[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 201 (Friday, October 17, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62417-62418]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-24720]


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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 a service to the Procurement List that will 
be provided by a nonprofit agency employing persons who are blind or 
have other severe disabilities.

DATES: Effective Date: 11/17/2014

ADDRESSES: Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely 
Disabled, 1401 S. Clark Street, Suite 10800, Arlington, Virginia, 
22202-4149.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Barry S. Lineback, Telephone: (703) 
603-7740, Fax: (703) 603-0655, or email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Addition

    On 3/28/2014 (79 FR 17509-17510), the Committee for Purchase From 
People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled published notice of proposed 
addition to the Procurement List.
    After consideration of the material presented to it concerning 
capability of qualified nonprofit agency 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 is suitable for 
procurement by the Federal Government under 41 USC 8501-8506 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 organization that will provide the service to the 
Government.
    2. The action will result in authorizing a small entity to provide 
the service to the Government.
    3. There are no known regulatory alternatives which would 
accomplish the objectives of the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act (41 USC 8501-
8506) in connection with the service proposed for addition to the 
Procurement List.

End of Certification

    Accordingly, the following service is added to the Procurement 
List:

SERVICE

Service Type/Location: 3d Party Logistics Service Product Manager 
Force Sustainment Systems, 15 Kansas Street, Natick, MA
NPA: ReadyOne Industries, Inc., El Paso, TX
Contracting Activity: Dept of the Army, W6QK ACC-APG Natick, Natick, 
MA

    Comments were received from two commercial contractors. The 
contractors assert that the Committee's notice of proposed addition was 
vague and lacked specificity; therefore, the Committee could not have 
properly assessed the impact on the contractors' firms. One contractor 
questioned whether the project would create employment for people with 
significant disabilities.
    The notice of proposed addition listed the service type as ``3d 
Party Logistics Service'' and was further described as: ``Provide 
contract management services and Warehousing and Supply Chain 
Management (Integration, Warehousing, and Refurbishment).'' The 
Department of the Army, Army Contracting Command-Aberdeen Proving 
Ground (Natick Contracting Division), often referred to as Natick or 
NCD, is the contracting activity in support of the requirements of 
Product Manager Force Sustainment System (PMFSS).
    ``3d Party Logistics'' (3PL) is a common, well-defined commercial 
service provided by multiple commercial companies to many Government 
agencies, including the Department of Defense (DOD). While 3PL is a 
recognized service, the

[[Page 62418]]

Committee's notice of proposed addition included substantial additional 
explanation and description of the specific service requirements. 
Consequently, the Committee disagrees that the notice is vague and 
lacks specificity, and finds that the notice effectively describes the 
requirements the AbilityOne nonprofit agency will perform.
    In accordance with Committee regulations, Federal contracting 
activities assist the Committee to identify necessary products and 
services that are suitable for procurement by the Government and may be 
furnished by AbilityOne nonprofit agencies. In doing so, contracting 
activities define their specific contract requirements and inform the 
Committee if there is a contractor providing the product or service. 
When deliberating on a proposed PL addition, the Committee then 
considers whether a proposed addition would likely have a severe 
adverse financial impact on the current contractor for the project.
    Both contractors that submitted comments are awardees of the 
Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Special Operational Equipment Tailored 
Logistics Support (SOE TLS) contract to provide a range of commercial 
products and equipment to military customers. They claim the addition 
of the proposed 3PL service to the Procurement List could result in 
severe adverse financial impact to their sales under the DLA SOE TLS 
contract.
    In response to the comments, the Committee sought additional 
information from the contracting activity and the contactors, to ensure 
that appropriate information was fully considered. In its response, the 
Army contracting activity clearly stated it does not currently contract 
for the 3PL services as described in the statement of work (SOW). The 
contracting activity stated that through the SOW, it is seeking a 
complete one-stop standardized and centralized solution to address 
reduced budget and personnel capacity within PM FSS. DLA's solicitation 
for the SOE TLS states it is an indefinite delivery-indefinite quantity 
(IDIQ) contract for equipment and ancillary services. This Procurement 
List addition of the 3PL requirement is a firm-fixed price contract for 
services explicitly identified in the SOW, including direct labor 
services, as is appropriate for a 3PL requirement; it is not an IDIQ 
contract for products and equipment. Based on these facts, the Army and 
the Commission concluded that the DLA prime vendor contract and the 
Natick contract requirements for 3PL services in this proposed PL 
addition are not the same. For these reasons, the contracting activity 
confirmed in writing and the Commission concluded that there is no 
current contractor providing the specific services included in the 
proposed PL addition.
    The commercial contractors are experienced DOD vendors. One 
contractor's annual revenues exceed the range of revenues that the 
Committee determines could result in severe adverse financial impact on 
that contractor if the service is added to the PL. Although the 
Committee requested information from the contractors, they were unable 
to provide any contract data demonstrating they were the current 
contractor to the Army contracting activity (or another contracting 
activity) for the 3PL services required in this addition. The Committee 
reviews the level of impact on the ``current contractor for the 
specific commodity or services'' [41 CFR 51-2.4(a)(4)(i)]. The 
contractors in question are not current contractors for the specific 
service requirement; therefore, under Committee regulations, the 
Committee finds there is no severe adverse impact on the contractors. 
Further, the contractors continue to have the opportunity to sell 
products and equipment under the DLA SOE TLS prime vendor program.
    One contractor also questioned whether the project would create 
employment for people with severe disabilities by referring to a prior 
project that was deleted from the PL. The Committee conducts a 
deliberative review of specific proposed addition projects. To qualify 
for addition to the PL, the Committee must determine that the record 
for this project demonstrates that it has the potential to generate 
employment for people who are blind or significantly disabled [41 CFR 
51-2.4(a)(1)]. In their review, the Committee determined that the 
record supports that the 3PL services will create employment for people 
with significant disabilities. The record specifies the amount of 
direct labor hours to be provided by people with significant 
disabilities and discusses referral sources for these individuals, 
including current or previous nonprofit agency employees with the 
skills to perform the proposed new positions.
    Accordingly, after full consideration, the Committee concluded that 
the 3PL Service is suitable for addition to the Procurement List.

Barry S. Lineback,
Director, Business Operations.
[FR Doc. 2014-24720 Filed 10-16-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6353-01-P