Committee Backs Ending Prison Labor Preference The House Judiciary has approved legislation to end Federal Prison Industries’ mandatory preference in contracting. “What this bill would do is level the playing field so FPI would compete on the same playing field with private, taxpaying, job-creating industries,” said committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) at the markup session July 25. The bill, H.R. 1829, would phase out FPI’s mandatory source preference over five years, reducing the amount of its sole-source contracts each year. The legislation is sponsored by Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) with 135 cosponsors. A similar bill was approved by the committee last year, but never came up for a vote in the House. Hoekstra said he will push for a September vote. “Now the open question is whether the Bush administration will support the bill,” he said. Hoekstra and several cosponsors wrote to President Bush last October, but have received no response. “Both Chairman Sensenbrenner and I have continued to seek a clear statement of support or specific recommendations for reform from the Bush Administration. Unfortunately, all that hard-working men and women across America have received are vague equivocations,” he said. The administration said last year that it supported reform of FPI, but set out two equal priorities: increasing contracting opportunities for businesses while providing work for inmates. (SAA, 11/29/02) FPI said Angela Styles, administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, suggested policy changes in a letter to the corporation early this year. Among other things, she said FPI should not claim a 100% share of the federal market for any of its products or services. The FPI board in March ordered its staff to study the impact of limiting its market share to no more than 38% in any category. The board voted to allow a business to take any contract when its price was lower than FPI’s, but Hoekstra said that was a sham because FPI’s rule allowed it to see the business’s bid and match it. (SAA, 5/30) Hoekstra said his bill would encourage the use of federal inmates to work on public service projects, especially with nonprofit organizations, and would increase inmate access to vocational education. “FPI is now focused on making money and annually expanding its federal contract sales,” he said. “My bill will refocus them on inmate rehabilitation. No linkage exists between the benefits of inmate work and FPI’s corrosive mandatory source status.” Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI) and Craig Thomas (R-WY) have introduced a companion bill, S. 346, but no Senate hearing has been held. Congress passed legislation in 2001 ending the prison labor corporation’s preference in Defense Department contracting. FPI has closed 17 factories and eliminated 1,700 jobs as a result, said Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA).