I need the latest contact information(Person's name,phone number and
e-mail address) of the "food purchasing agents" or the "food buyer" at
50 of the larger federal and/or state prisons in the USA(in terms of
inmate population).(There are
about 2,500 federal and state prisons in the USA to choose
from).I am only asking for contact information on 50 of the LARGER
federal and/or state prisons.(The more information the better.Kindly
post the answer as private, if possible).Thank you. |
Clarification of Question by
novelist-ga
on
09 Apr 2006 16:58 PDT
Your posted answer does not have to be private,it may be public.We
need the main food buyer at the fifty (50) largest(in terms of inmate
population) federal and state prisons.I want to get in touch with the
person that actually makes the decison to buy Frozen chicken for the
larger prison.Also include links and sources for me to find the food
buyers at other large prisons.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
czh-ga
on
09 Apr 2006 21:36 PDT
Hello novelist-ga,
My preliminary research on food purchasing/procurement by federal and
state prisons shows that your proposed approach of identifying the
appropriate official at the largest individual institutions may not be
the best or most appropriate method to become a supplier of frozen
chicken to large prisons.
I can provide you with a list of all Federal prisons and their current
population as well as a method for searching for appropriate personnel
at each facility. However, it doesn?t look like this will help you
achieve your objective. If you want to become a vendor to the Federal
Bureau of Prisons (BOP) you will have to go through the Federal
acquisition process. The BOP website provides detailed instructions
for you.
I haven?t found a directory of all State prisons but I?ve found
resources that provide links to each of the 50 states? department of
corrections which in turn list the state prisons. Each state also
issues a monthly prison population report developing a national list
of largest state prisons would be a time consuming task. Searching for
prison statistics tend to group prison populations by state and list
which states have the most prisoners. This information may be more
relevant for your needs.
Examining state procurement procedures shows that there is quite a lot
of variety among the states. Some states have a state general services
administration that handles all contracting (including food purchases)
while other states let individual institution handle their own food
purchases.
Another important element of the procurement picture for prisons is
that food services have been ?privatized? in many locations and are
now handled by major food service companies. In these locations, your
target purchasers will be the food service companies like Aramark and
Sodexho Marriott.
In light of this summary of the prison food service landscape, I need
direction from you on how to proceed. I suggest that I provide you
with detailed information about what I?ve found so that you can make
the appropriate connections with the various prison systems and the
organizations that are already contracting food services to them. Will
this meet your needs?
I look forward to your clarification.
~ czh ~
|
Clarification of Question by
novelist-ga
on
10 Apr 2006 06:07 PDT
I already have a list of federal and state prisons with their contact
information.What I need is the contact information of the actual buyer
that makes the buying decision regarding frozen chicken. All help and
guidance would be much appreciated.
|
Clarification of Question by
novelist-ga
on
10 Apr 2006 06:34 PDT
If possible, try to focus your attention on food buyers at the larger
state prisons, as they seem to have higher inmate populations than the
federal prisons.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
czh-ga
on
10 Apr 2006 09:52 PDT
Hello again novelist-ga,
Thank you for responding to my request for clarification. As I
indicated above, finding individual purchasing agents at specific
prisons is a bigger project than you would think. You will have to
research the procurement regulations for each state (or the states
with the largest prison populations) and then determine whether food
purchasing is done through centralized contracting or whether it's
delegated to each institution. Then you will have to research whether
the contract has been let to a large food service organization (like
Aramark) or whether it is open to bid. Then you will have to research
50 organizations for the contact names, etc. This is an enormous
project. I suggest that you evaluate the information I've found so far
and propose a more manageable research project to match the price
you've posted. Thanks.
~ czh ~
|
Clarification of Question by
novelist-ga
on
12 Apr 2006 07:30 PDT
I will give you a generous tip if you can get me the contact
information on the "food buyer" making the buying decisions at the 50
largest state prisons in the USA.You can leave out the Federal prisons
and this should make your job easier.
I already have the addresses of all prisons as well as Aramark and
Sodexho Marriott.Thank you.
|
Clarification of Question by
novelist-ga
on
16 Apr 2006 12:59 PDT
I raised the price to $150.00 and narrowed the scope of the question
to state prisons only.
I am trying to make it worth your while to give me an answer. What I
need is the contact information of the actual buyer
that makes the buying decision regarding frozen chicken at the 50
larger state prisons in the USA.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
czh-ga
on
17 Apr 2006 12:29 PDT
Hello again novelist-ga,
I?ve taken another look at your question and I?ve come to the
conclusion that it?s simply not answerable the way you?ve posed it.
You are interested in selling frozen chicken to large state prisons.
You believe that the best way to accomplish this is by identifying the
purchasing managers responsible for chicken purchases at individual
large prisons.
The problem is that food purchasing is generally not handled at the
individual institution level. Not only that, each of the fifty states
has their own laws, regulations, policies and requisitions systems for
purchasing. In order to answer your question, the researcher must
identify where are the largest prisons (or prison populations) and
then figure out the procurement system for the states involved and
then try to locate purchasing managers.
This is not the way things work. For example, in California, the
Department of General Services handles purchasing for state
institutions, including state prisons.
http://www.dgs.ca.gov/default.htm
Browse this page for identifying opportunities to sell frozen chicken
to California institutions.
http://www.cscr.dgs.ca.gov/cscr/
The California State Contracts Register (CSCR) is your one-stop
information source for state contracting opportunities. The CSCR
connects business to government, providing an easy-to-use, on-line
publication which lists services and construction contracts over
$5,000, commodity contracts over $50,000, and IT goods contracts over
$100,000.
http://www.bop.gov/business/index.jsp
Doing Business with the Bureau of Prisons
One of your first considerations in deciding to do business with the
Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is to determine how the Federal
acquisition process works and how to participate in it. BOP
acquisitions are governed by statutes and regulations set out in the
Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Justice Acquisition Regulations
(JAR), and the Bureau's Acquisition Policy (BPAP). The acquisition
process is the system by which a Federal agency obtains the supplies
and services it needs to meet its mission. (Be sure to check out all
the links on this page.)
http://www.cscr.dgs.ca.gov/cscr/contract_ads/display/contract_cat_index.asp
Contracts Register - Contract Advertisements
Category 20 - Commodities
http://www.cscr.dgs.ca.gov/cscr/contract_ads/display/contract_subcat_index.asp?GUID=
Category 20 - Commodities
Select box next to Sub Category desired, and click
Page 2 ? Food
http://www.cscr.dgs.ca.gov/cscr/contract_ads/display/contract_ad_index.asp?GUID=
Contract Advertisement Index by Sub Category:
Food - Food
(There are currently 8 RFP invitations for food, several for the
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), but
none are for meat or chicken. One is for corn dogs.)
At this point, it will be necessary to go back to a higher level
search and see if you can identify opportunities for department.
http://www.cscr.dgs.ca.gov/cscr/contract_ads/display/contract_ad_search_list.asp
Contracts Register - Contract Ad Search Results
Contract Advertisement Opportunities by: Agency - Department of
Corrections & RehabilitationClick the Contract Number of the Ad you
wish to view.
http://www.cscr.dgs.ca.gov/cscr/
What? Why? How? - The Ins and Outs of the CSCR
This is just one avenue of exploration for finding opportunities to
sell frozen chicken to California prisons. There are several other
ways to approach the problem. As you can see, this is a very time
consuming and frustrating project. I?ve given you just one example for
one of the states with a large prison population. You would have to
repeat this process for all the other states.
This research project is simply not productive the way you have it
defined ? no matter what price you set on the question. I?m unlocking
the question so that other researchers can take a stab at it. Maybe
there is a better approach that I haven?t been able to identify.
All the best.
~ czh ~
|
Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
17 Apr 2006 12:41 PDT
novelist-ga,
The comment above, by czh-ga, focuses on doing business with individual states.
As you are aware, many state prisons have contracted out food service
operations to private companies, like Aramark and Sodexho. In these
cases, you would be doing business not with the state itself, but with
the purchasing manager for the private company.
The research challenge then becomes: (1) identifying the 50 largest
state prisons (2) determining for each prison whether the food service
is state-run or privatized, (3) for state run, figuring out complex
purchasing guidelines for the state and (4) for privatized, finding
the appropriate contact person either at the prison or -- for those
that centralize purchasing -- at the company.
As you can see, this is an enormous undertaking, and cannot really be
justified, even at the generous price you have offered.
As an alternative, let me suggest that you ask researchers to identify
the main companies -- other than Sodexho and Aramark -- that operate
prison food services, and find a contact person for each of these
companies...I believe there about ten major players in the business.
It seems the best place to start.
Let me know your thoughts on the approach I am suggesting.
pafalafa-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
novelist-ga
on
18 Apr 2006 12:42 PDT
I am looking for the buyers of frozen food at the various state prisons.Thank you
|
Clarification of Question by
novelist-ga
on
18 Apr 2006 12:44 PDT
Is there a directory or publication that I can purchase that would
give me the information that I need? Any help is appreciated...
|
Request for Question Clarification by
czh-ga
on
18 Apr 2006 14:24 PDT
Dear novelist-ga,
As I've explained at great length, the information is not available in
the format you're looking for. Both pafalafa-ga and I have offered you
alternative research strategies to help you identify the purchasing
agents you're trying to locate. Your most recent question leads me to
believe that you haven't read any of our clarifications.
Wishing you well in your attempts at selling frozen chicken to prisons
and other large institutions.
~ czh ~
|
Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
18 Apr 2006 20:23 PDT
novelist-ga,
Hope we're not laying on too much alternative info, here. Perhaps a
look at the major players in this business would be helpful.
In addition to Aramark (the biggest!) and Sodexho, the biggest
companies involved in food services for correctional facilities appear
to be:
Compass Group North America
CHARLOTTE, NC
www.cgnad.com
[Has a large contract with Corrections Corp. of America for food
service at privately-run CCA prisons]
Valley Services, Inc.
JACKSON, MS
www.valleyservicesi.com
Whitsons Food Services Corp.
HUNTINGTON STATION, NY
www.whitsons.com
CL Swanson Corp.
MADISON, WI
www.swansons.net
Would contact information for these companies be an appropriate answer
to your question?
Let me know what you think.
paf
|
Clarification of Question by
novelist-ga
on
21 Apr 2006 06:05 PDT
I read your comments about food service companies.However, I still
would like to contact the larger state prisons.Thank you .
|
Clarification of Question by
novelist-ga
on
21 Apr 2006 06:09 PDT
I would like direct contact information of the food buyers at the
state prisons.thank you
|
