[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 187 (Friday, September 26, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57978-57979]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-22616]
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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Federal Bureau of Prisons
Notice of Availability of the Finding of No Significant Impact
Concerning a Proposal To Award a Contract for New Low Security Beds to
One Private Contractor To House Approximately 2,000 Federal, Low-
Security, Adult Male, Non-US Citizen, Criminal Aliens at a Contractor-
Owned, Contractor-Operated Correctional Facility Under the CAR 15,
Requirement A Initiative
AGENCY: Federal Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Department of Justice.
ACTION: Finding of No Significant Impact.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons
(BOP) announces the availability of the Finding of No Significant
Impact (FONSI) concerning the Criminal Alien Requirement 15,
Requirement A Environmental Assessment (EA) for the proposal to award
one contract to house up to 2,000 federal, low-security, adult males,
non-US citizen, criminal aliens within one existing contractor owned,
contractor operated facility.
Backround Information
Pursuant to Section 102, 42 U.S.C. 4332, of the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as amended and the Council on
Environmental Quality Regulations for Implementing
[[Page 57979]]
NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), and the BOP Procedures for Implementing
NEPA (28 CFR 61, Appendix A), the BOP prepared an EA to analyze the
impacts of awarding one contract to house up to 2,000 low-security,
adult male, non-US citizen, criminal aliens within one existing
contractor-owned and contractor-operated correctional facility.
It is anticipated that the number of inmates will continue to rise
for several reasons. Federal court sentencing guidelines are resulting
in longer terms of confinement for serious crimes. Moreover, there is
an increase in immigration and offenders, along with a greater effort
to combat organized crime and trafficking. As a result, existing BOP
facilities are at capacity. In response, the BOP has focused on ways to
reduce prison overcrowding by requesting additional contract beds for
low security, adult male criminal aliens, expansion of current
facilities, and building and operating new medium and high security
facilities. The purpose of the project is to acquire additional bed
space to address the need to reduce overcrowding in existing BOP
facilities as a result of increases in convictions and sentence terms.
The BOP requires flexibility in managing existing low-security bed
space as well as the anticipated future needs for low-security bed
space. Use of an existing contractor-owned and operated correctional
facility provides the BOP the flexibility needed to meet population
capacity needs in a timely manner, conform to federal law, and maintain
fiscal responsibility while successfully meeting the mission of the
BOP.
The process to identify contracting opportunities for securing
additional inmate bed space in support of the increasing needs of the
BOP involved the BOP advertising for interested vendors to respond to
the request for proposal (RFP) with options for meeting the
requirements.
Based on the responses to the solicitation, the BOP had two
potential alternatives. The solicitation RFP-PCC-0022 (CAR 15
Requirement A) identified the evaluation criteria under which each
offeror's proposal would be considered and evaluated. The non-price
based evaluation criteria that consists of the following in descending
order of importance:
Past Performance
Technical Proposal
Environment
Small Disadvantaged Business Participation
A geographical restriction associated with the RFP required the
facility to be located in one of the following states: Ohio, Michigan,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, or New York.
Project Information
The proposed action is to award one contract to house up to 2,000
federal low-security, adult male, non-US citizen, criminal aliens at an
existing contractor-owned and contractor-operated correctional
facility. Under the Proposed Action, the selected contractor would be
required to operate the facility in a manner consistent with the
mission and requirements of the BOP. All inmate services would be
developed in a manner that complies with the BOP's contract
requirements, as well as applicable federal, state, and local laws and
regulations. In addition, the facility would be within proximity, and
have access to, ambulatory, fire and police protection services.
The federal inmates assigned to this facility would consist
primarily of inmates with sentences of 90 months or less remaining to
be served. Inmates are anticipated to be federal, low-security, adult
male, non-US citizen, criminal aliens; however, the BOP may designate
any inmate within its custody to serve their sentence in this facility.
Two existing privately owned and operated correctional facilities
in Pennsylvania and Ohio were the only offers received in response to
the BOP's solicitation for CAR 15 Requirement A. Each of the following
existing facilities has been evaluated in this EA. In addition, the No
Action Alternative is evaluated, to determine baseline conditions and
comply with the provisions of NEPA.
Moshannon Valley Correctional Facility. Located in
Phillipsburg, Pennsylvania.
Northeast Ohio Correctional Center. Located in Youngstown,
Ohio.
No other facilities are under consideration by the BOP. Although
the two alternatives have been evaluated within the EA, an
environmentally preferred alternative has not been identified due to
the pending contracting action.
Based on the analysis presented in the EA, there would be no
significant impacts on environmental and cultural resources,
socioeconomics, environmental justice, community facilities and
services, transportation and traffic, infrastructure and utilities,
noise, and air quality as a result of the implementation of the
proposed action under either Alternative 1 or Alternative 2. Therefore,
the BOP has determined there would be no significant impacts associated
with the implementation of the proposed action.
Availability of Finding of no Significant Impact
The FONSI is available upon request. To request a copy of the
FONSI, please contact: Thomas A. Webber, Chief, or Isaac Gaston, Site
Selection Specialist, Capacity Planning and Construction Branch,
Federal Bureau of Prisons, 320 First Street NW., Washington, DC 20534
Tel: 202-514-6470/Fax: 202-616-6024/Email: [email protected] or
[email protected].
Dated: September 17, 2014.
Thomas A. Webber,
Chief, Capacity Planning and Construction Branch, Federal Bureau of
Prisons.
[FR Doc. 2014-22616 Filed 9-25-14; 8:45 am]
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