Food Policy Standards

With the passage of Local Law 50 of 2011 (LL50), City agencies have helped provide New Yorkers with fresh, healthy, and delicious food produced locally in New York State (NYS). The Mayor’s Office of Contract Services, in consultation with the Director of the Mayor’s Office of Food Policy, promulgated guidelines for City agencies to increase procurement of food from NYS growers and producers. LL50 includes an annual report of direct and indirect local food purchases by the City.

Background

City agencies purchase food directly and indirectly from food vendors. Most direct food purchases are made by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) on behalf of City agencies. Sourcing local food from NYS growers is a priority and there are contracting mechanisms that support locally grown food.

City agencies indirectly procure food through contracts with vendors to deliver services. The NYS food procurement guidelines extend to contracts that have $100,000 or more in spending related to food.

New York State Food Purchasing Guidelines

Local Law 50 of 2011 required MOCS to establish guidelines for City agencies that assist in increasing the purchase of New York State food through food purchase and food-related services contracts. City agencies use the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets (NYSDAM) list of food items available from New York State sources.

Download the New York State Food Purchasing Guidelines (Updated July 18, 2024)
Download the New York State Foods Reference List

Local Law 50 of 2011 also requires the CCPO to report on the efforts during the preceding fiscal year to implement the city guidelines for the purchase of New York state food. The LL50 report summarizes the total volume of food reported by respondents as purchased during the fiscal year from NYS sources. The data is gathered from vendor surveys. The survey is historically difficult for vendors to complete, especially nonprofit providers who are the majority of indirect food purchasers. The breadth of questions and data collection is vast, and providers do not typically track this data on an ongoing basis. MOCS will continue its collaboration with vendors and the Office of Food Policy to consider opportunities to revise this data collection exercise and to streamline the preparation of the final report.

Download the Fiscal 2016 Local Law 50 Report
Download the Fiscal 2017 Local Law 50 Report
Download the Fiscal 2018 Local Law 50 Report
Download the Fiscal 2019 Local Law 50 Report
Download the Fiscal 2020 Local Law 50 Report
Download the Fiscal 2021 Local Law 50 Report
Download the Fiscal 2022 Local Law 50 Report
Download the Fiscal 2023 Local Law 50 Report
Download the Fiscal 2024 Local Law 50 Report
Download the Fiscal 2025 Local Law 50 Report

Vendor Resources For Nonprofits with City Contracts

To help its nonprofit human service partners leverage their purchasing power, and reduce administrative costs, the City has established a Group Purchasing partnership with Essensa.

More information on Group Purchasing.

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Greenmarket Co.

Greenmarket Co., GrowNYC's new Long Island City based wholesale local food distribution hub, brings farm grown produce at good prices to New York City neighborhoods. Greenmarket Co. delivers local produce to bodegas, grocery stores, caterers, restaurants, institutional buyers and more, as well as brokering deals between purchasers and regional farmers. The hub also serves as a central distribution point to move wholesale produce to GrowNYC's food access initiatives including Youth market farm stands, YUM Food Box, healthy school fundraisers along with sourcing for city and other projects such as DOE's Garden to Café program and more.
Learn more about GrowNYC

GrowNYC's Wholesale Greenmarket

The Wholesale Greenmarket facilitates sales between wholesale buyers such as small grocers, institutions, restaurants, and distributors and small- and medium-sized growers from New York and adjacent states.
Learn more about Greenmarket.

Farmers Markets

Farmers markets can often accommodate agencies who have services or contractors purchasing in small amounts.
List of farmers markets

Farmers Web

Farmers Web is an online marketplace connecting local farms with wholesale buyers. Farms post and maintain their current availability along with delivery settings. Buyers can browse by item or farm and shop directly online. On Farmers Web, buyers can learn about the farms, growing methods used, and where the products are coming from.
Learn more about Farmers Web

Pure Catskills

Pure Catskills is a buy local campaign aimed at supporting the local food community in the Catskills region. We work with hundreds of farm and food businesses throughout Delaware, Greene, Otsego, Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster Counties in New York State. Access the searchable database of producers online or request a printed copy.
Learn more about Pure Catskills

Purchasers can connect to farmers through Food Hubs.
Learn more about Food Hubs

Agency Solicitations

Under New York State General Municipal Law (GML) §103, City agencies have a number of procurement tools to increase their options for purchasing New York State food products. For any direct purchase of food products covered by this option, pursuant to City Charter §329(b), the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) or the Department of Education’s Division of Contracts and Purchasing (DCP) would be the purchaser. For food-related services, such as catering or meal delivery services, City agencies could be the purchasers.

These tools include the following:

Mandates to purchase products coming from NYS. The purchasing agency may mandate that a particular product, e.g., apples, come from New York State, thereby limiting competition to bidders that can supply such products, rather than similar products sourced from other locations.
Best Value procurements. In addition to the above-described bid solicitation term that specifically prefers New York State food products, purchasing agencies may use the new “best value” provisions of GML §103 to craft solicitations that consider the quality and efficiency of the food being purchased, such as whether the product is being grown, processed, or distributed by a New York State vendor.
Applicability to procurements for human services. For City agencies that procure human services contracts that include (as part of their scopes of work) the provision of food products, the solicitations for those programs may incorporate requirements applicable to such provision of food products, along the lines described above in a) and b). Service providers responding to such solicitations may be evaluated with regard to their experience, organizational capability and/or approach to ensuring the appropriate use of New York State food products in their programs.

Where a New York State food product sourcing requirement is a material term of the contract, agencies may require vendors to submit reports detailing the source of the food provided and/or require vendors to ensure that all cases of New York State food products are labeled as such.