Request for Proposal for Jail Food Services and Commissary Provider for SCCJC and Juvenile Detention
| Agency: | Skagit County |
|---|---|
| State: | Washington |
| Type of Government: | State & Local |
| NAICS Category: |
|
| Posted Date: | Dec 23, 2025 |
| Due Date: | Feb 19, 2026 |
| Original Source: | Please Login to View Page |
| Contact information: | Please Login to View Page |
| Bid Documents: | Please Login to View Page |
|
Skagit County is seeking proposals from qualified corrections food service and commissary providers. Skagit County is interested in obtaining services for:
Meals are provided to both SCCJC and Juvenile detention three (3) times per day, 365 days per year. Additional qualifications and requirements can be found in the RFP. Questions about this project may be directed to:
CJ Andersen, Administrative Lieutenant
Skagit County Sheriff’s Office-Corrections Bureau
201 Suzanne Lane
Mount Vernon, WA. 98273
360-416-1960
Each proposal must be received by the date and time set for closing receipt of offers. RFP is due no later than 4:30pm PST February 19th, 2026, electronically submitted to candersen@co.skagit.wa.us |
||
|
Attachment Preview
REQUEST FOR
JAIL FOOD SERVICES AND COMMISSARY PROVIDER FOR
SKAGIT COUNTY COMMUNITY JUSTICE CENTER
AND JUVENILE DETENTION
SECTION 1 - Introduction
Skagit County is seeking proposals from qualified correctional food service and commissary
providers. Any potential service provider must have an extreme attention to detail and
awareness of security and safety requirements necessary for working with and alongside the
Justice Center and Detention Center population and corrections and detention staff.
Food Provision:
The selected provider will be required to provide three meals, with the breakfast meal being
cold, to inmates and staff at the Skagit County Justice Center (SCJC) located at located at 201
Suzanne Lane, Mount Vernon, Washington and three meals plus an evening snack to for
juvenile detainees to be delivered to 605 S. 3rd St. Mount Vernon, WA. 98273. Provider
must also offer hot commissary for SCJC detainees for purchase. Meals and hot commissary
shall be prepared on site at SCJC facilities kitchen using inmate labor. Provider will be
required to supervise inmate workers, providing mentoring skills and inmate training
services. The supervision of inmates by the staff of the selected provider should focus first
on security and meal preparation, but secondly upon assisting the inmate workers to
develop both hard and soft employment skills that will increase opportunities for obtaining
continuing employment upon release.
Commissary:
Selected provider to provide snacks, various food items, limited clothing, indigent kits,
hygiene items and other approved goods for sale. Items for purchase must be stored offsite
and delivered to inmates at SCJC. Commissary payment and ordering system must have
seamless integration with County’s current technology systems for payment, which is
Lockdown.
SECTION 2 - Scope of Work
The successful Service Provider generally will provide the following:
•
Daily food services include breakfast, lunch and dinner for Skagit County
Community Justice Center Inmates, Juvenile Detention detainees and
correctional staff. Additionally, Provider will provide an evening snack for those
in juvenile detention. Meals and snacks provided to juvenile detention will
1
require delivery from the Provider to juvenile detention located at 605 S. 3rd St.
Mount Vernon, WA. 98273.
•
Development and implementation of a food service plan with clear
objectives, policies and procedures and with a process of documenting
ongoing achievement of contract obligations (annual evaluations of
compliance).
•
The operation of a kitchen (including kitchen sanitation and
cleanliness), using only properly trained, experienced and licensed
permitted food service professionals.
•
Food services will utilize inmate workers on site at the Justice Center.
•
Mentoring and development of transferable job skills to promote inmate
worker employment readiness.
•
Successful integration with Lockdown for commissary services.
•
Provision of commissary items including hot items, food items, limited clothing,
hygiene items and indigent kits. See the attached Scope of Work for further detail
on the required deliverables
SECTION 3 - Provider Selection
All Providers, by submitting proposals, agree that they have read and are familiar with the
complete terms, conditions and specifications provided in this request for food and
commissary services provider (RFS), and will abide by the terms, conditions, and
specifications thereof.
3.1 Contract Form
The selected Provider and County will negotiate contract terms. If Provider has any
non-negotiable contract terms, Provider should indicate such as part of its proposal.
3.2 Communications
It is the responsibility of the Provider to read and understand all parts of the RFS.
Providers may submit questions concerning this solicitation up to the date listed in
the schedule below. All questions and responses will be shared with all Provider that
have submitted a letter of intent. All communications regarding this RFS from
Providers and other interested parties must be directed through:
CJ Andersen, Administrative Corrections Lieutenant
Skagit County Community Justice Center
Email: candersen@co.skagit.wa.us
Address: 201 Suzanne Lane.
Mount Vernon, WA 98273
Phone: (360) 416-1960
Fax: (360) 416-1924
2
3.3 Admonition to Service Providers - No Waiver of Formality
Once this RFS has been issued, the individual identified above is the sole point of
contact for any inquiries or information pertaining to this RFS. No waiver of any term
of the Terms and Conditions contained in this RFS shall be deemed a further or
continuing waiver of such term or any other term.
3.4 Instructions to Providers
3.4.1 Schedule
This request for proposals will be managed according to the following schedule:
Formal issuance to Providers
Letter of intent from Providers
Notification of SCCJC Tour Attendance
Tour of SCCJC
Deadline for submitting questions
Deadline for Receiving proposal & required responses
Approximate Date of Notification of Provider Short List
Provider Presentations (if requested by Skagit County)
Scheduled food service start date
12/23/2025
1/13/2026
1/21/2026
1/29/2026 6:30pm
2/13/2026
2/19/2026
3/3/2026
To be determined
5/01/2026
Interested Providers are strongly encouraged to submit a letter of interest to
the listed Skagit County Communications contact (see Paragraph 3.2) by
1/13/2026 to ensure receiving notice of any questions and clarifications
concerning this solicitation.
Additionally, Providers who desire to be considered by SKAGIT COUNTY must
first complete and submit their proposal to SKAGIT COUNTY by the deadline
shown above. Providers who do not complete this submittal by the date set
above risk the potential of their proposal not being considered. Further, SKAGIT
COUNTY reserves the right to eliminate a Provider from further consideration
based on answers provided in the Provider’s submittal which do not meet
SKAGIT COUNTY’s requirements.
3.4.2
Provider Tour
Providers will have the opportunity to tour the SKAGIT COUNTY Community
Justice Center’s to view the Skagit County Community Justice Center’s kitchen
layout and very limited on-site commissary storage space (limited to a few
shelves) Providers are strongly encouraged to participate in the kitchen tour.
The Tour is currently scheduled to occur on January 29, 2026, at 6:30 PM.
Providers are limited to sending a maximum of two representatives on the
tour. Providers are required to notify the Communications contact (paragraph
3
3.2) by end of business January 21, 2026. if they are planning on attending the
tour. SKAGIT COUNTY has the right to deny entry to anyone and/or restrict any
items coming into the jail.
3.4.3
Proposal Submission Deadline
Provider responses and proposals must be received by no later than 5:00 p.m.
(PST) on February 19, 2026. Proposals may be submitted by Fax, E-mail or USPS
physical mail (physical mail must be received by the deadline) to the above
listed contact in Sec. 3.2. Any Provider failing to submit information in
accordance with the procedures set forth in this Request for Food Service and
Commissary Providers may be considered unresponsive and subject to
disqualification by SKAGIT COUNTY.
3.4.4 Submittal Materials
Prospective Providers must provide the following materials as part of their initial
submittal:
•
Cover Letter, Food Service and Commissary Description which shall contain at a
minimum how Provider is going to meet all the requirements set forth in this
RFS (including items described in the Scope of Work) and specific descriptions
addressing the following information:
A. Describe your proposed system for each of the following:
1. Food Procurement and Inventory Control
2. Staffing levels, job specifications and descriptions for all
positions. At a minimum, there must be at least two staff
present anytime inmates are in the kitchen area. Explain
your backup plan to maintain minimum staffing. Also, please
describe your employee screening and training process.
3. An employee staffing table indicating the proposed kitchen
staffing, including hours covered, supervision, and plans for
covering unexpected absences, holidays and vacations.
4. A description of the inmate training program including
curriculum and schedule for training and documentation
process.
5. Number of inmate workers requested and times needed.
6. Specific types of work assigned to inmate workers.
7. Planned schedule for monitoring on-site staff.
8. Experience in working with correctional facilities (a minimum
of five years of experience of correctional on food
preparation required).
9. Plan on providing offsite commissary to be delivered to the
jail facility. Provision of hot commissary items to be prepared
at the jail kitchen. Please include your customer service plan
4
for addressing issues with order errors, damaged goods, and
other commissary order issues.
10. Commissary item list with prices and any applicable pricing
increase matrix. See Exhibit A.
11. List of Hot Commissary items including prices.
B. Describe your plans and policies to cover the following emergency
situations:
1. Food shortages (including commissary items) and menu
changes
2. Lockdowns
3. Equipment failure
4. Staffing shortfalls (both Service Provider staff and Inmate
Workers) due to illness, employee denied entry to Justice
Center, or other emergencies
5. Extreme weather
6. Utility Outage
7. Food recalls
C. Description of Service Providers proposed quality assurance program
including HACCP guidelines.
D. Describe how Service Provider will utilize government surplus or other
entitlements
E. Specifically address your capacity and ability to commence food
services by MAY 1, 2026.
•
Proposed solution and break out of cost to provide meal preparation for Skagit
County’s Juvenile Detention, and, secondly, the proposed solution and break
out of cost to provide meal preparation INCLUDING delivery of meals to the
Juvenile Detention Center located at 603 South 3rd Street in Mount Vernon,
WA.
•
Include a Registered Dietitian approved 12-week Cycle Menu (for both Adult
and Juvenile) including meal plans for any alternative diets which may be
ordered/required by inmates. Please be sure to list AS portion sizes which
follow the nutritional guidelines established by the National Commission on
Correctional Health Care and assure that the meals provide no more than 33%
fat (10% saturated fat). Juvenile meals must be compliant with OSPI and other
applicable standards for
• Sample menus must be representative of the actual menus proposed
for service and must include an item-by-item computer nutritional
analysis of the menu with a weekly summary indicating the
percentage of compliance to the highest Recommended Dietary
Allowances and the Dietary Reference Intakes. This analysis must be
signed by a registered dietitian and must include a copy of the
5
This page summarizes the opportunity, including an overview and a preview of the attached documents.
* Disclaimer: This website provides information about bids, requests for proposals (RFPs), or requests for qualifications (RFQs) for convenience only and does not serve as an official public notice. Individuals who wish to respond to or inquire about bids, RFPs, or RFQs should contact the relevant government department directly.
Sign-up for a Free Trial, Government Bid Alerts
With Free Trial, you can:
You will have a full access to bids, website, and receive daily bid report via email and web.
See Also
Follow Regional Refuse Collection, Disposal, and Recycling Services for Naval District Washington (NDW)
DEPT OF DEFENSE
Bid Due: 6/18/2026
Follow NHB Medical Linen and Laundry Services Active Contract Opportunity Notice ID HT941026Q2038
DEPT OF DEFENSE
Bid Due: 6/08/2026
Project ID: ITB# SU0-6732 Title: Iron and Metal Recycling Addenda: 0 Release Date:
City of Seattle
Bid Due: 7/10/2026
Project: 2026 Flagging & Traffic Control Services Ref. #: 2026 Department: Clark Regional
Sammamish Plateau Water
Bid Due: 6/11/2026