The Cuban government has begun outlining the procedure to award through bidding the management of food establishments within the Family Care System (SAF) to other economic actors, including the non-state sector, amid increasing difficulties for the State to sustain this program aimed at vulnerable individuals on its own.
The Ministry of Domestic Trade (Mincin) detailed this Friday the steps that municipal commerce companies must follow when they decide to modify the administrative management of the establishments that provide services to the SAF.
The first step will be to publicly announce the "possibility of management by other economic actors," along with the list and location of available establishments in each municipality. Interested parties will have 7 business days to submit their projects.
Once the proposals are received, the municipal company must evaluate them and decide whether to call for a public or restricted tender. Subsequently, the terms of reference will be drawn up outlining the conditions and requirements for managing the establishment, and the process will be formally opened.
According to the procedure published by Mincin, the reception of offers and the selection of bidders with the best projects must be carried out within a period of 10 business days from the start of the call, with the participation of the Municipal Directorate of Commerce.
The award will not be automatic. The selected proposal will need to be presented to the Social Policy Attention Group of the local Council and subsequently to the Municipal Administration Council for approval.
Once the new manager is chosen, the authorities will need to determine what will happen with the existing supplies and fixed assets, the status of the employees, and the contracts for supplies and services, which may be terminated to update them in the name of the economic actor that is awarded the contract.
The final step will be the signing of a contract that will obligate the new manager to maintain the provision of the SAF service and will establish, among other aspects, the conditions for using the property, a maintenance and recovery plan for the equipment, the handling of existing assets, and the relationship with the community organizations and factors related to the program.
The contract also includes the use of the SAF Identity Manual and renewable energy sources for service management, according to information released by Domestic Trade.
In rural and hard-to-reach areas where there are no dining establishments, it is even considered that the service could be provided through community food homes or by individuals in their residences.
The opening represents a new step in the transfer of social dining management to micro, small, and medium enterprises, self-employed workers, and other stakeholders, while the State maintains control over who can receive the benefit and the financing of the approved subsidies.
The procedure develops the legal framework approved in early August. The , issued on July 24 and published on August 4 in Extraordinary Official Gazette No. 85, allows the service to be provided not only by state retail establishments but also by state entities with worker cafeterias, non-state management forms, and non-profit institutions or associations.
The regulation is also based on Agreement 10418 of the Council of Ministers, approved on July 23, which explicitly expanded the participation of SAF providers.
Agreement 10418 establishes that the provincial and municipal departments of Finance and Prices must provide the funding designated for the beneficiaries' subsidies.
It also notes that the system will have local production and self-management as fundamental sources of supply, while products from the central balance and donations will only be distributed when available.
The new managers will not be able to operate as conventional private restaurants without social obligations. Resolution 14/2026 requires providers to ensure two daily meals, food safety and hygiene, health and commercial licenses, water availability, cooking capacity, appropriate conditions of the premises, and home delivery service for beneficiaries who, due to their health, are unable to travel.
The SAF is intended, according to the new legal framework, for elderly individuals living alone or with other elderly adults without family support; individuals with disabilities living alone and lacking such support; adults from families in situations of social vulnerability who do not have the means to prepare food in their homes; and, on an exceptional basis, pregnant women from vulnerable households in need of food assistance.
The decision to seek managers outside of state-owned companies comes after years of deterioration of these services and an increasing reliance on external contributions and the private sector.
Private businesses and international donations had already been used to support SAF dining halls amid the difficulties in ensuring food and other resources.
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