"Buying from Federal Prison Industries" Topic

Since my experience with this happened while I was in the USMC, thought I'd cross-post Army & Tales From Work.

I was the Logistics/Contracting and Purchasing for four USMC/Navy aviation support classes in Meridian, MS during the Clinton/Bush years. Looking around at the furniture that the instructors used in their offices for admin, class development & counseling, etc., it occurred that most of the desks, shelves, cubicles, lateral file cabinets, etc, were mismatched, barely serviceable rescues from DRMS (basically, last stop before landfill, ask Allen, he knows.)

I researched into getting new professional furniture for the instructors. The rules at the time stated that we had to buy from FPI (Federal Prison Industries), only if FPI was unable to meet our needs are we able to go outside that source and try to get competitive bids (from women-or-minority-owned businesses.) Thing is, for the style and suites that the instructors agreed they wanted, FPI charges 80% more again than prices I found in catalogs using private industry, PLUS the freight charge (free shipping from the private industry) and a 4-9 month waiting period for FPI to manufacture the product (available for immediate delivery from the private industry.)

BTW, try as I might, I just did not have the mojo to convince higher powers (The Deciderer's) that FPI just could not "meet our needs" and we should be allowed to get other bids.

So the rules are the rules… I separated the FPI purchase into four different Purchase Order Numbers so I could track each classes needs separately; each class had quite a few of the same pieces, because of the desire for matching styles in each office.

5 months later, a truck pulls up. It has elements of all four orders, each item labeled with its part number. Did I mention that it arrives ASSEMBLY REQUIRED?

So… had to unload the truck, attribute each component to its end item, then figure out which class is destined for that particular piece because they were not labeled with the PO# they were associated with – remember that they had quite a few of the same pieces because the office styles were to match.

It was hell. Especially since it was incomplete. Three more shipments over the next four months to get the rest, all PO#'s partially shipped in the same manner. NINE MONTHS to get the order, and even then, three pieces of furniture were incomplete due to component parts being missing or damaged in shipment. The XO and I decided to self-repair and find replacement parts on our own rather than deal with FPI ever again.

FOOTNOTE: One month after the first shipment of FPI stuff arrived, the mandatory requirement to use FPI as "first source" was lifted, and purchasing rules relaxed to be able to use other sources more readily.

So if we just waited another five months after deciding it would be a good idea to upgrade the offices, it would have been 80% cheaper, (hopefully) arrived all at once, and shipped for free.

Aren't monopolies and bureaucracy wonderful?

"Aren't monopolies and bureaucracy wonderful?"

Motivated workers too.

Personally, I think they should be made to work, in order to pay for their debt to society, and due to the high costs of keeping them incarcerated.

I imagine that might keep them out of trouble, and they'd have less time to coordinate crimes on the outside/inside, or to learn new criminal skills.

Top Gun Ace,

I agree in principle, but not in current practice. Most prison work programs are voluntary, and allow felons to subtract time in the program as, "time served," in some states (like mine), at a higher ratio even than day-for-day; kinda defeats the purpose of minimum sentences for especially heinous crimes.

My big query was that at an 80% higher price using labor being paid a pittance and no real concerns about profit because it is a gov bureaucracy… well, where exactly did the money disappear too?

Check the type of cars the warden and guards drive…

I agree in principle, but not in current practice. Most prison work programs are voluntary, and allow felons to subtract time in the program as, "time served," in some states (like mine), at a higher ratio even than day-for-day; kinda defeats the purpose of minimum sentences for especially heinous crimes.

I've heard of prisons where the exact opposite is true – sew mailbags for a pittance or spend all your time in solitary. I think, personally, that prison work shouldn't be for other people's profit – most places have outlawed slavery after all – but making the prisoners do all the work in the prison, rather than having outside cleaners, maintenance, laundry, etc seems perfectly reasonable.

Reasonable suggestions, but if we really want to punish
the inmates, and try to make sure they never want to
go back, I vote that Gallowglass goes to work for the
FedGov as a counselor to felons !

And watch the recidivism rate plummet !

"sew mailbags for a pittance or spend all your time in solitary"

That would still be "voluntary" lol

I had sent a copy of this or similar to Mardaddy, but for everyone:

link

No politics, please.

Allen