David Thomas: “I rise to commend the fiscal year 2002 Defense authorization conferees, particularly Senator Levin and Senator Warner…”

“I rise to commend the fiscal year 2002 Defense authorization conferees, particularly Senator Levin and Senator Warner, for retaining the language adopted by the Senate with regard to reforming the Federal Prison Industries. During consideration of the Defense authorization bill, the Senate voted 74-24 to table an amendment that would have removed the Federal Prison Industries reform provision from the bill. Section 821 of the bill, which has now been endorsed by the conference and adopted overwhelmingly by both the House and the Senate, ends FPI's ``mandatory source'' status as a supplier of products to the Department of Defense, DOD. When this bill becomes law, FPI will be required to compete for future Department of Defense contracts that have been previously monopolized under FPI's ``mandatory source'' status dating back to 1934. Most importantly, this provision will enable the Department of Defense to determine, for itself, whether the FPI can best meet the Department's needs in terms of price, quality, and time of delivery.”