DC Public Schools (DCPS)

DCPS misses food service deal due date

Schools will scramble to feed kids with just days left on current contract

NBC Universal, Inc.

D.C. Public Schools is yet again delaying a pricy contract to feed students.

The News 4 I-Team learned Tuesday the deal, which is worth upward of $30 million, has not yet been approved by the D.C. attorney general. The I-Team was told the OAG would not certify the contract is “legally sufficient.” 

It is at least the seventh delay for a contract process that initially started in Spring 2022. Since then, according to D.C. online postings and Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, the initial request for proposal was canceled.

Another was issued in November 2022. That has been changed or delayed at least seven times as one due date after another was delayed or missed.

DCPS will now have to find a way to feed students. The current contract, which was supposed to be a stop-gap measure, expires at the end of this month.

The food service contracts are two of the three-dozen deals DCPS paid on without Council approval. That scandal is being examined by D.C.’s Office of the Inspector General.

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