99 -- FPI - Two New Categories for Commercial Market Services Follow-up

On September 12, 2005, Federal Prison Industries (FPI) posted a notice in the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) regarding FPI's request that the FPI Board of Directors (the Board) approve two additional types of services which FPI will perform outside the Federal market. The notice stated that in September of 1998, FPI received approval from its Board of Directors and legal concurrence from the U.S. Department of Justice to provide commercial market services (CMS) in four specific service areas. The areas include: 1) work that is currently being performed outside the United States; 2) services with a recognized labor shortage that causes companies to outsource work to foreign countries; 3) new services that a company otherwise intends to contract outside the United States; and 4) services that were performed by non-Federal Bureau of Prisons inmates (such as District of Columbia inmates) for non-Federal agencies. On August 25, 2005, FPI requested that the Board approve two additional categories in the area of commercial market services: service work for state and local governments, and service work that would be economically unfeasible to perform without the availability of inmate labor. The notice stated that the approval of the two new categories is contingent on public review. As with other FPI CMS projects, there will be no displacement of United States workers in either category as a result of FPI's work nor will any potential partnership hinder the development of the domestic market. The notice stated that in the case of service work to state and local governments, FPI did not anticipate a great amount of work from this category, but would like to be available to assist state and local agencies if they express an interest in having FPI address their service needs. FPI will work closely with its counterparts in state correctional industries programs and with the National Correctional Industries Association, to ensure that the interests of the state programs are protected. The September 12th notice explained that for service work that is economically unfeasible without the availability of inmate labor, this type of service work is not currently being, or likely to be, performed because it is not economically feasible in the commercial marketplace. An example of this work would be for FPI to provide a variety of labor-intensive cleaning, repair, and repackaging services for a broad array of consumer goods which have been returned by customers. Ordinarily, it is too expensive to return the items to new condition, and associated costs make having the work done outside the United States economically impractical. Currently, these consumer goods are being disposed of by throwing them away, donating them to charitable organizations, or selling them through outlet stores. FPI allowed 45 days for the public to comment and received two comments from state officials. The first comment expressed the possibility of partnering with FPI on service initiatives. The other comment, to which we responded, inquired on the process FPI would use to notify state correctional industries of requests for services from the state and local governments. Based on the positive nature of the comments and the fact that no adversarial comments were received, the Board of Directors has approved FPI to add the two new categories to its commercial market services. Interested parties have a right to raise questions at any time with FPI's Board of Directors. Any correspondence should be addressed to: Chief Administrative Officer, Research, Activation, and Corporate Support, Federal Prison Industries, Inc., 320 First Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20534. Attention: RACS Branch.