FSC Code 8415 - Clothing, Special Purpose

This notice announces a decision by the Board of Directors for Federal Prison Industries, Inc. (FPI) regarding FPI's production of two products within Federal Supply Classification (FSC) code 8415: (1) IPFU Pants & Jackets; and (2) T-Shirts, IPFU Long Sleeve. A provision of the guidelines allows for FPI to exceed a specific product's expansion threshold in cases of public exigency, such as a national defense emergency. The guidelines require that FPI receive a specific order or request from the Department of Defense (DoD) or Executive Branch officials for this provision to be invoked. Upon invoking this provision, the guidelines allow that "increased sales resulting from national exigencies will not be considered a violation of the guidelines ceiling in the year in which they occur." On March 16, 2009, FPI received a request from the Defense Supply Center of Philadelphia to temporarily increase production of IPFU items to support DoD requirements that have to be filled prior to the end of fiscal year 2009. The request would result in exceeding the previous exigency requested levels for the IPFU items by an estimated $3 million. The impact of FPI manufacturing the requested items would be as follows: IPFU Pants would increase from current levels to 36,000 units per month for the balance of the fiscal year. Total Sales would exceed the previous exigency requested levels ($17.8 million) by approximately $3 million for IPFU pants & jackets. IPFU T-shirts, long sleeve would increase from its current level to 75,000 units per month for the balance of the fiscal year. These additional units may cause FPI to exceed the previously authorized exigency level of 4 million units, yet FPI does not expect the unit increase to exceed the current exigency sales level for IPFU T-shirts of $24.5 million. FPI presented its Board of Directors with a request to invoke the guidelines' "national exigency" provision. In light of the military's critical need for this item, FPI staff requested its Board to invoke the "national exigency" provision for FSC code 8415, specifically IPFUs ( jackets and pants) and T-Shirts, Long Sleeve. On March 20, 2009, FPI's Board of Directors officially approved this request. Accordingly, FPI's sales in IPFU (pants and jackets) and units in IPFU T-shirts may temporarily exceed the guidelines ceiling without constituting a guidelines violation. It should be noted that the national exigency provision of FPI's guidelines is temporary. It does not authorize FPI to utilize the higher sales level as a future production baseline. For this request, the increase in production levels will be maintained only for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2009. Interested parties have a right to raise questions at any time with FPI's Board of Directors. Any correspondence should be addressed to: Chief, Strategic Business Development and Marketing Branch, Federal Prison Industries, Inc., 320 First Street, NW, Washington, DC 20534. Attention: FPI Board of Directors.