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| Hands Off, Michigan Lawmakers Tell Federal Prison Industries |
| By Booth Newspapers |
| Published: 06/19/2003 |
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Two Michigan members of Congress are hoping to rescue a $6 million federal office furniture contract for a Steelcase dealer and teach Federal Prison Industries a lesson in the process. On June 10, U.S. Reps. Vernon Ehlers and Pete Hoekstra sent a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration urging it to challenge an effort by FPI -- the agency that uses inmate labor to make products -- to take the contract for furnishing the FAA's new headquarters. 'Basically, all the other bids had been opened, and they took a look at (the Steelcase bid) and copied it,' said Hoekstra, R-Holland. 'If these folks were in the private sector, they'd be going to jail for that. They'd be making office furniture in prison.' Steelcase Inc. is based in Grand Rapids. The Ehlers-Hoekstra letter comes 10 days after U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., sent a similar missive to the FAA encouraging the agency to appeal FPI's decision to step in at the last minute and duplicate the Steelcase dealer's bid. Hoekstra says that the General Services Administration notified USBI, a Maryland-based Steelcase dealer, on April 28 that it was the winning bidder for the FAA furniture. At that point, the USBI bid was handed over to Federal Prison Industries, which then put together a proposal that exactly matched the Steelcase dealer's prices. Since Federal Prison Industries' bid matched the lowest outside bid, it took the contract. That unusual business practice was put into place earlier this year by the Federal Prison Industries board. At the time, members argued that it would inject more competition into the federal procurement system, which requires many government agencies to go to FPI before looking for outside contractors. The board ordered it to compete more directly with outside contractors, but it sweetened the pot by allowing it to review the bids of those contractors after they had been submitted. Federal Prison Industries operates in federal prisons where inmates produce goods and services that are sold to other federal agencies. The U.S. Department of Justice manages the program through the Bureau of Prisons. Opponents argue that the Federal Prison Industries board's latest move appears to continue FPI's virtual monopoly on certain types of government purchases, including office furniture, and grants the agency enormous discretion. A spokesman for the FAA said it was unclear what the next step in the contract process would be. Ehlers says there is no argument to justify the practice of taking a bid and copying it word-for-word and price-for-price. 'I have never seen such an egregious example of overstepping the bounds,' said Ehlers, R-Grand Rapids. 'When I was first told about it -- I don't get angry easily -- but I was very angry. It was totally improper.' Ehlers said he expects a compromise to be reached in the next few days that will keep some part of the furniture contract with the Steelcase dealer, but details weren't available. While Federal Prison Industries defends its action in the FAA case, officials acknowledged it was a mistake to receive the Steelcase bid in detail, instead of as a single, bottom-line figure. 'The whole intent was so that taxpayers don't pay more for a product than what they would if (they) purchased it through private industry,' said Ruth Bracken, a spokeswoman for FPI. 'But because of the concerns raised ... we are looking at (the contract process) to see if there is a way to make it more explicit so there's not quite the confusion.' |
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