[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1797 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 1797

   To revise the requirements for procurement of products of Federal 
  Prison Industries to meet needs of Federal agencies, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 23, 1996

Mr. Levin (for himself and Mr. Abraham) introduced the following bill; 
  which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To revise the requirements for procurement of products of Federal 
  Prison Industries to meet needs of Federal agencies, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. PURCHASES FROM FEDERAL PRISON INDUSTRIES.

    Section 4124 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by 
striking out subsections (a) and (b) and inserting in lieu thereof the 
following new subsections (a) and (b):
    ``(a) A Federal agency which has a requirement for a specific 
product listed in the current edition of the catalog required by 
subsection (d) shall--
            ``(1) provide a copy of the notice required by section 18 
        of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 416) 
        to Federal Prison Industries at least 15 days before the 
        issuance of a solicitation of offers for the procurement of 
        such product;
            ``(2) use competitive procedures for the procurement of 
        that product, unless--
                    ``(A) the head of the agency justifies the use of 
                procedures other than competitive procedures in 
                accordance with section 2304(f) of title 10 or section 
                303(f) of the Federal Property and Administrative 
                Services Act of 1949 (41 U.S.C. 253(f)); or
                    ``(B) the Attorney General makes the determination 
                described in subsection (b)(1) within 15 days after 
                receiving a notice of the requirement pursuant to 
                paragraph (1); and
            ``(3) consider a timely offer from Federal Prison 
        Industries for award in accordance with the specifications and 
        evaluation factors specified in the solicitation.
    ``(b) A Federal agency which has a requirement for a product 
referred to in subsection (a) shall--
            ``(1) on a noncompetitive basis, negotiate a contract with 
        Federal Prison Industries for the purchase of the product if 
        the Attorney General personally determines, within the period 
        described in subsection (a)(2)(B), that--
                    ``(A) it is not reasonable to expect that Federal 
                Prison Industries would be selected for award of the 
                contract on a competitive basis; and
                    ``(B) it is necessary to award the contract to 
                Federal Prison Industries in order--
                            ``(i) to maintain work opportunities that 
                        are essential to the safety and effective 
                        administration of the penal facility at which 
                        the contract would be performed; or
                            ``(ii) to permit diversification into the 
                        manufacture of a new product that has been 
                        approved for sale by the Federal Prison 
                        Industries board of directors in accordance 
                        with this chapter; and
            ``(2) award the contract to Federal Prison Industries if 
        the contracting officer determines that Federal Prison 
        Industries can meet the requirements of the agency with respect 
        to the product in a timely manner and at a fair and reasonable 
        price.''.

SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON NEW PRODUCTS AND EXPANSION OF PRODUCTION.

    Section 4122(b)(4) of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (4), (5), and (6) as 
        paragraphs (5), (6), and (7), respectively;
            (2) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following new 
        paragraph (4):
    ``(4) Federal Prison Industries shall, to the maximum extent 
practicable, concentrate any effort to produce a new product or to 
expand significantly the production of an existing product on products 
that are otherwise produced with non-United States labor.''; and
            (3) in paragraph (6), as so redesignated, by striking out 
        ``paragraph (4)(B)'' and inserting in lieu thereof ``paragraph 
        (5)(B)''.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act shall take effect 180 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act.
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