logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

DC Central Kitchen Raises Questions about Lost Food Service Contract

Steve Dubb
March 20, 2019
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
Used with permission from DC Central Kitchen.

March 14, 2019; Washington City Paper

Earlier this year, NPQ ran a story about a social enterprise in Modesto that lost out on a contract because it was outbid by a private vendor. At the time, we wondered whether the social benefit of gainful employment for disabled residents provided by the nonprofit might’ve justified the city accepting the nonprofit’s bid, even though the city would gain an additional $18,000 by contracting with the for-profit. In that case, however, at least the reason for the city’s decision was clear.

Now, from Washington, DC comes a stranger case. Here, a nonprofit social enterprise outbid its for-profit competitor on price—and lost $800,000 worth of business anyway.

The nonprofit in question, DC Central Kitchen, runs a reentry program that trains returning citizens (formerly incarcerated individuals) in culinary careers while providing healthy meals for schools, catering events, and helping local farmers by purchasing “seconds” from nearby farms. In its last fiscal year, the nonprofit graduated 86 people from its culinary training program, with an 87 percent placement rate (and with 85 percent still employed one year after placement). The nonprofit generated over $9 million in revenue, covering more than half of the nonprofit’s total expenses. All told, the nonprofit provides three million meals a year for homeless shelters, schools, and nonprofits. The 30-year-old social enterprise was also recently featured on an NPQ webinar.

Morgan Baskin, writing for the Washington City Paper, explains that the contract in question “is managed by an organization called The Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness (TCP), a social services nonprofit that the local city government pays over $80 million annually to operate a number of local homeless shelters.”

“TCP has long paid DC Central Kitchen to serve the majority of meals provided to sheltered homeless residents in the District,” notes Baskin, adding, “In recent years, the organization’s annual contract with TCP has covered 10 shelters and was worth about $2.2 million, a number that decreased slightly to $1.8 million as District agencies wound down and eventually ceased operation of the DC General shelter last year.”

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

But in 2018, the city finalized its master contract with TCP and the group in turn re-opened the bidding process for its subcontracts. And DC Central Kitchen lost contracts involving providing “roughly half a million meals per year at the city’s largest shelter sites” to Henry’s, a small private for-profit restaurant and catering business.

Alexander Moore, development officer for DC Central Kitchen, speculates that Henry’s may have won the contract because it is a certified business enterprise (CBE)—a local business that receives preference in procurement. DC Central Kitchen is also based locally, but apparently cannot qualify as a CBE because it is a nonprofit.

Under its new agreement with TCP, DC Central Kitchen serves only 800 meals per day across five shelters, down from 2,500 meals a day at 10 shelters. It is also, notes Baskin, “reimbursed at a lower rate per meal than Henry’s—at $3.05 for breakfast and $3.50 for dinner, compared with Henry’s’ $3.20 and $5.18, respectively— according to budget documents submitted to the DC Council by the city’s Department of Human Services.” Baskin adds that, “Henry’s will also receive $3.75 for a ‘specialty breakfast,’ $5.18 for lunch, and $7.50 for ‘specialty dinner.’” By contrast, “DC Central Kitchen will not be reimbursed for these offerings,” Baskin explains.

The loss in contract income, notes Moore, has “jeopardized more than a dozen jobs we’re fighting to keep.”

In response, the nonprofit has called for greater transparency in the bidding process. “It’s a structural problem because it’s a sub-vendor relationship,” Moore tells Baskin. “This is an opportunity to rethink whether food service should be part of TCP’s master shelter contract, or managed separately,” Moore adds.—Steve Dubb

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
About the author
Steve Dubb

Steve Dubb is senior editor of economic justice at NPQ, where he writes articles (including NPQ’s Economy Remix column), moderates Remaking the Economy webinars, and works to cultivate voices from the field and help them reach a broader audience. Prior to coming to NPQ in 2017, Steve worked with cooperatives and nonprofits for over two decades, including twelve years at The Democracy Collaborative and three years as executive director of NASCO (North American Students of Cooperation). In his work, Steve has authored, co-authored, and edited numerous reports; participated in and facilitated learning cohorts; designed community building strategies; and helped build the field of community wealth building. Steve is the lead author of Building Wealth: The Asset-Based Approach to Solving Social and Economic Problems (Aspen 2005) and coauthor (with Rita Hodges) of The Road Half Traveled: University Engagement at a Crossroads, published by MSU Press in 2012. In 2016, Steve curated and authored Conversations on Community Wealth Building, a collection of interviews of community builders that Steve had conducted over the previous decade.

More about: government contractsManagement and LeadershipNonprofit NewsSocial Enterprise

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

Spring-2023-sidebar-subscribe
You might also like
Hierarchy and Justice
Cyndi Suarez
Want Effective Stakeholder Governance? Say Hello to Social Cooperatives
J. Howard Kucher
Salvadoran Foreign Agent Law Threatens Human Rights Movements
Devon Kearney
Charitable Tax Reform: Why Half Measures Won’t Curb Plutocracy
Alan Davis
Healing-Centered Leadership: A Path to Transformation
Shawn A. Ginwright
Into the Fire: Lessons from Movement Conflicts
Ingrid Benedict, Weyam Ghadbian and Jovida Ross

NPQ Webinars

April 27th, 2 pm ET

Liberatory Decision-Making

How to Facilitate and Engage in Healthy Decision-making Processes

Register Now
You might also like
Hierarchy and Justice
Cyndi Suarez
Want Effective Stakeholder Governance? Say Hello to Social...
J. Howard Kucher
Salvadoran Foreign Agent Law Threatens Human Rights...
Devon Kearney

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

NPQ-Spring-2023-cover

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.