[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 146 (Friday, July 30, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45672-45673]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-17384]


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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 procurement list.

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

DATES: Effective Date: August 29, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely 
Disabled, Jefferson Plaza 2, Suite 10800, 1421 Jefferson Davis Highway, 
Arlington, Virginia 22202-3259.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sheryl D. Kennerly, (703) 603-7740.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On May 14, May 28, and June 4, 2004, the 
Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled 
published notice (69 FR 26805, 30609, and 31588) of proposed additions 
to the Procurement List.
    The following comments pertain to Flag, National, Interment 
(Additional 10% of the Veterans Affairs Requirement for a total of 50% 
on the Procurement List).
    Comments were received from three of the current contractors for 
the interment flag and from a trade association for the flag industry. 
The association and one of the contractors claimed that increased 
demand for American flags after September 2001 had brought a number of 
new suppliers into the market, and now that the demand is decreasing, 
the loss of the partial requirement for the interment flag the 
Committee proposed to add to the Procurement List would have a larger, 
and thus severe, impact on the flag industry. These two commenters also 
cited a 1997 letter by the Committee's staff director indicating that 
the Committee would be unlikely to increase its share of the interment 
flag market unless the sole commercial contractor for interment flags 
at the time were to experience a substantial increase in its sales.
    Another contractor indicated that Government contracts represent 
about 35 percent of total sales of flag manufacturers, so these 
manufacturers would be severely impaired if they continue to lose 
Government business to set-aside programs like the Committee's program. 
This contractor also claimed that its interment flag contract allows it 
to keep its plant operating year round, so loss of the contract would 
result in employment loss and other potential financial challenges. The 
third contractor noted that the flag industry is part of the textile 
industry, which has suffered severe losses in the past decade. The 
contractor stated that it had assisted two nonprofit agencies in 
learning how to produce the interment flag, and had been repaid with 
unauthorized disclosure of its confidential material and a failure by 
one nonprofit agency to pay the agreed-upon fee for the contractor's 
assistance. The contractor also claimed the other nonprofit agency was 
under investigation by its State concerning its nonprofit status. The 
contractor concluded, in light of these allegations, that it would not 
be in the interest of the Government to increase the portion of the 
Government requirement for interment flags set aside for these 
nonprofit agencies.

[[Page 45673]]

    As the trade association and one of the contractors noted, the 
Government currently buys the 60 percent of its requirement for the 
interment flags which is not set aside for the Committee's program in 
equal shares from four contractors. According to the most recent 
figures available to the Committee, the difference between the value of 
the flags which the three contractors are selling to the Government and 
the flags they would sell if the proposed increase in the Committee 
set-aside were to occur represents a very small percentage of these 
contractors' total sales (the fourth contractor failed to provide sales 
figures to the Committee). Accordingly, the Committee has concluded 
that this small loss, even taking into account the nature of the flag 
market as described by the contractors, is not likely to have a severe 
adverse impact on the contractors. It should be noted that the proposed 
addition will only slightly lessen the number of interment flags 
available for commercial contractors to provide the Government, so the 
predicted impacts based on total loss of these contracts, including 
possible layoffs and other financial challenges, should not occur. As 
for the contractor mentioned in the Committee staff director's 1997 
letter, its sales have increased substantially since then, so the 
Committee does not believe that it would be inappropriate to add the 
increased quantity of interment flags to the Procurement List.
    The Committee questioned the two nonprofit agencies mentioned by 
the third contractor, and was told that both had paid in full for the 
consulting services of that contractor. Neither agency recalls making 
unauthorized releases of confidential information received from the 
contractor in connection with the consulting contract, which occurred a 
number of years ago. The contractor's questions concerning the 
nonprofit status of one of the nonprofit agencies come from that agency 
having bought the assets of two for-profit companies, in 2003 and 2004. 
The nonprofit agency did not acquire the companies as corporate 
entities. The assets were integrated into the nonprofit agency's 
manufacturing operations. The nonprofit agency's external auditors have 
determined that the nonprofit agency is not generating any business 
income unrelated to its nonprofit status as a result of these 
acquisitions. Therefore, the Committee does not believe that the 
nonprofit status of this agency is open to question.
    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 products and 
services and impact of the additions on the current or most recent 
contractors, the Committee has determined that the product 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.

Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification

    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 product and services 
to the Government.
    2. The action will result in authorizing small entities to furnish 
the product and services to the Government.
    3. 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 product and services proposed for addition 
to the Procurement List.

End of Certification

    Accordingly, the following product and services are added to the 
Procurement List:

Product

    Product/NSN: Flag, National, Interment (Additional 10% of the 
Veterans Affairs Requirement for a total of 50% on the Procurement 
List) 8345-00-656-1432.
    NPA: Goodwill Industries of South Florida, Inc., Miami, Florida.
    NPA: Huntsville Rehabilitation Foundation, Huntsville, Alabama.
    NPA: North Bay Rehabilitation Services, Inc., Rohnert Park, 
California.
    Contract Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC.

Services

    Service Type/Location: Custodial Services, Naval Air Station 
Whidbey Island, Basewide, Oak Harbor, Washington.
    NPA: New Leaf, Inc., Oak Harbor, Washington.
    Contract Activity: Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Oak 
Harbor, Washington.
    Service Type/Location: Medical Transcription, VA Medical Center, 
Building 36, Northport, New York.
    NPA: National Telecommuting Institute, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts.
    Contract Activity: VA Medical Center--Northport, Northport, New 
York.
    Service Type/Location: Telephone Switchboard Operations, VA Central 
California Health Care System, 2615 E. Clinton Avenue, Fresno, 
California.
    NPA: Project HIRED, Santa Clara, California.
    Contract Activity: VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Livermore, 
California.
    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.

Sheryl D. Kennerly,
Director, Information Management.
[FR Doc. 04-17384 Filed 7-29-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6353-01-P