Procurement List; Addition

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: October 17, 1994.

ADDRESS: 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 March 18, 1994, the Committee for

Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled published

notice (59 F.R. 12895) of proposed addition to the Procurement List.

Comments were received through a Member of Congress from an

employee of the current contractor for this service indicating that

addition of the service to the Procurement List would greatly increase

the cost of the service. The commenter also indicated that the tasks

involved are dangerous for people with severe disabilities.

The Committee is required by law to set a fair market price for

each service it places on the Procurement List. Consequently, the price

the Government pays will not increase substantially beyond what it is

currently paying, contrary to the commenter's contention.

Grounds maintenance services have long been a part of the

Committee's program and have been performed by people with severe

disabilities without incident. People with severe disabilities are not

assigned tasks which are not within their capabilities. Where such

tasks exist, they are performed by the non-disabled direct labor

workers nonprofit agencies are permitted to employ under the

Committee's program. Nonprofit agencies participating in the

Committee's program must conform to the same occupational safety and

health requirements as other Government contractors. Under these

circumstances, the Committee believes that the commenter's concerns are

unfounded.

After consideration of the material presented to it concerning

capability of qualified nonprofit agencies to provide the service, fair

market price, 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 does not appear to 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:

Grounds Maintenance, Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington.

This action does not affect current contracts awarded prior to the

effective date of this addition or options exercised under those

contracts.

Beverly L. Milkman,

Executive Director.

[FR Doc. 94-23007 Filed 9-15-94; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6820-33-P