Board struggles with jail food contract

A half-pound cookie and fish sticks are gumming up DuPage County's plans to award a new food service contract.

The county board has had to bid out the service three times this year and still has yet to award the contract, worth about $1 million.

Pennsylvania-based Aramark has held the contract for more than a decade but lost it in May when it was apparently outbid by Minnesota-based A'viands.

Aramark sued the county after losing the contract. County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom revoked the winning bid, then ordered the contract re-bid because of Aramark's concerns that A'viands' bid didn't measure up to nutritional requirements.

Schillerstrom also gave A'viands a temporary contract to provide food service in the jail until the matter was sorted out.

When the second round of bids were unsealed in August, the county staff determined none of the bids measured up nutritionally. So a nutritionist was hired to create a menu the food service providers could base the bids on.

The third set of bids was received recently, but not without controversy.

Assistant DuPage County State's Attorney Anna Harkins said Aramark changed some of the menu items in its bid, thereby creating a "competitive disadvantage" that nullified the company's bid. Staff recommended awarding the contract to A'viands.

The contract calls for A'viands to provide three hot meals a day for DuPage County jail inmates and officers at a cost of 92.5 cents per meal, or $850,075 throughout the life of the contract.

However, at Tuesday's meeting Aramark officials argued the menu in the bid request was filled with ambiguous portion requests. They cited cookie portion requirements for one week that read "1/54 cut" on Monday, "eight ounces" on Wednesday and "two slices" on Friday. They also complained about designations between fish and breaded fish on the menu.

Harkins said Aramark officials never called during the most recent bid process to clarify any of the nutritional requirements.

Board members agreed to send the measure back to the judicial committee for further debate and extend A'viands' temporary contract through February.