Mike Levin: “Other vendors expressed even greater frustration about FPI's unfair business practices: Dear Mr. Chairman: During the…”

“Other vendors expressed even greater frustration about FPI's unfair business practices: Dear Mr. Chairman: During the past 5 years I have had representatives from UNICOR tell my customers that they had to turn over my proprietary designs to UNICOR, without payment to the dealership. They have told my customers that if they do not buy UNICOR, they will be 'reported to congress' and that there is no place else to go for government furniture. They frighten young department of defense officials with words like 'illegal' when they ask about waivers. The UNICOR reps routinely refuse waivers on the first approach. The answer is a standard 'UNICOR has products which will meet your needs.' No explanation. They refuse to answer waiver requests in a timely fashion. I have had a $110,000 order for the Arizona Air National Guard in Tucson literally taken away by UNICOR. The representative demanded the designs and said that UNICOR would fill the request. There would be no waiver and no discussion. And she was right. Despite the fact that all of the programming phase had been completed by my designers, at no cost to the federal government, this rep insisted that she knew what was best for this customer. Of course, the products arrived late, in poor condition, was much more expensive than the budgeted GSA furniture--and the reps have not been heard from.”