[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 6 (Friday, January 9, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1420-1422]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-577]
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COMMITTEE FOR PURCHASE FROM PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR SEVERELY DISABLED
Procurement List; Additions
AGENCY: Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely
Disabled.
ACTION: Additions to the Procurement List.
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SUMMARY: This action adds to the Procurement List commodities and
services to be furnished by nonprofit agencies employing persons who
are blind or have other severe disabilities.
EFFECTIVE DATE: February 9, 1998.
[[Page 1421]]
ADDRESSES: Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely
Disabled, Crystal Gateway 3, Suite 310, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway,
Arlington, Virginia 22202-4302.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Beverly Milkman (703) 603-7740.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
On June 6, 13, November 14 and 21, 1997, the Committee for Purchase
From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled published notices (62
F.R. 31065, 32288, 61081 and 62284) of proposed additions to the
Procurement List.
The Following Comments Pertain to Cap, Cold Weather
Comments were received from the current contractor as a result of a
Committee request for sales data and through a Member of Congress. The
contractor claimed that addition of the cap to the Procurement List
would have a severe adverse impact on the company. One reason for this
severe impact is the cumulative impact of earlier additions to the
Procurement List of headwear items made by the contractor.
The Committee originally proposed the addition of the entire
Government requirement for the cap to the Procurement List, for
production by two nonprofit agencies employing people with severe
disabilities. Because of the concerns expressed by the contractor, the
Committee decided to reduce the addition proposal to 50 percent of the
Government requirement, to be produced by only one nonprofit agency.
This change will reduce the impact on the contractor below the level
which the Committee normally considers severe adverse impact. In
addition, the contractor will be allowed to finish its current
contract, as the Committee's mandate applies only to contracts formed
after the effective date of a Procurement List addition.
As for the cumulative impact issues the contractor raised, the
contractor's use of its 1991 sales year as the high point from which a
subsequent sales decline is measured is misleading, as 1991 was a good
year for all military cap manufacturers because of the high number of
orders then to support Operation Desert Shield/Storm. The contractor's
sales in 1989 and 1993 are more reflective of a typical sales year, and
those are not substantially different from the contractor's current
annual sales. Moreover, while the contractor may not have completely
recovered from the impacts of the Committee's previous actions, the
primary reason its sales have not increased is military downsizing in
recent years. Troop reductions, and not the effects of the Committee's
program, have reduced the sales of most military cap manufacturers,
including those involved in the Committee's program and the current
contractor.
Of the three caps the contractor identified as previous impacts,
one was added to the Procurement List in 1989 and the other in 1993.
The contractor was not the current contractor for the third cap (Cap,
Combat Camouflage) when it was added to the Procurement List. Only 50
percent of the Government requirement for the 1989 addition, a Marine
Corps utility cap, was taken out of competitive procurement, so the
contractor continued to be eligible to compete for Government contracts
for the other half of the Government requirement for this cap.
The Following Comments Pertain to Tray, MM, Fiberboard
The Committee initially proposed to add the total Government
requirement for fiberboard MM trays and sleeves to the Procurement
List. Comments were received from two companies which were current
contractors for these items at the time the Committee wrote to them to
request sales data. One company indicated that the items made up a
substantial portion of its sales, and losing them would also cause
layoffs of some workers. The other company described the production
process and questioned whether the designated nonprofit agency would be
capable of acquiring the machinery needed to perform it to Government
specifications.
Before the Committee took any action, a new contract was awarded
for the sleeves, and neither company received the award. Consequently,
when the Committee added the sleeves to the Procurement List, both
companies had already lost the business and only lost the opportunity
to compete for subsequent procurements of these items. The Committee
does not consider this type of loss to be a severe impact on the
companies, because all they are losing is the possibility of a
contract, not acutal work on which they have come to rely.
This addition involves only the fiberboard MM trays. The quantity
of the Government's tray requirement which the Committee is adding to
the Procurement List is 45 percent of the total Government requirement
(not to exceed 20 million trays annually), leaving more than half the
requirement available for production by either of the two contractors
or others under the competitive bidding system. The portion of the
requirement being added to the Procurement List represents a percentage
of the contractors' sales which is below the level the Committee
considers to be severe adverse impact.
The designated nonprofit agency has experience in producing
corrugated items for the Government and other customers. The
Committee's industrial engineer has reviewed the capability assessments
which have been done by the contracting activity and the central
nonprofit agency, and has concluded that the nonprofit agency will be
capable of producing the trays to Government specifications at the time
of contract performance.
After consideration of the material presented to it concerning
capability of qualified nonprofit agencies to provide the commodities
and services and impact of the additions on the current or most recent
contractors, the Committee has determined that the commodities and
services listed below are suitable for procurement by the Federal
Government under 41 U.S.C. 46-48c and 41 CFR 51-2.4.
I certify that the following action will not have a significant
impact on a substantial number of small entities. The major factors
considered for this certification were:
1. The action will not result in any additional reporting,
recordkeeping or other compliance requirements for small entities other
than the small organizations that will furnish the commodities and
services to the Government.
2. The action will not have a severe economic impact on current
contractors for the commodities and services.
3. The action will result in authorizing small entities to furnish
the commodities and services to the Government.
4. There are no known regulatory alternatives which would
accomplish the objectives of the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act (41 U.S.C. 46-
48c) in connection with the commodities and services proposed for
addition to the Procurement List.
Accordingly, the following commodities and services are hereby
added to the Procurement List:
Commodities
Office and Miscellaneous Supplies
(Requirements for the Naval Station, Ingleside, Texas)
Sponge, Cellulose
7920-01-444-3650
Cap, Cold Weather
8415-01-099-7843 thru -7848
(50% of the Government's requirement)
Tray, MM, Fiberboard
[[Page 1422]]
P.S. 3916
(45% of annual requirements up to 20 million)
Extra Life & Shipper
M.R. 858
M.R. 859
Services
Janitorial/Custodial
Naval Air Reserve
Moffett Field, California
Janitorial/Custodial
Robert N.C. Nix, Sr. Federal Center
9th & Market Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Switchboard Operation
Veterans Affairs Medical Center
2250 Leestown Road
Lexington, Kentucky
This action does not affect current contracts awarded prior to the
effective date of this addition or options that may be exercised under
those contracts.
Beverly L. Milkman,
Executive Director.
[FR Doc. 98-577 Filed 1-8-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6353-01-P
