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: December 28, 1994.

ADDRESSES: 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 August 19, 1994, the Committee for

Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled published

notice (59 F.R. 42820) of proposed addition to the Procurement List.

Comments were received from the current contractor for the janitorial

service, four other disadvantaged businesses in Utah, the Utah office

of the Small Business Administration (SBA), and a legal defense fund

representing disadvantaged businesses. All the commenters opposed the

proposal to add the service to the Procurement List.

The current contractor indicated that its contract for the service

represented a sizeable part of its sales for the last quarter, and

noted that not being allowed to perform the remaining option year of

its contract could affect its survival. The contractor cited its

quality performance on the contract, as evidenced by an award it had

received. The legal defense fund seconded the contractor's comments.

The four other Utah disadvantaged businesses noted that the service

had long been in the Federal disadvantaged business (8(a)) program. Its

removal from the program, along with closures of two other military

bases in Utah, would, they claimed, eliminate about a fifth of the 8(a)

contracting business in Utah, requiring disadvantaged businesses to go

outside of the State to do Federal work in the program. Accordingly,

they indicated that addition of this contract to the Procurement List

would negatively impact them.

The SBA district office also indicated that this service has been

in the 8(a) program for many years. The office indicated that the

service is a substantial part of the program in Utah, representing at

least ten percent of program dollars and nearly fifty percent of

program dollars in janitorial services. The office also seconded the

current contractor's comments concerning its option and its performance

on the contract.

Additions to the Procurement List do not affect contracts in being

before the effective date of the addition, or options exercised under

those contracts. The decision to exercise an option is solely at the

discretion of the Government contracting activity. Consequently, if an

option is not exercised, any resulting impact on a contractor is

because of the contracting activity's decision and not the Committee's

action in adding an item to the Procurement List. In this particular

case, the option in question has already been exercised, so the

contractor will retain the work for the coming year.

A comparison of the comments by the SBA district office and the

four Utah businesses with information available from Hill Air Force

Base contracting staff indicates that the commenters have exaggerated

the impact on the 8(a) program of adding this service to the

Procurement List. Based on FY 1994 data, this contract represents only

six percent of all 8(a) contracts at Hill Air Force Base. Since there

are other 8(a) contracts in Utah, such as a General Services

Administration contract for janitorial services at the Federal building

in Salt Lake City, this contract clearly represents an extremely small

percentage of all the 8(a) contracts in Utah.

With respect to 8(a) janitorial contracts in Utah, the Committee

recognizes that there are a limited number of opportunities to clean

Federal facilities. However, it also knows that many 8(a) janitorial

contracts are competed among 8(a) contractors on a regional or national

basis. Consequently, the Federal business opportunities for 8(a)

janitorial firms in Utah are not limited to contracts for facilities

within Utah. Moreover, adding this service to the Procurement List is

not taking business away from the current contractor or the other 8(a)

contractors which commented, but only removing the opportunity for 8(a)

firms other than the current contractor to obtain the work in the

future.

Taking into account all these factors, the Committee does not

believe that addition of this service to the Procurement List will have

a severe impact on the 8(a) program and its Utah contractors. The

Committee's action will also create a very large number of jobs for

people with severe disabilities, well beyond the average for a

Procurement List addition.

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: Janitorial/Custodial (Remaining buildings not on

Procurement List) Hill Air Force Base, Utah.

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. 94-29203 Filed 11-25-94; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6820-33-P