About one month ago, CBP sent an email to all employees notifying them that the VF Solutions website would be opening soon. If you skimmed through that email too quickly, you might have missed the paragraph buried at the bottom which stated:
“The current contract has a five-year fixed price for uniform items. This period will expire on Wednesday, January 15, 2020. Beginning on Thursday, January 16, 2020, employees will see a price increase on some uniform items. The complete list of impacted items can be found HERE. This list includes both current and new prices, effective Thursday, January 16, 2020.”
The prices on over 30 items will increase, with the highest increases affecting boots. For example, the 8″ Danner Acadia uninsulated boots will increase by $68.45 (27.5% increase), the regular RDU zipper uniform shirt will increase by $8.46 (15.8% increase), RDU pants will increase by $7.62 (11.5% increase), and the green undershirt will increase by $4.45 (20% increase).
If you are planning on purchasing any of these items, make sure you do so by the end of the day on this coming Wednesday, January 15, 2020. The new prices go into effect on January 16, 2020.
Our uniform allowance is set by regulation, and we are not aware of any plans to increase it. However, if OPM opts to increase the maximum uniform allowance, Border Patrol agents will automatically get the increased amount, as required by the CBA.