[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 232 (Monday, December 2, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63820-63821]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-30632]


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COMMITTEE FOR PURCHASE FROM PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR SEVERELY DISABLED

Procurement List Addition

AGENCY: Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely 
Disabled.

ACTION: Addition to the Procurement List.

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SUMMARY: This action adds to the Procurement List a service to be 
furnished by nonprofit agencies employing persons who are blind or have 
other severe disabilities.

EFFECTIVE DATE: January 2, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely 
Disabled, Crystal Square 3, Suite 403, 1735 Jefferson Davis Highway, 
Arlington, Virginia 22202-3461.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Beverly Milkman (703) 603-7740.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On April 26, 1996, the Committee for 
Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled published 
notice (61 F.R. 18571) of proposed addition to the Procurement List. 
Comments were received from the current contractor at both its local 
and parent corporation levels, its legal counsel, a trade association, 
two Members of Congress, and the mayors of the two communities in the 
area where the service will be performed. Concerns were expressed about 
both the impact the addition to the Procurement List would have on the 
current contractor and its employees, and the capability of the 
designated nonprofit agency to perform the laundry service.
    On the question of impact, several commenters claimed that the 
local branch of the current contractor would lose considerable business 
and be forced to lay off workers. Objections were made to the 
Committee's focus on the entire business enterprise of a contractor, 
including the parent corporation, as the entity on which impact is 
assessed, and the Committee's failure to solicit information directly 
from the contractor's local operation or to assess the impact of this 
addition to the Procurement List on the local economy.
    The Committee looks at an entire business enterprise because the 
contractor can use other assets to support a local branch or to 
compensate for business losses there if it chooses. The Committee is 
not required to provide direct notice of its proposed actions to 
affected parties, as opposed to notice in the Federal Register, and 
frequently bases its initial impact assessment on current financial 
data from a reporting service, as occurred in this case.
    Even if the Committee were to confine its impact analysis to the 
local branch of the current contractor's business, the figures the 
commenters have given, which are not consistent with each other, do not 
show an impact which reaches the level the Committee normally considers 
to be severe adverse impact. In addition, the Committee has reduced the 
scope of the Procurement List addition from what was proposed by 
eliminating the base laundry service, so only the hospital laundry 
service will be added, which should further minimize impact on the 
contractor and its employees. The contractor has only held short-term 
contracts for the hospital laundry service over the past two years, and 
the values of the contracts have been decreasing due to base 
downsizing. Consequently, the Committee does not believe the addition 
will have a severe adverse impact on the contractor or its employees. 
The commenters did not provide information to show an impact on the 
local economy, so the Committee has not assessed that impact, in 
accordance with the regulatory requirement at 41 CFR 51-2.4(a)(4)(i)(C) 
to address impact matters other than financial impact on the current 
contractor and the contractor's dependency on the contract over time 
only if substantive comments are received on those other impact 
matters.
    Commenters also claimed that the legislative history of the 
Committee's statute shows that Congress did not intend for the 
Committee's program to have any impact on contractors, citing the 
legislative history of the 1938 act as interpreted by a 1970 court 
decision. However, the statute was extensively revised in 1971, and a 
1978 decision by the same court stated that the legislative history of 
the amended statute showed Congress accepted the fact that every 
Procurement List addition will deprive private industry of a 
substantial amount of potential business.
    On the question of nonprofit agency capability, commenters noted 
that the nonprofit agency is not in the laundry business and does not 
have a laundry facility. The role of base contracting personnel in 
inducing the nonprofit agency to perform this service was questioned. 
Commenters also pointed out that very stringent health and safety 
requirements apply to hospital laundry services, particularly in 
connection with blood-borne pathogens, including a requirement to have 
a backup laundry facility. They questioned the ability of any small 
entity to perform the service and meet these requirements, given the 
performance history of small businesses on this service, and 
particularly the

[[Page 63821]]

ability of an entity that will use mentally impaired persons to perform 
the service.
    The nonprofit agency is aware of the health and safety requirements 
the commenters noted and is taking steps to assure compliance with 
them. Among these steps, the nonprofit agency has retained a retired 
nurse who worked at the hospital's infectious control unit to develop 
its quality assurance plan and related procedures and to provide expert 
advice. The nonprofit agency has acquired and installed the necessary 
laundry equipment. The nonprofit agency performed laundry service for a 
local hospital as part of its training and has made arrangements for 
that hospital to provide backup laundry services as needed.
    The Committee's program is currently performing 25 other laundry 
projects successfully, including several hospital laundries, and the 
central nonprofit agency responsible for developing those projects has 
reviewed this nonprofit agency's plans and laundry facility and 
concluded that it will be able to perform this project successfully. In 
each of the hospital laundries, people with mental disabilities are 
successfully performing tasks which require contact with infectious 
materials, as they will do in performing this service. The contracting 
activity has visited and approved the nonprofit agency's laundry 
facility. Given this record, and the central nonprofit agency's 
expertise in assessing nonprofit agency capability to perform hospital 
laundry services and assisting such agencies in performing these 
services, the Committee believes the nonprofit agency is capable of 
performing this service successfully.
    The Committee does not consider the involvement of base contracting 
personnel in the development of this addition to the Procurement List 
to be improper. Government personnel are encouraged by a Committee 
regulation, 41 CFR 51-5.1, to assist the Committee and its central 
nonprofit agencies in identifying suitable services to be added to the 
Procurement List, and are required by the same regulation to provide 
the Committee and the central nonprofit agencies with information 
needed to determine if a service should be added.
    Commenters also indicated that the nonprofit agency would provide 
the service at a higher price than the contractor. The Committee's 
statute requires services added to the Procurement List to be sold to 
the Government at a fair market price, not necessarily the lowest 
possible price. The Committee's procedures require prices in the dollar 
range represented by the hospital laundry service to be set by 
negotiation between the nonprofit agency and the contracting activity. 
The price which has been set for this service has followed this fair 
market pricing procedure and has been recognized by the Committee as a 
fair market price.
    After consideration of the material presented to it concerning 
capability of qualified nonprofit agencies to provide the service and 
impact of the addition on the current or most recent contractors, the 
Committee has determined that the service 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 service to the 
Government.
    2. The action will not have a severe economic impact on current 
contractors for the service.
    3. The action will result in authorizing small entities to furnish 
the service 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 service proposed for addition to the 
Procurement List.
    Accordingly, the following service is hereby added to the 
Procurement List:

Laundry Service, Hospital, Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana

    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. 96-30632 Filed 11-29-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6353-01-P