[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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