Senator Rand Paul Introduces Amendment to Remove Some of Federal Prison Industries' Preferences in Government Contracting

Senator Rand Paul (Republican, Kentucky) on November 19 introduced an amendment to the Senate National Defense Authorization Act of 2014 which would remove current language mandating sourcing from Federal Prison Industries (FPI), bar FPI from contracts reserved for small businesses, and require, in the case of a contract that is subsequently reduced, that FPI's portion be reduced by the same percent as the overall reduction. These changes will be welcomed by some U.S. manufacturers, in particular small business (typically under 500 employees, but in some cases under 1,000 employees) who have, for many years, asserted that FPI has enjoyed an unfair advantage.

SA 2222. Mr. PAUL submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 1197, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2014 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle H of title X, add the following:

SECTION 1082. PURCHASE OF PRISON-MADE PRODUCTS BY FEDERAL DEPARTMENTS.

(a) Repeal of Purchase Requirement.--Section 4124 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--

(1) in subsection (a)--

(A) by striking ``shall purchase'' and inserting ``may purchase''; and

(B) by inserting ``and services'' after ``such products''; and

(2) in subsection (c), by striking ``subject to the requirements of subsection (a)'' and inserting ``that purchases such products or services of the industries authorized by this chapter''.

(b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--Section 8504 of title 41, United States Code, is amended--

(1) in subsection (a), by striking ``(a) In General.--''; and

(2) by striking subsection (b).

SEC. 1083. PROHIBITION ON AWARD OF CERTAIN CONTRACTS TO FEDERAL PRISON INDUSTRIES, INC..

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a Federal agency may not award a contract to Federal Prison Industries after competition restricted to small business concerns under section 15 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644) or the program established under section 8(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(a)).

SEC. 1084. SHARE OF INDEFINITE DELIVERY/INDEFINITE QUANTITY CONTRACTS.

(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council shall amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation to require that if the head of an executive agency reduces the quantity of items or services to be delivered under an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract to which Federal Prison Industries is a party, the head of the executive agency shall reduce Federal Prison Industries's share of the items or services to be delivered under the contract by the same percentage by which the total number of items or services to be delivered under the contract from all sources is reduced.

(b) Definitions.--In this section--

(1) the term ``executive agency'' has the meaning given the term in section 133 of title 41, United States Code; and

(2) the term ``Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council'' means the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council established under section 1302(a) of title 41, United States Code.