SPECIAL NOTICE TO THE TRADE
USDA Announces Reassignment of the Farm Service Agency Domestic
Procurement Division Staff and Activities to the Agricultural Marketing Service
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the reassignment of the Farm Service Agency's (FSA) Domestic Procurement Division to the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS).
The reassignment went into effect Sunday, July 26, at which time the FSA employees and their functions officially became part of the AMS's Commodity Procurement Staff (AMS CPS), under the directorship of David Tuckwiller. Physically, the staff will remain at their present location in Kansas City, Missouri; AMS CPS is headquartered in Washington, DC. Staff duties and responsibilities will remain unchanged, with the Kansas City office conducting the procurement of "Group B" commodities (grains, dairy, oilseed products), and the Washington office purchasing "Group A" commodities (meat, poultry, fish, fruits, and vegetables). Attached to this Notice you will find an organizational chart for AMS CPS.
We are very pleased to welcome these dedicated procurement professionals to our Agency and our team. We have worked alongside and have collaborated with them for many years, and know they bring with them a wealth of knowledge and experience in federal contracting, food procurement, and bring their respective agriculture and food industries expertise. Like us, they are dedicated to supporting American agriculture through USDA Foods purchases.
We are equally pleased to welcome the vendors and affiliated industry organizations for the Group B commodities to AMS commodity purchase programs. FSA domestic procurement activities align closely with the AMS Mission, which is to facilitate the competitive and efficient marketing of agricultural products. AMS CPS’s approach to this mission is strongly collaborative, and we recognize the value of industry involvement in the continuous evolution and improvement of our purchase programs.
We hope the vendors currently involved with FSA domestic procurement activities will join AMS at our 2015 Annual Industry Meeting for USDA Foods Contractors and Suppliers. The two day meeting is October 27 and 28, in Arlington, Virginia, and is an excellent opportunity to meet with USDA staff and fellow contractors, discuss program initiatives and upcoming changes, and contribute to improving AMS purchase programs. Pre-registration is required and will open later this summer. Look for more information about this upcoming event!
Information about AMS commodity purchase programs can be found on the AMS website, www.ams.usda.gov/commoditypurchasing. AMS is launching a new agencywide website in the very near future, and appropriate FSA resources will be integrated into the AMS webpages at that time. Meanwhile, Group B domestic procurement information is still available on the FSA website, and solicitations and awards can be found on the WBSCM Public Procurement Page, https://portal.wbscm.usda.gov/publicprocurement. AMS will share more information about the new website in the coming weeks.
If you have questions about the reassignment of the FSA Domestic Procurement operations to AMS, please feel free to contact us at 816-926-6124 (Kansas City) or 202-720-4517 (Washington, DC).
Anne L. Alonzo
Administrator
Agricultural Marketing Service
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