SUMMARY: Federal and State prison industries have entered the mapping services field, creating an adverse impact on private firms and their employees by diverting work away from law-abiding, tax-paying Americans. The cumulative effect of Federal and State prison industries, as well as competition from government agencies and universities, has prevented the U.S. mapping profession from growing and expanding.

Mr. Chairman, members of the Subcommittee, I am John Palatiello and I serve as Executive Director of the Management Association for Private Photogrammetric Surveyors (MAPPS), a national trade association of more than 120 private firms engaged in a variety of services related to professional mapping services. I deeply appreciate your invitation to testify before the Subcommittee.

Federal and State prisons have discovered the exploding market for geographic data conversion services. Convict labor is encroaching into the data conversation market, displacing hard working, law-abiding, tax-paying citizens with criminals employed by a new form of government-sponsored, unfair, tax-exempt, below-market non-profit competition.

Federal Prison Industries
Since 1934, the Federal prisons have operated industrial facilities to keep idle inmates occupied and provide training in occupations designed to provide prisoners marketable skills that will make them productive, responsible citizens when their incarceration is complete. Historically, UNICOR, the Federal Prison Industries, has focused on a limited number of product areas, particularly those in which the goods produced in the prison can be consumed in the prison, such as furniture and paper products. In recent years, they have expanded dramatically, shifting to a wide array of products, and recently, to the services sector.

The private sector in architecture, engineering, surveying and mapping is deeply concerned about the entry of UNICOR into engineering-related services, including geographic information systems (GIS) and computer aided design and drafting (CADD) services. Specifically, UNICOR has developed a capability to provide scanning and digitizing services to other Federal agencies. According to UNICOR documents, it is "broadening its prime contractor role ... in the areas of ... digitization of maps for GIS applications, digitization of engineering and facilities management drawings (am/fm), scanning and digitizing, CALS conversions."

First, UNICOR retained PlanGraphics, Inc. a GIS consulting firm, to provide assistance on defining the potential GIS market and advising the prison industry on entry into GIS services. Then, UNICOR retained Harvard Design and Mapping, Inc. (HDM) to provide GIS system acquisition management. The firm managed UNICOR's acquisition and installation of GIS/CADD systems, including a needs analysis with hardware and software specification recommendations, integration and installation of such systems, and training of inmates in GIS/CADD digitizing and imaging skills. UNICOR has indicated it is now productive in this area, having begun providing AM/FM services for agencies of the Department of Defense. HDM installed an 18-seat Intergraph system for digitizing and imaging at a prison facility in Fort Dix, NJ, and provided further training and support for the system's full implementation. Our last information was that a similar facility was under development in Lexington, KY.

The services UNICOR is providing, while technical in nature, support professional architect-engineer (A/E) services. In recognition of the importance of using the highest quality contractors to perform such services, Congress in 1972 enacted the "Brooks A/E Act". This law requires Federal agencies to award A/E contracts (including those for surveying or mapping services) to firms based on their "demonstrated competence and qualification" subject to negotiation of a fee "fair and reasonable to the government", rather than awarding such contracts to the lowest bidder.

We believe this is an inappropriate area for UNICOR activity. Public health, welfare and safety is dependent on the quality of work performed by professionals in the fields of architecture, engineering, surveying and mapping. To add to these highly technical and professional services drawings, maps and images processed by prison inmates is not only an affront to the professionals in this field, but questionable to the public interest. It also appears to be unwise to train convicted felons in imaging techniques and technologies. The potential for utilizing the prison-developed skills in counterfeiting operations upon release from incarceration is too tempting.

State Prisons
Not only is the mapping community confronted with prison competition at the Federal level, but state prison systems have entered the field as well.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has established a map scanning and digitizing service at their Ferguson Unit in Midway, Texas. Authorized by the Prison Made Goods Act of 1963, the prison company has a slick brochure claiming that under their program "Everybody Wins" since inmates are trained in a skill that is marketable upon their release, use of the prison agency provides a "quality product at a reduced price", and a "double savings" for the taxpayer. This unit has taken work for the Texas Department of Transportation, Texas counties and other clients that would otherwise have gone to the private sector.

Unigroup is the Oregon Department of Corrections' prison industry. It brags that its "innovative CAD/CAM industry was conceived in early 1992 as a way to provide quality, inexpensive services to state and other governmental agencies. Private businesses are also welcome to use our services." Unigroup functions as a conversion house, converting hard copy documents to digital files. The unit became productive in March, 1993 providing data in an Arc/Info format. It has a price list, brochure and standard cartography services agreement. It is our understanding this organization not only does work for Oregon State agencies and Oregon counties, but for Federal agencies and private firms. In fact, we are told that through private firms, the Oregon prison industry mapping section is doing work in New York and other States. The Oregon prison industry has become so pervasive that two MAPPS member firms have shut down their efforts to market these services to State and county government, as they are unable to compete with the below market prices and labor rates charged by the prisons.

PRIDE Enterprises, the Florida prison industry, is engaged in a variety of digital geographic information services, including converting hard copy maps to electronic files; plotting maps at various scales; creating databases with information on homeowners, property appraisal and tax assessment; digitizing, and other CADD and GIS services. While PRIDE works as a subcontractor to private firms, their direct contracting authority is unfair competition and again, diverts work for tax-paying, law-abiding citizens.

Policy Issues
What the Federal prisons and these States naively fail to recognize is that when work goes to a prison rather than a profit-making, taxpaying company, the Federal and State government loses considerable corporate and individual tax revenues, and displaces law-abiding workers. Moreover, the pervasiveness of prison activity limits the private sector market, thus reducing the number of available jobs awaiting inmates upon release. Nobody wins when prison industries decimate the private sector and release inmates into a field where the only job market is in the prisons!

Let me dispel some misconceptions that have been advanced by the prison industries and other advocates of prison labor engaged in mapping related services. First, this is NOT work that would otherwise go offshore. While there are firms that have set up operations or subcontract in low wage countries, there are also firms in the United States that do this work. They pay wages required by the Service Contract Act and their State equivalents. It is becoming increasingly difficult for firms to operate these services, but that is not because of competition off-shore, it is because of competition from the prisons.

More importantly, Mr. Chairman, let me share with you my experience with UNICOR. Under current Federal law, UNICOR must diversify so far as practicable so that no single private industry carries an undue burden of competition. Prior to entering an industry, it is our understanding the UNICOR board is required to make a report. One can hardly understand how UNICOR would not realize that entering the mapping field would not adversely affect the private sector.

In 1987, MAPPS began a campaign to require increased contracting out of mapping activities by Federal agencies. When we began, less than 5 percent of the more than $1 billion the federal government spends annually on surveying and mapping was contracted to the private sector.

We have been successful in transitioning the Army Corps of Engineers, US Geological Survey, NOAA and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency from in-house production to contracting out to the private sector. We have experienced a serious problem with State Departments of Transportation being engaged in mapping activities and actually marketing their services outside their agency.

When we learned that UNICOR was entering this field, we met with Federal Prison officials. We were shocked to hear them say they had been following what MAPPS was doing and complemented us on our lobbying effort and mentioned specific pieces of legislation which Congress enacted and MAPPS supported. UNICOR officials then said they believed their entry into this field would not impact our member firms because they were going after work that was heretofore performed by Federal employees!

Mr. Chairman, MAPPS has long believed President Kennedy’s adage that a rising tide lifts all boats, but this is going too far.

We offered to work with UNICOR. We suggested that if UNICOR agreed not to be a prime contractor, our members would work with them as a subcontractor. We also offered to establish a placement program to provide private sector jobs for prison industry trained personnel upon their release. UNICOR said they would have to check with their attorneys as to whether they could do that, and we never heard from them again.

During a meeting with our Board of Directors, were told by UNICOR that they were interested in labor intensive work which would occupy as large a number of inmates as possible. UNICOR was not interested in entering occupations which required automation and progressive labor saving instrumentation. As an example, they used the difference between labor intensive digitizing of paper maps and/or working drawings on a tablet by hand held cursor as opposed to automated scanning and computer aided editing. In fact, the automated approach is exactly what has been installed.

Legislation
Mr. Chairman, the Senate last week passed S. 314, formerly known as the Freedom from Government Competition Act and now known as the Federal Activities Inventory Reform Act. This compromise has also been reported by the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight and will be considered by the house when you return in September. This legislation will give the private sector an opportunity to demonstrate its ability to provide goods and services that have heretofore been performed in-house by Federal agencies at the best value to the taxpayer. To move this work from Federal agencies to Federal prisons would be a travesty. It would negate the benefit of this legislation, which is resolving one of the top issues of all three White House Conference on Small Business sessions by simply substituting one form of unfair government competition with another.

We support H.R. 2758 the Federal Prison Industries Competition in Contracting Act. We believe this is an important first step toward creating a more level playing field. We respectfully oppose H.R. 4100, the so-called Free Market Prison Industries Reform Act.

Mr. Chairman, rehabilitation and retraining are commendable goals for prison programs, but at what price? "Penal" institution and "penitentiary" get their name from the Latin "poenalis", meaning pertaining to punishment. Who is being punished here, the inmates who have committed a crime against society, or the employees of private GIS firms who play by the rules?