Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee.  My name is Andy Linder.  I’m the President and owner of Power Connector, a small electronics business based on Long Island, NY. 

 Power Connector went into business on April 1, 1987 – 17 years ago last week. 

 When we first put the key in the door, it was just a two-man company.

 Just two people and a lot of hope
. 
 In 17 years, we’ve grown a lot.  Now there are 76 employees, not just one.

 We’ve built what I think is a solid reputation producing high-quality, reliable electronic connectors and cable hardware for the United States military.  Mostly, we supply components to the Department of Defense, Federal Prison Industries and to our nation’s primary defense contractors.

 Our products are relied on every day by American forces all over the globe, including our men and women in Afghanistan and Iraq.  My employees and I are still especially proud that some of the electronic components we made went into the transmitter that helped save the life of Air Force Captain Scott O’Grady after his plane was shot down in Bosnia in the summer of 1995.

 The story of  Power Connector is very much the story of Federal Prison Industries.

 It’s a story that’s typical of thousands of other private sector small businesses in every State, who’ve been helped by Federal Prison Industries over its nearly 70 years of existence.

 It’s a story that’ll come as a surprise to those who believe Federal Prison Industries poses some kind of “threat” to the private sector.

 And it’s a story that needs to be told as you hold this hearing on S. 346, legislation that I believe would suffocate Federal Prison Industries, and the vitally important work it does.

 That’s because Federal Prison Industries isn’t just about inmates.  It’s about thousands of small businesses, just like mine -- many of them female- or minority-owned.  Those thousands of small businesses, my own included, have contracts with Federal Prison Industries – contracts worth more than half a billion dollars in gross revenues in 2002 alone. 

 We’ve capitalized and hired employees on the strength of those contracts.  Our employees and their families count on those contracts.  In fact, for every dollar purchased by Federal Prison Industries, 74 cents goes directly back to small businesses just like mine.  We’re the ones who supply the raw materials, the component parts and the services that make possible FPI’s work with inmates.

 Each of us – each of our businesses, our employees, our suppliers – are directly in the path of  efforts by some in this Congress to turn back 70 years of success with Federal Prison Industries and force it, instead, into an impossible competition with the private sector. 

 Senators, Power Connector would never be in business today without Federal Prison Industries.

 That’s because it’s awfully hard for any company – much less a two-man company -- to even submit bids to the federal government, much less to deliver a product up to specs.

 But Federal Prison Industries isn’t like much of the federal government: they recognize the gains to be made when dealing with small businesses like ours, and they make doing so a priority.  They broke down their Army contracts and asked small businesses – ours included – to bid on proto-types.  They developed a unique partnership with small business, whereby they bore high costs for testing and for research and development.   They mandated small business participation in the competitive bidding process.  And they acquired the components for the finished cable assemblies which allowed companies like mine to participate.

 By taking on the financial burden for the testing of proto-types, Federal Prison Industries eliminated the single biggest financial barrier that stands in the way of small companies like ours.  That expense is the major reason, in my mind, why other government contracts of this type seldom are awarded to small companies like mine, and why, instead, they wind up going to big companies with more capital and human resources.

 As a result of FPI's efforts to work with the small business community our products were approved.  FPI provided the intensive labor required, we provided the component parts.  We had to bid competitively on these contracts, and I am proud to say my company won the bids for the component parts.

 Unlike other federal agencies, Federal Prison Industries gave us the one thing we ever asked for, then or ever since -- a chance. 
 They were hard taskmasters when it came to quality, but we delivered – on time and under budget. 

 We’ve kept on delivering to Federal Prison Industries, too -- for 17 years now, products now worth $14 million a year.
 
 Federal Prison Industries doesn’t concern itself with how big you are, but with whether you can deliver on time and up to specs.  If we could meet military standards and perform, being a small, start-up business was not a liability. 

 That’s part of FPI’s mission – to partner with small businesses to help us get the kinds of contracts for which we could otherwise never compete. 

 During Power Connectors first few years, we had no customers other than Federal Prison Industries.  Every dollar of our business, every individual employee, every dime of taxes we paid, was directly the result of Federal Prison Industries.  Our company would never have survived without them.

 Even today, 19 out of our 76 employees – roughly one-quarter of our workers, owe their jobs to Federal Prison Industries.  That’s also a testament to FPI’s efforts to reach out to small businesses.

 Power Connector today has more than 38 employees who work every day fulfilling contracts with other government agencies and military defense contractors – contracts that don’t involve FPI.  None of those contracts – not one – would have happened had we not been able to build a credible performance track record with FPI. 

 By giving us the opportunity to prove ourselves at a time when most agencies or defense contractors wouldn’t have given us a second look, FPI gave us the chance we were looking for 17 years ago.
 And Power Connector isn’t the only company involved.  In addition to our own success, the subcontracts we have outsourced over the past 17 years to over 45 other small businesses has created jobs for 147 full time employees outside our doors.

 It’s my firm belief, moreover, that only the electronics division of Federal Prison Industries has the capability of satisfactorily supplying the government’s cable, harness and mechanical assembly requirements during times of war or extended periods of military conflict. Federal Prison Industries has the experienced manual labor and the supervision necessary to perform this work. During the period from the mid nineties up to 9/11/2001, there was a steady decline in the number of private military contractors who could perform this type of work as the defense budget for military products was reduced.  These assemblies are used in the military’s tactical communications systems. The sheer volume and scope of the military’s needs for these products would overwhelm the capacity of any domestic private business.  The fact is that in many instances, Federal Prison Industries routinely has in place long-term requirement contracts with qualified defense product manufacturers, most of whom are small businesses.  That’s why Federal Prison Industries can obtain materials so quickly and efficiently.  The proven track record of these premier Federal Prison Industries electronics facilities to deliver quality product, competitively priced, under surge requirement conditions, with increased volume to their military customers, clearly proves how critical Federal Prison Industries is to our  nation’s defense preparedness and strength levels.  The previous record of Federal Prison Industries in Operation Desert Storm and its current outstanding performance during the Afghanistan and Iraqi conflicts manifests the obvious fact that our nation’s defense capability cannot and must not be significantly compromised by impairing the work of Federal Prison Industries.   

 But Federal Prison Industries isn’t just about creating private sector jobs. 

 One day in June, 2001, I received a letter from a Federal inmate at Fairton, New Jersey.  He told me he was to be released a month later after having spent the last 18 years of his life in state and federal custody.  He attached his resume, and asked me for a job.

 Two days after Dino Ricciardone was released from prison, we had him up to our factory, where he was interviewed by me and three of my managers.  It was a tough interview – no tougher than we submit to any other employee, but just as tough, that’s for sure. 

 Dino made the cut.  He started working for me the next Monday, and he’s been one of my most relied-upon workers ever since.  He’s never missed a day of work, and he’s never been late.  He integrated himself seamlessly into our organization and he’s performed beyond all expectations.

 If Dino could testify before you today, he’d tell you what he’s told me many, many times: that everything he’s been able to do since his release, every answer he gave that day during his interview, and every minute of good work as a productive employee that’s followed, is due to the training he received in Federal Prison Industries.

 The day he wrote me that letter, Dino already had 15 years of training – 15 years of working his way up from soldering to Lead Clerk for the Factory Manager.  For the first time in his life, he’d learned what responsibility means: what it’s like to show up, on time, and put in a full-day’s work.  He’d learned how to work with others.  How to take pride in his work.

 But more than that, he’d learned how to read blueprints and job specs.  He’d learned how to estimate job costs and time requirements.  And now, he’s learned how to work with vendors and customers. 

 Today, this man who spent 18 years behind bars supervises 3 other employees in one of the most critical areas of our business.

 He’ll tell you what turned his life around: the day he found religion, and the day he found Federal Prison Industries.

 Last year, I was the best man at his wedding.  I’m proud to call him my friend, and I’m even prouder to introduce him to the Senate – gentlemen, please welcome my Product Manager, Demetrio Riccciardone – “Dino.” 

 Mr. Chairman, Members of the Subcommittee, neither I nor Dino would be here if it weren’t for Federal Prison Industries.

 But there are thousands of others, who couldn’t be here today:  business owners like me, employees like Dino here, and our contractors and suppliers.  Countless thousands of inmates who, over 70 years, have received job skills training because of Federal Prison Industries.  Thousands, too, of corrections officers whose lives have been made easier because Federal Prison Industries has been so helpful in keeping the institutions safe.  And thousands more, who likely would have been victims of crime were it not for FPI’s 70-year track record in fighting crime.

  I respectfully request that you very carefully consider any further attempts to curtail or diminish the status of Federal Prison Industries through legislation such as S. 346.  I strongly oppose this legislation, as it would hurt small business, it would cost jobs, it would diminish the opportunities for former  inmates like Dino here, it would jeopardize the safety of our penal institutions and, in my opinion, it would risk our nation’s military preparedness. 

 Thank you for your time and consideration.