Why Procurement?

One of the most effective ways to change the food system on a large scale is to change the way that large institutions spend their food dollars. Public institutions, in particular, have an opportunity to lead the movement for food system change and further advance their public mission. Public food contracts are the expression of a community’s values, and represent a significant opportunity for influencing institutional supply chains.

Cities are proven leaders in modeling best practices that influence the national and international stage. Imagine if school districts, cities and other large institutions across the country came together to demand Good Food. Their collective impact, aligned by GFPP’s unified, verifiable standards, could redirect billions of dollars towards Good Food suppliers strengthening local economic development, creating new high-quality local jobs, and increasing access to healthy, sustainably produced meals for the vulnerable communities often served by public institutions.

The Good Food Purchasing Program

The Good Food Purchasing Program helps institutions to measure and then make shifts in their food purchases. Think LEED, but for food.

What Is the Good Food Purchasing Policy?

The Good Food Purchasing Policy is a comprehensive and metric-based food procurement policy. GFPP addresses issues in five value categories across the food system:

Local Economies

Support small and mid-sized agricultural and food processing operations within the local area or region.

Environmental Sustainability

Source from producers that employ sustainable production systems that reduce or eliminate synthetic pesticides and fertilizers; avoid the use of hormones, antibiotics, and genetic engineering; conserve soil and water; protect and enhance wildlife habitat and biodiversity; and reduce on-farm energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Valued Workforce

Provide safe and healthy working conditions and fair compensation for all food chain workers and producers from production to consumption.

Animal Welfare

Provide healthy and humane care for livestock.

Nutrition

Promote health and well-being by offering seasonal fruits and vegetables, using whole grains, reducing salt and added sugars, and eliminating the use of deep frying.

Institutions commit to four things when they adopt the Good Food Purchasing Policy:

Meet at least the baseline standard in each of the five value categories, as outlined in the Good Food Purchasing Standards.
Establish supply chain transparency to the farm of origin that enables the commitment to be verified and tracked over time.
Incorporate the Good Food Purchasing Standards and reporting requirements into all new RFPs and contracts.
Participate in the Center for Good Food Purchasing’s Good Food Purchasing Program to verify compliance and celebrate success.

What is the Good Food Purchasing Program?

The Good Food Purchasing Program provides a comprehensive set of tools, technical support, and rigorous verification system to assist institutions that have adopted the Good Food Purchasing Policy meet their goals over time.

Once an institution adopts the Good Food Purchasing Policy, it works with the Center for Good Food Purchasing and the local lead partner organization to implement the Good Food Purchasing Program. Implementation involves five key steps:

Step 1: Baseline Assessment
Step 2: Technical Assistance & Goal Development
Step 3: Verification & Scoring
Step 4: Institutionalize GFPP in new RFPs and contracts
Step 5: Celebrate Success

The benefit of GFPP is that institutions do not need to figure out how to do this on their own. We provide third party verification, and offer templates, processes, databases, and branded materials that participating institutions can tap into to support their policy commitment, including:

3^rd party verification and scoring of food purchases.
Individual and/or group technical assistance.
Access to tools and reference materials.
Recognition of outstanding participants.

Scoring and Verification

The Center for Good Food Purchasing provides annual 3^rd party analysis of an institution’s purchasing data and provides individualized, branded materials to institutions that meet the scoring baseline in all five GFPP value categories.

How does scoring work?

Scoring is based off of a tiered, points-based system described in the Good Food Purchasing Standards. Key features of the scoring system include:

Certification-based: Standards are based off of third party certifications that have been identified as meaningful and ranked by national experts in each category.
Baseline standard: Each of the five value categories has a baseline standard. To become a Good Food Provider, an institution must meet at least the baseline (equal to one point) in each of the five values.
Flexible, tiered point system: More points are awarded for achievement at higher levels in each category, allowing institutions to earn more points in their high priority categories.
Aggregation of points and star rating: Points earned in each category are added together to determine overall number of points earned. A star rating is awarded.

Scoring relies on access to clean, complete purchasing records for an institution. Connect with the Center for Good Food Purchasing to learn more about reporting requirements.