Modernizing AbilityOne: Employment Growth, Domestic Sourcing, and Acquisition Integrity in FY 2025
In its Report to the President dated December 18, 2025, the U.S. AbilityOne Commission (Chairperson Robert D. Hogue) describes how the AbilityOne Program uses federal procurement to support private-sector employment for Americans who are blind or have significant disabilities, while supplying mission-essential products and services to federal agencies. The Commission situates this work within the statutory framework of the Javits–Wagner–O’Day (JWOD) Act and frames FY 2025 as a year in which program growth and governance reforms were pursued in parallel.
A central theme is labor-force participation for a population the report characterizes as historically “discouraged and underutilized.” The Commission reports approximately 41,000 jobs in FY 2025, representing a 4% increase following a 7% increase in FY 2024, alongside an 8% increase in direct labor hours to roughly 48 million and sales growth to $4.7 billion. Program-level indicators reinforce the scale and economic relevance of these outcomes, including 40,663 participating employees (FY25), $821 million in wages reported (FY24), an average hourly wage of $18.58 (FY24), and 2,500 wounded, ill, or injured veterans in direct labor roles (FY25).
The report further argues that AbilityOne’s employment mission is intertwined with supply-chain resilience and national security objectives. It highlights domestic manufacturing contributions—most notably that AbilityOne is described as the sole manufacturer of chemical protective suits for the U.S. military—and cites Berry Amendment–aligned production examples spanning uniforms, extreme cold weather systems, fire-retardant gear, medical kits, and subsistence items. Consistent with an “America First” orientation, the Commission emphasizes compliance with domestic sourcing requirements, referencing a September 10, 2025 directive that underscores Buy American Act and Make PPE in America Act compliance (absent applicable exceptions) and seeks more consistent implementation across central nonprofit agencies and participating nonprofit contractors.
On governance, the Commission reports a push toward stronger oversight and performance accountability, including digitized data collection, modernization of compliance inspections, and enhanced follow-up on corrective actions. It also describes policy-driven incentives intended to reinforce internal program markets—such as increased nonprofit purchases of AbilityOne products used in AbilityOne service contracts—reporting growth from $6.3 million in FY 2024 to $12.7 million in FY 2025. Separately, the Commission highlights steps toward introducing competition within the AbilityOne framework, including an interim competition policy issued in April 2025 and approval of an initial competition under that policy, framed as a response to oversight priorities and federal customer interest in “best value.”
Finally, the report links modernization to operational effectiveness: it notes continued IT modernization (including migration of the Procurement List Information Management System to a Microsoft Power Platform cloud environment hosted largely in Azure) and describes federal customer engagement mechanisms such as AbilityOne Representatives (ABORs), with more than 120 ABORs across 20+ agencies, to improve feedback loops and contract implementation. Oversight is complemented by the Office of Inspector General’s account of risk-based planning and audit/evaluation outputs during FY 2025, presented as reinforcing integrity and stewardship during a period of leadership transition.
Disclaimer: This post summarizes a publicly issued government report and is provided for informational purposes only. Figures may reflect preliminary or lagged reporting cycles as noted by the Commission, and readers should consult the original report and underlying authorities for definitive statements. This is not legal advice or procurement guidance.