[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