[Federal Register: August 18, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 160)]
[Notices]
[Page 47773-47774]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr18au06-41]
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COMMITTEE FOR PURCHASE FROM PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR SEVERELY DISABLED
Correction of Notice of Addition
AGENCY: Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely
Disabled.
ACTION: Correction to Notice of Additions to the Procurement List.
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SUMMARY: In the document appearing on page 46187, FR Doc E6-13162,
Procurement List Additions and Deletions, in the issue of August 11,
2006, in the third column, the Committee published addition of Grounds/
Custodial Security Services, Lake Okeechobee and Outlying Areas, Army
Corps of Engineers, Lake Okeechobee, Florida. Following the publication
of this Notice, the Committee determined that the response to comments
received in response to the Federal Register Notice of Proposed
Addition had not been published in the August 11 Notice as required.
The Committee therefore is publishing the Service again with the
response to comments received. All other information remains the same.
DATES: Effective Date: September 10, 2006.
ADDRESSES: Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely
Disabled, Jefferson Plaza 2, Suite 10800, 1421 Jefferson Davis Highway,
Arlington, Virginia 22202-3259.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sheryl D. Kennerly, Telephone: (703)
603-7740, Fax: (703) 603-0655, or e-mail SKennerly@jwod.gov.
Addition
Service Type/Location: Grounds/Custodial/Security Services, Lake
Okeechobee and Outlying Areas, Army Corps of Engineers, Lake
Okeechobee, Florida.
NPA: Gulfstream Goodwill Industries, Inc., West Palm Beach, Florida.
Contracting Activity: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville,
Florida.
The following material is in response to comments received on this
proposed addition. This information was provided to the Committee for
their consideration.
Comments were received from the current contractor, a subcontractor
for the service, an employee of the subcontractor, and a frequent
camper on parkland involved in this service. All these persons objected
to addition of the service to the Procurement List.
The service to be performed by a nonprofit agency has been removed
from the coverage of the current contract. The current contractor
claimed that removal of these functions will result in a significant
reduction in the contractor's revenue base and severely affect its
financial stability, while making it less competitive to recover the
revenue elsewhere.
The period for which the contractor submitted revenues to the
Committee includes windfall revenues due to increased hurricane
activity during that period. Removal of these windfalls reduces the
estimated revenue loss attributable to the addition of the service to
the Procurement List to a
[[Page 47774]]
level which the Committee does not normally consider to be an adverse
impact on a contractor.
The subcontractor and its employee indicated that addition of the
service to the Procurement List would have a serious economic impact on
the company, its workers, and the depressed rural area where the
service is performed. The nonprofit agency which will be performing the
service will do some subcontracting, which could mitigate this economic
impact. In addition, people with severe disabilities have an
unemployment rate of approximately 70 percent, which exceeds the
unemployment rate of the persons likely to be adversely affected by
this addition to the Procurement List. Consequently, the affected
persons are more likely than those who will be employed on the project
to find other work. Given that circumstance, and the Committee's
mission to create work for people with severe disabilities, the
Committee believes that the employment benefits of adding this service
to the Procurement List outweigh the possible disadvantages the
addition may cause.
The subcontractor and its employee also raised several safety and
technical issues concerning performance of the service by people with
severe disabilities. They noted that some mowing must be done on a high
levee with extremely steep sides and surrounded by deep canals, and
other mowing is done in park areas filled with expensive recreational
vehicles and other easily damaged obstacles, as the frequent camper
also noted. The subcontractor employee asked if the nonprofit agency
has any experience in doing this kind of work. The subcontractor
implied that acquisition of the equipment needed to do the work would
put a further strain on the national budget.
The nonprofit agency has several grounds maintenance and custodial
contracts with the State of Florida, so they are familiar with this
kind of work. They are in the process of obtaining the specialized
equipment needed to do the work and hiring qualified personnel. The
Government will not pay extra to allow the nonprofit agency to acquire
this equipment, which includes enclosed cab tractors with built-in and
included safety equipment. The nonprofit agency will conduct extensive
safety and other training to assure the workers are fully capable of
doing the work. More experienced workers will be used in the steeper
areas, and the use of people with severe disabilities will be phased in
to all facets of the work, which includes custodial and security as
well as grounds maintenance services, to assure that all workers are
able to do the work safely and efficiently, with little or no damage to
persons or property.
After consideration of the material presented to it concerning
capability of qualified nonprofit agencies to provide the products and
impact of the additions 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 U.S.C. 46-48c and 41 CFR
51-2.4.
Sheryl D. Kennerly,
Director, Information Management.
[FR Doc. E6-13672 Filed 8-17-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6353-01-P