Loading...
Good Food Purchasing Policy reflects multiple values of diverse stakeholders. Therefore, maximum transparency, along with adequate time for public review and comments, are essential to ensure the best possible outcomes for Department and Agency procurement decisions to reflect GFPP values to the greatest degree possible, and to charter an ever-improving path towards greater sustainability in Boston food procurement. Departments and Agencies must therefore balance the legitimate confidentiality needed for maintaining the integrity of a fair, competitive process with the right of the public to have adequate time with and access to all relevant information, in order to provide meaningful comments to the Departments and Agencies and their respective final decision-makers for the purpose of improving the implementation of the Good Food Purchasing Policy in the future.
(A) A representative from the Office of Neighborhood Services, as a representative of city constituents, shall serve as a member of the Departmental or Agency team evaluating responses to procurement requests.
(B) Within 60 days of final approval and acceptance of responses to procurement requests, the Department or Agency shall hold a public hearing on the final response chosen.
(1) At least 30 days prior to the public hearing, the Department or Agency shall make available for public comment on an Agency website:
(a) The Department or Agency’s evaluation process and rationale for selection of the final response;
(b) All successful and unsuccessful responses to procurement requests, along with all supporting information, including, but not limited to, the GFPP scoring method, for all responses; and
(c) Except that no confidential business information protected by the commonwealth will be included in the release of the information required in these Subsections.
(2) The Agency shall compile and forward all public comments, along with the public hearing record, to the Community Advisory Council created in Subsection 4-9.4.
(CBC 1985 4-9.3; Ord. 2019 c. 1 § 1)
The head of the respective Department or Agency shall convene a Community Advisory Council comprised of community stakeholders, including a minimum of one representative from each of the GFPP value categories, including those as delineated in Subsection 4-9.1 to support Departments and Agencies in the process of implementation as laid out in this Section and ongoing as requested by Departments and Agencies.
(CBC 1985 4-9.4; Ord. 2019 c. 1 § 1)
(A) Participating City Departments and Agencies shall provide annual progress reports, including compliance data, to the City Council. Such progress reports shall be made readily available to the public online and in print by request.
(B) Within two years of completion of the baseline assessments, each participating Department and Agency will begin requesting an annual assessment from the Center for Good Food Purchasing. The Departments and Agencies will hold public annual hearings where they will present their GFPP assessment, to receive public comment on the progress made by each respective Department or Agency, and associated suppliers, toward more sustainable procurement under the Good Food Purchasing Program. Community stakeholders will have sufficient time to ask questions and make public comment. All Department or Agency assessments will be made publicly available online and at Boston Public Libraries in print form at least 30 days prior to the hearing.
(CBC 1985 4-9.5; Ord. 2019 c. 1 § 1)