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1 1 (July 17, 2003)

handle is hein.crs/crsuntaaili0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code 96-892 GOV Updated July 17, 2003 CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web Federal Prison Industries: UNICOR JoAnne O'Bryant Domestic Social Policy Division Summary UNICOR, the trade name for Federal Prison Industries, Inc. (FPI), is the government corporation that employs offenders incarcerated in federal prisons.1 Established in 1934, UNICOR provides job training opportunities to federal inmates by producing goods and services for federal agencies. By statute, UNICOR products and services must be purchased by federal agencies (a requirement often referred to as superpreference, mandatory source, or sole source) and are not available for sale in interstate commerce or to non-federal entities. Federal agencies can obtain products from the private sector through a waiver issued by UNICOR if the corporation is unable to make the needed product or provide the required service. The debate on UNICOR's impact on the free market has been affected by tensions between competing interests that represent two social goods - the employment and rehabilitation of offenders and the need to protect jobs of law abiding citizens. FPI legislation introduced in the 108th Congress with provision on these issues include: S. 346 (Levin), H.R. 1829 (Hoekstra), H. R. 1982 (Maloney), and H.R. 2417 (Goss). On December 28, 2001, the President signed the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2002 (P.L. 107-107) which contains a provision requiring FPI to compete for work projects for the Department of Defense (DOD) if their products are not comparable in price, quality, and time of delivery as the private sector. H.R. 1982 and S. 346 were introduced in the 108th Congress to establish similar policy on competing for government-wide procurement. Updates on this report will be made as legislative action occurs. Most Recent Developments Federal Prison Industries (FPI) has continued to receive attention in the 108th Congress. Like legislation introduced in the previous Congress, H.R. 1829 proposes to gradually eliminate a requirement for federal agencies to purchase products and services obtained from FPI. At the end of first session of the 107'h Congress, the enactment of the Congressional Research Service + The Library of Congress 1 State prison industry programs are administered by the states, are not associated with UNICOR, and are not discussed in this report.