[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 136 (Friday, July 16, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38407-38408]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-18195]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMITTEE FOR PURCHASE FROM PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR SEVERELY DISABLED
Procurement List Additions and Deletion
AGENCY: Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely
Disabled.
ACTION: Additions to and deletion from the Procurement List.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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, and deletes from the
Procurement List a commodity previously furnished by such agencies.
EFFECTIVE DATE: August 16, 1999.
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 March 26, April 16, May 14, 21, and 28,
and June 4, 1999, the Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind
or Severely Disabled published notices (64 FR 14687, 18877, 26360,
27752, 28971, 28972 and 29992) of proposed additions to and deletion
from the Procurement List:
Additions
The Following Comments Pertain to Gloves, Patient Examining
Comments were received from a private company both directly and
through a Member of Congress who urged consideration of the company's
comments. The company claimed that addition of the patient examining
gloves to the Procurement List would violate the antitrust laws and
affect a large number of businesses, contrary to the Regulatory
Flexibility Act certification in the Federal Register notice of
proposed addition of the gloves to the Procurement List. The company
proposed that the nonprofit agency employing blind people which will
provide the gloves to the Government be given a bid preference in a
competitive procurement instead of being made a mandatory procurement
source. The antitrust laws are designed to prevent restraint of trade
in the commercial marketplace. It is the Committee's understanding that
the Government is immune from suit under the antitrust laws for actions
taken in its sovereign capacity, such as procurement of goods and
services for its own use. This addition to the Procurement List
concerns just such a procurement. Also, Congress specifically
authorized this type of sole-source procurement to benefit people with
blindness and other severe disabilities when it passed the Javits-
Wagner-O'Day (JWOD) Act.
Prior to its standardization of its patient examining glove
procurements on the type offered by the nonprofit agency which will
provide them under the Procurement List, the Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) did not buy a single type of glove on a nationwide basis,
as it is now doing. The nonprofit agency which will provide the gloves
under the Procurement List is also the only contractor which VA has had
for the new nationwide requirement. Under Committee regulations, the
nonprofit agency is the contractor on whom impact of the Procurement
List addition would be assessed. We are not aware of the possible
impact on any other companies in any detail, and the commenting company
has provided no information on which the Committee could base an impact
determination. It should also be noted that the Regulatory Flexibility
Act certification concerned impact on a substantial number of small
entities. As just noted, the Committee is aware of only one affected
small entity in this case, the nonprofit agency, although the
commenting company may also be in this category. To the extent this
comment represents an objection by the company to losing the
possibility of selling examining gloves to VA, it should be noted that
VA permits the purchase of the gloves through distributors as well as
directly from the nonprofit agency, so the commenting company may be
able to mitigate its losses by entering into a distribution agreement
with the nonprofit agency.
In enacting the JWOD Act, Congress did not provide for the type of
competitive bid preference the commenting company advocated.
Consequently, the Committee is unable to accommodate the company's
idea, even if it considered such an approach a desirable way of
accomplishing its statutory mission of creating jobs for people who are
blind or have other severe disabilities.
The Following Material Pertains to All of the Items Being Added to the
Procurement List
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
Fiberboard Half Size MM Trays and Sleeves
PSIN 3916B (Tray)
PSIN 3916C (Sleeves)
Gloves, Patient Examining
6515-01-461-3208
6515-01-461-3209
6515-01-455-5293
6515-01-461-8271
6515-01-455-5281
6515-01-455-2778
6515-01-455-2782
6515-01-461-8414
6515-01-455-2768
[[Page 38408]]
6515-01-455-2759
6515-01-461-8507
6515-01-455-5278
Office Furniture
7110-00-151-6485
7110-00-177-4901
7110-00-177-4902
7110-00-194-1613
7110-00-281-5689
7195-00-242-3503
Services
Base Supply Center
Aberdeen Proving Ground, Aberdeen, Maryland
CD-ROM Duplication Services
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 100 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania
(75% of the Corps' Requirement)
Hospital Housekeeping Services
U.S. Army Medical Activity & U.S. Army Dental Activity
(including Evans Army Community Hospital), Fort Carson, Colorado
Janitorial/Custodial
Internal Revenue Service, Fresno Service Center (FSC), 5045 E.
Butler Avenue, Fresno, California
VA Medical Center, 3350 La Jolla Village Drive, San Diego,
California
Veterans Administration Outpatient Clinic, 2900 Veterans Way,
Melbourne, Florida
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.
Deletion
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 may not result in any additional reporting,
recordkeeping or other compliance requirements for small entities.
2. The action will not have a severe economic impact on future
contractors for the commodity.
3. The action may result in authorizing small entities to furnish
the commodity 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 commodity deleted from the Procurement
List.
After consideration of the relevant matter presented, the Committee
has determined that the commodity listed below is no longer suitable
for procurement by the Federal Government under 41 U.S.C. 46-48c and 41
CFR 51-2.4.
Accordingly, the following commodity is hereby deleted from the
Procurement List:
Ion Exchange Compound
6810-00-873-2554
Beverly L. Milkman,
Executive Director.
[FR Doc. 99-18195 Filed 7-15-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6353-01-P
