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

In furtherance of the Federal Prison Industries, Inc. (FPI) Board of Directors’ directive to seek and pursue the creation of inmate jobs without mandatory source, this notice announces the intent of the FPI Board to approve two additional types of services which FPI will perform outside the Federal market. 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 for the Board to approve two additional categories in the area of commercial market services: 5) service work for state and local governments and 6) service work that would be economically unfeasible to perform without the availability of inmate labor. 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. In the case of service work to state and local governments, FPI does 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 be working 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. 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. Interested parties are invited to comment on this notice. Comments will be due within 45 days of the date of publication in the FedBizOpps. All comments received in response to this announcement will be provided to FPI’s Board of Directors in their entirety. These comments will be reviewed by the Board prior to making a final decision to proceed, adding the two new categories of CMS as outlined herein. Comments or other 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: FPI Board of Directors. Interested parties have a right to raise questions at any time with FPI’s Board of Directors.