[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 115 (Friday, September 15, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1743]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    FEDERAL PRISON INDUSTRIES COMPETITION IN CONTRACTING ACT OF 2006

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                               speech of

                           HON. WALLY HERGER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 14, 2006

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill. (H.R. 2965) to 
     amend title 18, United States Code, to require Federal Prison 
     Industries to compete for its contracts minimizing its unfair 
     competition with private sector firms and their noninmate 
     workers and empowering Federal agencies to get the best value 
     for taxpayers' dollars, to provide a 5-year period during 
     which Federal Prison Industries adjusts to obtaining inmate 
     work opportunities through other than its mandatory source 
     status, to enhance inmate access to remedial and vocational 
     opportunities and other rehabilitative opportunities to 
     better prepare inmates for a successful return to society, to 
     authorize alternative inmate work opportunities in support of 
     nonprofit organizations and other public service programs, 
     and for other purposes:

  Mr. HERGER. Mr. Chairman, although I agree with the central goal of 
H.R. 2965, I had some concerns with several provisions in the bill. I 
believe contracts should be awarded on a competitive basis, with 
private businesses having a fair chance to participate. And if H.R. 
2965 merely ended the noncompetitive nature of Federal Prison 
Industries, FPI, contracts, I would have supported it. However, the 
legislation contained some other provisions that, in my view, 
undermined the effort to make Federal contracting more competitive. 
Specifically, the bill requires that the Federal Government scale back 
its total purchases from FPI, regardless of whether FPI's bids are 
competitive. It also mandates a substantial increase in the wages paid 
to inmates employed by FPI, apparently with an eye toward making FPI 
less competitive. I am concerned that this policy could increase costs 
to Government agencies by forcing them to agree to more expensive 
contracts. Furthermore, in order to make up for the potential loss of 
FPI employment, H.R. 2965 includes several expensive new prison 
rehabilitation programs. Since FPI currently receives no taxpayer 
money, I am not convinced that this approach makes sense in our tight 
budget climate. Thus, while I support doing away with the current 
preferential treatment of FPI in Government contracting, I opposed H.R. 
2965 for these reasons.

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