New Contract Management Services Web Page on NIB.org

The federal government needs contract administration and closeout services. For example, the U.S. Army has 300,000+ contracts that require closing. To meet this need, NIB provides services such as:

Research and analysis to ensure all requirements for closing contracts are complete.

We present “ready-to-close” contracts to government contracting officers.

Contract close-out document preparation

Contract document imaging and indexing

Contract document destruction

In June 2010, NIB, as the prime contractor and CMS program manager for the AbilityOne Program, executed an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with the Department of the Army for provision of CMS contract closeout support services for all of the Department of Defense (DoD). CMS closeout services were added to the mandatory AbilityOne Procurement List concurrently with the DoD-wide IDIQ contract. With these essential building blocks in place, individual task orders from across DoD will flow to the AbilityOne Program via NIB.

About National Industries for the Blind
At National Industries for the Blind (NIB), it is our mission to enhance the opportunities for economic and personal independence of persons who are blind, primarily through creating, sustaining and improving employment. NIB and 89 associated agencies serve as the largest employer for people who are blind by the sale of SKILCRAFT® products and services through the AbilityOne Program, established by the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act. For more information regarding how NIB and NIB associated agencies continue to provide opportunities to Americans who are blind, please visit: www.NIB.org

NIB at AbilityOne Day, Defense Supply Center Philadelphia Oct 13

2010 AbilityOne Day at DSCP to Celebrate National Disability Employment Awareness Month

The 2010 AbilityOne Day at Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP) to recognize National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) will be held Wednesday, October 13, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the DSCP Building 6 Auditorium.

Learn more about National Disability Employment Awareness Month on the NIB AbilityOne blog. Statement by President Barack Obama. Statement by Assistant Secretary of Labor Kathy Martinez.

About the National Industries for the Blind
NIB’s (www.NIB.org), mission is to enhance the opportunities for economic and personal independence of persons who are blind, primarily through creating, sustaining and improving employment. NIB and 89 associated agencies serve as the largest employer for people who are blind by the sale of SKILCRAFT® products and services through the AbilityOne Program. (Pictured left: SKILCRAFT logo and AbilityOne Program logo. SKILCRAFT slogan: Every Purchase Creates Jobs)

Department of Defense Encourages National Disability Employment Awareness Month

October 2010 Theme: Talent Has No Boundaries: Workforce Diversity INCLUDES Workers with Disabilities

This memorandum recognizes October as National Disability Employment
Awareness Month (NDEAM). This year's NDEAM theme, "Talent Has No
Boundaries: Workforce Diversity INCLUDES Workers with Disabilities," and
President Barack Obama's Plan to Empower People with Disabilities emphasizes
that men and women with disabilities represent an inclusive and skilled
workforce.

In recognition of NDEAM, DPAP and the Under Secretary of Defense for
Acquisition, Technology and Logistics is hosting the fourth annual DoD
AbilityOne Program Recognition Ceremony. We ask that each of you take the
time to recognize individuals and teams in your respective organizations who
work to increase business with the AbilityOne Program. Further details are
provided within the memorandum.

Policy Vault:
http://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/ops/policy_vault.html


Memorandum:
http://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/policy/policyvault/USA005374-10-DPAP.pdf

V/r
ROB JARRETT
Director of Operations
DPAP, USD(AT&L), Pentagon, Rm 3B855
703-695-7146, (FAX) 703-693-1142
DPAP website: http://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap

About National Industries for the Blind
NIB’s (www.NIB.org) mission is to enhance the opportunities for economic and personal independence of persons who are blind, primarily through creating, sustaining and improving employment. NIB and 89 associated agencies serve as the largest employer for people who are blind by the sale of SKILCRAFT® products and services through the AbilityOne Program, established by the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act.

AbilityOne Websites:
www.abilityone.com - an e-commerce site for SKILCRAFT and other AbilityOne Program products operated by NIB, an AbilityOne Program Central Non-profit Agency
www.abilityone.org - operated by NISH, an AbilityOne Program Central Non-profit Agency
www.abilityone.gov - operated by The Committee For Purchase from People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled, the federal agency that owns the AbilityOne name and provides oversight for the AbilityOne Program.

RFID Technology Aids People Who Are Blind in the Workplace on Department of Defense Contracts

Warrenton, Va. September 7, 2010 – A new technological system that allows people who are blind to work more accurately and efficiently was recently installed at four US locations, all factories that manufacture garments for the United States Department of Defense.

The company that developed and implemented this system is SimplyRFiD, a Warrenton, Va.-based software company.

Since 2005 a federal mandate has required that Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) tags be affixed to any clothing or other supplies sold to the DoD. The RFID tags are used to help the DoD better manage their inventory. The tags ensure that all shipments have come from verified providers, and that all packages contain the items they are meant to contain.

Many of the facilities that manufacture goods for the DoD are staffed by workers who are blind. The National Industries for the Blind (NIB), a non-profit organization that helps improve employment opportunities for people who are blind, became interested in ways that RFID technology could be used not only to fulfill government mandates, but to aid factory workers with certain tasks. NIB works with the DoD through the AbilityOne Program.

The NIB wondered whether a system could be created that would allow employees who are blind to accurately pack boxes with the correct type and quantity of an item.

Engineers at SimplyRFiD developed such a system. By linking RFID tags with audio equipment and allowing workers to communicate via a touch-screen, it is now simple for employees who are blind to know how many items are in a box they are packing, whether the items are the correct items, and which items to remove if a box is packed incorrectly.

“It’s almost a foolproof system,” said Mike Sebach the operations manager at Blind Industries and Services of Maryland, located in Salisbury, which was the pilot location for this technology. “If [SimplyRFiD] hadn’t done what [they] did we would have had to give these jobs to sighted employees.”

Sebach said his workers are now able to pack boxes more accurately than sighted workers would. “The system will actually not allow us to over pack or under pack a carton.”

So far, in addition to the Maryland location, this system has been installed in facilities in Texas, New York, and North Carolina. Plans are underway for SimplyRFiD to implement the program at garment factories across the nation that employ workers who are blind.

“This technology could work in any warehouse, absolutely,” Sebach said.


Contact: Emily Darrell, Marketing Specialist
SimplyRFiD
6599 Commerce Ct., Suite 100, Warrenton, VA 20187
Tel. (703) 343-1689
Email: emily.darrell@simplyrfid.com

U.S. Census Using Bags Made by Industries for the Blind Milwaukee

Read the entire story online: American Chronicle – 05/02/2010
By Bill Glauber, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

On Saturday, May 2, some 635,000 census takers in Wisconsin and across the nation will begin the task of going door to door to contact around 48 million households that did not return 2010 census forms.

"The bag serves multiple purposes," said Chuck Lange, president of the Industries for the Blind [Milwaukee]. "The census takers keep their papers, pens and pencils in there. And the bag identifies the census takers."

The organization also produced the binders that census takers will use. Those binders were manufactured in West Allis and in Kalamazoo, Mich.

Contact: U.S. Census Bureau

Industries for the Blind in Milwaukee and Kalamazoo, Michigan are members of the National Industries for the Blind. They produce SKILCRAFT and other products sold to the U.S. Federal Government and Department of Defense through the AbilityOne Program.

Washington Post Story Creates Demand for SKILCRAFT U.S. Government Pens

The Sunday, April 18, 2010 Washington Post front-page story about SKILCRAFT U.S. Government pens is generating a lot of inquiries on where to buy these American icons. Fortunately, SKILCRAFT U.S. Government pens available online at http://www.abilityone.com.

SKILCRAFT U.S. Government pens come in black or blue ink (the casing color is the ink color). Refills are also sold.

Interested in becoming a distributor, visit http://www.skilcraftsales.com/

National Industries for the Blind developed the U.S. government from 1967 to 1969, then received a GSA contract to produce the U.S. government pens under its SKILCRAFT brand in 1969.

Irving R. Dickman, in his book “Creating Jobs, Changing Lives,” which covers the history of the Wagner-O’Day Act 1966-1988, the GSA sought NIB as a producer of a new pen for government sale because it had 13 million defective pens on hand. [Note: the book does not name the producer of those defective pens].

The book says: “If there was a single key to government acceptance and the success of the [SKILCRAFT] ballpoint pen project, it was the quality of the product.”

NIB was created in 1938 to produce jobs for people who are blind through the sale of products and services to the U.S. government and Department of Defense. Today, nearly 6,000 Americans who are blind or visually impaired are employed by NIB and its 89 associated agencies. Most products and services are sold through the AbilityOne Program (JWOD Act).

Every purchase of a SKILCRAFT product or other products on the government procurement list through the AbilityOne Program creates or sustains economic independence for people who are blind or visually impaired.

Defense Supply Center Richmond: AbilityOne Awareness

Awareness fair highlights products available from AbilityOne
By Amy T. Clement, DSCR Public Affairs (used with permission)

In celebration of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, Defense Supply Center Richmond hosted a National Disability Employment Awareness Month Fair Oct. 1 in the Lotts Conference Center.

Representatives from about 25 non-profit agencies participating in the AbilityOne Program took part in the fair and offered displays, informational materials and sample products.

The fair allowed center employees to learn more about the program. AbilityOne is the largest source of employment for people who are blind or have other severe disabilities in the United States. The program employs nearly 48,000 blind or severely disabled Americans, enabling them to lead more productive and independent lives. All of the contractors who participate in AbilityOne are non-profit agencies.

“The information I’ve gotten from this fair has been great,” said Sonora Brown, a DSCR contract administrator in Aviation Supplier Operations. “There are so many products that I didn’t know were available.”

LaCretia Rogers, DSCR’s AbilityOne Program manager, said AbilityOne also affords opportunities for the disabled to work on a contract basis for the federal government through their respective non-profit agencies. At DSCR, Rogers said these contractors “provide vital support services, including grounds
maintenance, custodial services, and emergency services dispatch.”

“The attendance was very good this year and we received positive feedback from the non-profit agencies and our employees who attended the event,” Rogers said. “It is important to have this event to bring awareness to the work force and hopefully an opportunity to bring more products to the AbilityOne Program.”

Learn more about the AbilityOne Program at www.abilityone.org. Learn more about NIB and SKILCRAFT products at NIB's website, www.nib.org

Department of Defense to Honor Outstanding Contributions by Employees with Disabilities

The Secretary of Defense will recognize the superior contributions by Department of Defense (DoD) employees who are blind or have other disabilities. The Department will also honor DoD components with outstanding affirmative employment programs for people with disabilities. These recognitions are part of the DoD recognition of October as National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

"I urge each of you to renew your commitment to the employment and advancement of Americans with disabilities," Gail McGinn, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Plans), who is performing the duties of the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness) said in a September 30, 2009 statement.

Winners will be recognized on December 8, 2009 as a pre-conference event for the Perspectives on Employment of People with Disabilities Conference which begins December 9, 2009.

The Department of Defense is the largest customer of products and services produced by NIB and NISH and sold through AbilityOne and under the SKILCRAFT brand name.