Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled UPDATE

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Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind
or Severely DisabledUPDATE

• Barry S. Lineback
• Acting Director, Program Operations

November 7, 2008
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AbilityOne Brand Roll-out

• AbilityOne has replaced JWOD acronym
• Published in November 28, 2006 Federal Register
• Does not change underlying law (Javits-Wagner-ODa
  y Act)
• Logo introduced in 2007 brand book in 2008
• Roll-out events
• Annual conferences, trade shows
• National Disability Employment Awareness Month
• Presidential memo and First Lady photos
• NIB continues to license SKILCRAFT brand for
  commodities

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AbilityOne Strategic Plan (FY08/09)

• Extensive Committee member participation and
  buy-in
• Developed with wide stakeholder involvement
• Defined goals, objectives, measures, and targets
• Commitment to measure, track progress

www.abilityone.gov
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Strategic Plan Goals

• Goal 1. Employment for People Who Are Blind or
  Have Other Severe Disabilities
• Increase employment opportunities
• Goal 2. Stewardship, Program Integrity, and
  Leadership
• Promote stewardship, program integrity, and
  leadership
• Goal 3. Market Development
• Develop new markets and expand existing markets
• Goal 4. Customer Satisfaction
• Increase satisfaction and loyalty
• Goal 5. Communications and Information Sharing
• Expand awareness, understanding, and preference

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Strategic Alignment Counts!
Increase Jobs Stewardship Satisfaction Awareness U
nderstanding
Preference Expand Markets Dev New Markets
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Strategic Communications

• Goal
• Increase AbilityOne awareness, understanding
  preference among key stakeholders
• Tactics
• Conference keynotes, radio and TV spots
  (Leveraging Tina Ballard)
• Trade shows/exhibits
• Newspaper/newsletter clips
• Advertising campaign (NISH lead)

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NDEAM Focus

• October is National Disability Employment
  Awareness Month (NDEAM)
• AbilityOne Program events in 4 quadrants of U.S.
• Washington, DC Pentagon
• Orange County, CA Ronald Reagan Federal Bldg
• Houston, TX VA Medical Center
• Chicago, IL Metcalf Federal Bldg
• Grassroots kits provided to all participating
  NPAs
• Federal kits provided to key customers
• Base Supply Center promotions

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JWOD Act Modernization

• Process
• Committee received input from CNAs, NAEPB, NCWC
  and other stakeholders
• Worked draft bill through the Administration,
  received OMB approval
• Delivered to our authorizing committees in the
  Senate and House
• Meeting with staff to educate them and discuss
  sponsorship

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JWOD Act Modernization

• Key provisions include authorizing Committee to
• (1) identify products or services suitable for
  procurement by subcontract or other purchasing
  method (in addition to prime contract)
• (2) establish a streamlined process to add
  products/services to PL without public notice and
  comment, NTE five years, if need exists

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JWOD Act Modernization

• Modernize definition of individual with other
  severe handicaps - address individuals unique
  job needs
• Allow nonprofit agencies to participate at a
  disabled labor ratio of less than 75 percent, but
  not below 51 percent (current law stipulates 75
  percent)
• Change direct labor to employment hours -
  clarify that hours worked under program include
  supervisory, management, technical,
  administrative, etc.

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Mapping Initiative

• Committee does not believe legislative change is
  the only path forward.
• The current Act authorizes Committee to develop
  rules and regulations for the AbilityOne Program.
  
• Committee has contracted for a review and mapping
  of the Act to the Regulations to the Procedural
  Memoranda
• Identify gaps and outdated policies
• Recommend updates to regs and memos

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Tiger Team

• Formed in Jul 08 to look at initiatives important
  to Executive Director
• DoD Mentor Protégé Program
• Partnership with Small Business
• FAR Part 20

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Policy/Regulation

• FAR Part 7
• Motivate/imbed consideration of AbilityOne in
  acquisition process
• Agency-head responsibilities ensure agency
  planners comply with FAR Subpart 8.7
• General procedures acquisition planners use
  AbilityOne as a priority source
• Acquisition plans document consideration given
  to AbilityOne
• DoDI 5000.2
• "Small business planning is required in order to
  give small businesses the maximum practical
  opportunity to participate. Similarly, where
  feasible, the employment of Ability One
  contractor capabilities shall be encouraged.
• Informal CAAC Membership
• New FAR Part

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Partnership/Collaboration

• Small Business
• Meeting in December 08 with DoD, GSA, USDA, and
  NASA OSDBU
• Adapt lessons learned from SB infrastructure and
  business practices in Federal government
• Collecting data on AbilityOne support of Small
  Business
• NPA purchases totaled 256M
• 29 CEOs are military veterans
• 29 CEOs are women
• 40 of NPAs are located in HUBZones
• Industry Initiative
• Conference December 11, 2008
• Increase knowledge of AbilityOne throughout
  industry
• Develop strategies for focused initiatives to
  increase subcontracts
• Benchmark and pilot initiatives
• Leverage success to grow industry participation

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New Subcommittee

• Communications and Customer Satisfaction
  Subcommittee
• Chair Neil Romano, Assistant Secretary of Labor
  for Disability Employment Policy
• First Priority Quality work environment
• Looking for best practices to publicize
• May develop a (voluntary) self-certification
  checklist for AbilityOne participating employers

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Operations Overview

• Maintaining the Procurement List
• Additions 142 transactions for FY 2008
• Deletions 61 transactions for FY 2008
• Administrative Changes
• Price Changes Additional NSNs or Service
  Locations Change in CA or NPA Purchase
  Exceptions
• 656 transactions for FY 2008
• Rulemaking and Committee Decision Process

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Staff Organization - Operations

• Project Development
• Provides guidance on new business
• Troubleshoots current Procurement List work
• Builds and maintains relationships
• Information Management Pricing
• Manages the workflow for additions, deletions and
  changes to the Procurement List
• Reviews initial prices, re-pricing and impasse
  cases
• Supports electronic business submissions

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PLIMS

• Why a new Procurement List Information Management
  System (PLIMS)?
• More efficient, effective paperless environment
  for managing Procurement List
• Electronic workflow allows parallel review by
  staff
• Improved data visibility, security and accuracy
• Enhanced records management and retrieval
• Status reports to CNAs regarding PL transactions
• Greater ability to collect and analyze timely,
  specific project data for evaluation

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Review Procurement List process

• Procurement List (PL) is the list of products and
  services placed in the AbilityOne Program,
  purchased IAW the Javits-Wagner-ODay Act and FAR
  Subparts 8.0 8.7.
• If a Government entity has a requirement for a
  product or service that is on the Procurement
  List, the entity must buy it from the source
  designated by the Committee.
• The AbilityOne Program is a mandatory source, not
  a mandatory purchase program.

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Committee Decision Factors

• Committee makes decisions based on
• Suitability Criteria (41 CFR 51-2.4)
• Employment potential for people who are blind or
  severely disabled
• Nonprofit agency qualification
• Capability of NPA to meet customer
• quality and delivery standards
• Impact on current or most recent contractor

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Committee Decision Factors

• Fair Market Price Determination (41 CFR 51-2.7)
• The Committee shall determine fair market price
  Committee shall also revise from time to time
  its price determinations in accordance with
  changing market conditions
• Initial Price Determination
• Proposed Price Change Methodology

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The Federal Acquisition Environment

• Less Money
• Value Orientation
• Strategic Sourcing
• Performance-Based Service Contracts
• Bundling or Regionalizing of
• Requirements
• Increased oversight

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Quality and Performance

• Performance and Federal customer satisfaction are
  critical to maintaining and expanding our work to
  meet our employment mission
• With todays increased visibility and scrutiny,
  we must ensure quality as a stewardship issue.
• Maintain Build Relationships with all parties.

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Customer Value Philosophy

• Its Not
• (Federal) Customer Value
• Vs.
• Social Mission
• Its Social Mission Via Customer Value

Delivering value resonates more deeply than
citing the law or regulations to attract and
retain customers
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Compliance Oversight

• Goal 2 of the Strategic PlanStewardship, Program
  Integrity Leadership
• January 2007, Government Accountability Office
  (GAO) Report included the following finding
• The Committeedelegates most of its oversight
  responsibilities to two central nonprofit
  agencies that also represent the interests of the
  JWOD nonprofit agencies they oversee. This
  arrangement, as well other factors, raises
  questions about their independence and gives them
  little incentive to identify instances of
  noncompliance
• Area of critical importance to our Oversight
  Committee(s) in Congress

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New Compliance Process

• Committee staff to conduct all formal compliance
  reviews and investigations of reported
  noncompliance
• NIB and NISH will continue to visit qualified
  nonprofit agencies -- these will be termed
  assistance visits.
• Emphasis help correct any potential compliance
  issues
• Committee regulations revised to remove
  references of compliance or investigative
  responsibilities by CNAs
• Annual self-certification of NPAs will continue
  w/ certifications passing through CNA for review

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New Compliance Process

• Committee staff to develop methodology for NPAs
  to conduct internal self-audits
• CNA reviewers must accompany a Committee staff
  compliance specialist on a review once every 2
  years
• We will verify NPAs performance with all Federal
  contracting activities and the status of payment
  of the CNA fee.
• Committee will aim to review every participating
  NPA on a 5-year cycle

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New Compliance Process

• Nonprofit agencies will be selected for
  compliance reviews based on
• Problem agencies identified from assistance
  visits
• Nonprofits reporting total agency direct labor
  ratios below 75
• Nonprofit agencies entering the AbilityOne
  Program for the first time
• Random selection of nonprofits that have
  conducted an internal audit
• Agencies which exhibit patterns of growth or
  concentrate in business lines which historically
  indicate potential compliance problems.

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Maintaining Qualification

• Furnish commodities or services in strict
  accordance with Government orders.
• Comply with wage and safety standards prescribed
  by DOL
• Comply with directives or requests from Committee
  in furtherance of the objectives of the JWOD Act
  or its implementing regulations.
• Make records available for inspection at any
  reasonable time to representatives of the
  Committee or CNA.
• Maintain records of direct labor hours performed
  in the nonprofit agency by each worker.

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Maintaining Qualification

• Maintain proper documentation of disability
  signed by appropriate medical/psychological
  professional, reflecting the nature and extent of
  the disability or disabilities or a certification
  of the disability or disabilities by a State or
  local governmental entity.
• Maintain competitive employment documentation.
• Maintain an ongoing placement program.
• Pay CNA fee upon receipt of Govt payment for
  order/service delivery

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Out of Compliance Agencies

• The Committee staff will make a determination as
  to whether the reason for finding the nonprofit
  agency out of compliance is minor or major.
• Those found to be out of compliance for major
  reasons would be placed on probation and not
  allowed any new work until the issues are
  corrected.
• In all cases, a corrective action date will be
  established by Committee for the nonprofit to
  resolve the issue(s) and report back to the
  Committee.

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Out of Compliance Agencies

• Major reasons would be
• Competitive employment evaluations missing from a
  significant number of files
• Adequate medical documentation is missing from a
  significant number of files
• Evidence that the direct labor ratio is not going
  to make the 75 requirement by the end of the
  fiscal year
• AbilityOne projects are being done significantly
  below the ratio submitted by the nonprofit
• That the same problem was noted on the previous
  visit.

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Out of Compliance Agencies

• Minor noncompliance - Committee will determine a
  corrective action date for the nonprofit to fix
  all outstanding issues with nonprofits
  management team.
• Committees report and timing will be provided to
  the appropriate central nonprofit agency and they
  will contact the NPA and determine if any
  assistance is necessary

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Final Comments

• Committee staff is energized by new leaders
• Seeking efficiencies and greater data accuracy
  through PLIMS
• Legislative recommendations would lead to some
  operational efficiencies, if passed
• Committees mapping initiative and regulations
  rewrite will help us identify gaps and
  rationalize operational procedures

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• Questions?