Name: Officials Say Company Is Failing to Deliver Emergency Food for Vermonters | Off Message
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Officials Say Company Is Failing to Deliver Emergency Food for Vermonters | Off Message

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Seven Days needs your financial support!Switch to the of this page.| | | | |Vermont's Independent Voice|A federal contractor overseeing a pandemic food insecurity program&nbsp;has failed to live up to its obligations in Vermont,&nbsp;potentially leaving hundreds of families without access to emergency supplies, according to the state's congressional delegation.,&nbsp;Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) slammed&nbsp;New Jersey-based Global Trading Enterprises over its performance during the most&nbsp;recent round of the Farmers to Families Food Box program and&nbsp;urged the Biden administration to select another vendor to complete the contract."The failures of Global Trading [Enterprises] have made the program nearly inoperable in Vermont, leaving hungry Vermonters without the food they need," the lawmakers wrote in a press release, describing the company's service as "disorganized, inadequate, and opaque."The Farmers to Families Food Box program was designed to&nbsp;address a pandemic-related spike in food insecurity by connecting needy families with American-grown products. The program has distributed more than 130 million boxes since May 2020.The Abbey Group, an Enosburg Falls company, &nbsp;and successfully delivered more than 550,000 boxes last summer.&nbsp;But the U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded the last three contracts to out-of-state companies "solely based on the lowest bid,"&nbsp;the lawmakers said, and advocates have since reported distribution challenges.The latest contract was announced&nbsp;January 19, the last full day of the Trump presidency. Global Trading Enterprises is now&nbsp;being paid $25.2 million to deliver the food boxes&nbsp;in Vermont, New York and&nbsp;Pennsylvania through April 30.Though it's common for the federal government to award contracts to the lowest bidder, Vermont's federal lawmakers argue that&nbsp;Global Trading's bid was too&nbsp;low.Their reasoning? The company is delivering boxes to only seven&nbsp;locations in just five of Vermont's 14 counties, they said. One&nbsp;local food shelf leader — who is not named in the letter — was even told that she would need to drive to the next county and wait in line for hours, the lawmakers wrote, "just for the possibility of receiving boxes when the delivery arrived.""We are sure you will agree that this is a complete failure on the part of the vendor, which is required under their contract with the USDA to provide last mile delivery," the lawmakers wrote.Leahy, Welch and Sanders are now asking the Biden administration to end the contract early and&nbsp;"thoroughly" investigate any violations to date. They said the contract should be put out to bid again to cover the last two months, and called on the&nbsp;USDA to consider past performance and prioritize vendors with successful track records when awarding the next bid.Correction, February 22, 2021: Due to a source error, Global Trading Enterprises was misidentified in an earlier version of this story. The company is based in New Jersey.Tags: , , , , , ,Send aand we'll publish your feedback in print!&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;Top StoriesAdvertisement:Comments are closed.Since 2014, Seven Days has allowed readers to comment on all stories posted on our website. While we’ve appreciated the suggestions and insights, the time has come to shut them down — at least temporarily.While we champion free speech, facts are a matter of life and death during the coronavirus pandemic, and right now Seven Days is prioritizing the production of responsible journalism over moderating online debates between readers.To criticize, correct or praise our reporting, please Or . We’ll check it out and report the results.Online comments may return when we have better tech tools for managing them. Thanks for reading.All content© 2021Da Capo Publishing, Inc.255 So. Champlain St. Ste. 5,Burlington, VT 05401&nbsp;|&nbsp;Website powered by

Seven Days needs your financial support!Switch to the of this page.| | | | |Vermont's Independent Voice|A federal contractor overseeing a pandemic food insecurity program&nbsp;has failed to live up to its obligations in Vermont,&nbsp;potentially leaving hundreds of families without access to emergency supplies, according to the state's congressional delegation.,&nbsp;Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) slammed&nbsp;New Jersey-based Global Trading Enterprises over its performance during the most&nbsp;recent round of the Farmers to Families...

Officials Say Company Is Failing to Deliver Emergency Food for Vermonters | Off Message

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