.
Kimbrough noted two cafeterias (Rosa Parks and Ellen) earned auditor commendations for strong practices and that staff will continue monitoring compliance, documentation and vendor performance.
Board members commended the team for the audit results and asked about controls to prevent menu deviations; Kimbrough said contract oversight and a dedicated child-nutrition director role are intended to ensure compliance going forward.
