Texas Region 5 ESC Food Service Cooperative Joins the K12 Bid Network



The K-12 Bid Network from Interflex is an on-line service that allows schools the ability to electronically research, create, tabulate and award foodservice bids. The system is designed to work for independent bidding institutions as well as cooperative purchasing organizations. The function of the Bid Network on the cooperative level is to increase operational efficiencies by improving communication between participating districts, fostering a more collaborative effect. Individual directors can log into the account and make any changes to their unique portion of the total co-op bid.

's8220;We have seen a need to improve efficiencies in the institutional foodservice market,'s8221; said Jonathan Fleck, President 's8211; Interflex, Inc. 's8220;By reducing time spent on clerical-based duties, directors and administrators will have more time and resources to provide the best possible menu for the children.'s8221;

With the assistance of the experienced Interflex data entry staff, School Foodservice Directors and Cooperative Purchasing Administrators will now have the opportunity to create bid documents electronically using the service and transform them into printable bid documents for ease of deliverability to the appropriate bidding distributors or manufacturers. When vendor bids are received, the data is entered for each line-item by Interflex, and a tabulation sheet is generated for institutions to review the bid. Winning bidders are selected, and the bids are finalized. The service is also designed to assist schools with the guidelines concerning nutrition labels. Nutrition labels for all products on bid are stored and can be easily accessed for compliance with government audits, parental requests or research purposes.

's8220;We are a district of 30,000 students with 34 campuses. The K-12 bid Network has saved me a tremendous amount of time in data entry for bid tabulation,'s8221; said Shirley Parker, MA, RD, LD of Humble ISD. 's8220;The bid tabulation data is presented in a clear manner that is easy to understand and present to school board members. One of our bidders commented that they loved the bid format, it was easy for the vendor to fill in and she wished more districts would do it like this's8221;

The K-12 Bid Network service also has additional auditing capabilities that allow distributor invoices or velocity reports to be entered and compared against your bid data, which can be used to show any pricing discrepancies, prevent over-charging and improve usage forecasting.

About Interflex, Inc.
Working within the institutional foodservice market since 2000, Interflex has realized the industry is underserved with technology applications and has the planned and developed of a suite of solutions with a specific focus on increasing communication and streamlining the competitive bidding process. Interflex has solutions for all participants involved in institutional foodservice including distributors, manufacturers, and institutions, with industry leading clients such as Sara Lee Corporation, Kellogg's8217;s Corporation, H.J. Heinz Company, General Mills, ConAgra Foods, FoodHandler, Rich-SeaPak Corporation, and Pierre Foods. Interflex is headquartered in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, and can be reached at 1-800-293-2909 or at www.interflex.net.





Texas Region 5 ESC Food Service Cooperative Joins the K12 Bid Network