Retail Scanner Data

Sources Sought Notice

Retail Scanner Data

Sources Sought #1171685-SS

This is a Sources Sought notice Only.  This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations.  This Sources Sought is issued for information and planning purposes only as part of USDA ARS market research and does not itself constitute an RFQ.

General Information

This study will extend the previously estimated Food-at-Home Monthly Area Prices (F-MAP) data set for 2023, 2024, and 2025. This project responds to the intense interest in access to healthy and affordable food in the United States. Specifically, it will (1) estimate weights and statistical replicate weights for retail scanner data for 2023 and 2024, (2) map UPCs in retail scanner data to 90 ERS Food Purchase Groups (EFPG), and (3) estimate panel price indexes for the 90 EFPGs in 10 metropolitan areas, 4 Census regions and the United States. Additionally, the results of this and previous research about the food price environment (4) will be disseminated to ERS employees through training, and (5) help ERS staff to estimate the 2025 F-MAP and address inconsistencies in past deliverables. 

Proprietary retail scanner data are the backbone of many USDA high-profile and high-impact research products and are used widely across the agency and academic institutions to answer research questions relevant to the USDA mission. For example, research using retail scanner data includes (1) real-time economic surveillance of food prices that are of interest to the administration; (2) estimating the affordability of healthy foods; (3) evaluation of the Food Safety Modernization Act, (4) estimation of the relationship between food choices and food prices. According to a recent ERS report, the number of stores and the sales coverage in the retail scanner data obtained by ERS are underreported in some geographic areas. To overcome this challenge, ERS developed retail scanner weights for 2012-2022 that allow projection of the retail stores included in the data purchased by USDA to the population of stores in the United States. This allows price measures like the F-MAP and other analyses using the retail scanner data to be more representative of the national food retailing environment.

Retail scanner data are also used to construct price indices that vary geographically to understand the role of the local food price environment and food availability on Americans’ healthy food choice decisions. For example, researchers have studied how local food access and pricing affect household behavior, how regional variation in prices affects the value of the WIC fruit and vegetable voucher, and how geographic variation in food prices affects healthy food choices for participants of USDA food assistance programs. The 2012-2022 F-MAP incorporates these newly developed retail weights and are more representative of the U.S. food market and of local food environments. These improved data products will allow USDA to calculate more accurate food basket costs, conduct a broader range of studies using scanner data, and improve measures of the food price environment using the most recently available data.

This Sources Sought is only for the purpose of identifying potential sources as part of USDA ARS market research. The Government does not intend to make an award based on responses to this inquiry. This notice does not constitute a commitment by the Government.

Responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible.  

The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capability of qualified sources including any Small Businesses; HUBZone small business; service-disabled, veteran-owned small business; 8(a) small business; veteran-owned small business; woman-owned small business; or small disadvantaged businesses. This is also to obtain information on the availability of domestically available end-products. Please state if you are a large business or a small business according to the NAICS code listed in this Sources Sought.

All information submitted in response to this announcement is voluntary, and the Government will not pay for information requested nor will it compensate any respondent for any cost incurred in developing information provided to the Government.

Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response defines how it can specifically meet the specifications for the items requested.  Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted.  After reviewing the responses received, a Combined Synopsis Solicitation notice may be published on Sam.gov.

Submit ALL the Following in order to be a valid response to this Sources Sought Notice:

1. Capability Statement and that demonstrates your ability to meet all of the specific requirements of Statement of Work and must include Company Contact Info.
2. SAM.gov UEI Number.
3. Identify if you are a Large business or a Small business with NACIS 541720.

Original Point of Contact: All responses to this Sources Sought Notice must be received by August 17, 2027 by 9:00 AM PT, the specified due date and time to be considered and must include all items requested above. 

Email responses to Elizabeth Calhoun at Elizabeth.Calhoun@usda.gov.

Responses will not be returned. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this Inquiry.

Do not submit pricing information in response to this Request.