#ability one

[smalltofedsblog]

Ability One Contracts For Workers With Disabilities Opens To Price Competition

The program’s overarching regulatory framework has been largely preserved since it was established in the 1930’s. A new rule finalized in March allows price to be an evaluation factor in contract selection.

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[karadin]

Raids on Goodwill, 2.3 billion of taxpayer dollars for employment of disabled people  funnelled off

Federal agents from Washington raided Memphis Goodwill this week as part of a growing national fraud investigation into AbilityOne, the top taxpayer-funded program that provides work to disabled workers, according to inside sources.

More than two dozen agents from numerous federal agencies drove onto the Memphis Goodwill headquarters on Wednesday, sealing the back of the property containing the corporate headquarters, which administers millions of dollars in Federal contracts throughout the Memphis metropolitan area.

The fraud investigation into the government program was first detailed in an exclusive CNN story several weeks ago. AbilityOne and its management operation, SourceAmerica, are now under investigation by at least four separate Offices of Inspectors General, and also by the U.S. Department of Justice, according to inside sources.

AbilityOne and SourceAmerica, and many of the contracts they administer, are being investigated over allegations of financial fraud, operating illegal contracts, not employing the legally required number of disabled workers, bid-rigging, contract "steering," and possible racketeering, according to sources. The program is one of the nation's largest taxpayer contracts programs, awarding some $2.3 billion annually to contractors across the country.

Companies awarded the taxpayer-funded AbilityOne contracts are required by law to have 75% of their work performed by blind or severely disabled employees. But as many as half the contracts across the country may be operating illegally and not hiring enough disabled workers, inside sources tell CNN.

One former top officer has stated repeatedly in recorded conversations that the entire program is run like organized crime.

"That's the way they play the game. We are dealing with the Mafia here, the old SourceAmerica Mafia," said Jean Robinson, the former top attorney for SourceAmerica.

She described the contract-awarding process as a "sham" driven by insider influence and cronyism. Robinson was later fired and sued by SourceAmerica and has not replied to CNN for comment.

AbilityOne and SourceAmerica have denied wrongdoing in their operation and have issued numerous statements in recent weeks assuring their contractors and allies that there is no problem in the program. Officials in AbilityOne and SourceAmerica at first said they had no knowledge that any investigation was under way by the Justice Department. In recent weeks, the officials with SourceAmerica have confirmed the investigation is, in fact, ongoing.

Since 2010, Memphis Goodwill Industries has received more than $22 million in AbilityOne contracts to provide services such as janitorial work for the IRS and Public Buildings Service and to operate call centers for the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to a government database of federal contracts.

Memphis Goodwill continues to list job opportunities related to federal contracts on its website.

Goodwill offices are among the major contractors in the AbilityOne program. Goodwill offices across the country receive hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded contracts to conduct numerous operations ranging from sewing uniforms to conducting janitorial and cleaning services.

But the Goodwill operations that receive the contracts appear independent from state to state, and the contracts are awarded to the local offices to administer. Goodwill is only one of hundreds of contractors nationally that receive the AbilityOne contracts.

The AbilityOne program was first created with ambitious, altruistic goals by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Congress in 1938 to help give jobs to the blind.

The AbilityOne and SourceAmerica program have been sued multiple times in recent years by contractors who allege the bidding process to get the lucrative contracts is "rigged," and inside favoritism and "steering" determines where the taxpayers' money is awarded. Several of the lawsuits also allege that the contractors who get the taxpayers' money are not operating legally and are not hiring the required ratio of disabled workers. 

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/04/us/abilityone-investigation-update/index.html

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THE NEXT TIME A REPUBLCIAN TRIES TO SELL  YOU on why disability to individuals needs to be cut due to fraud - mention corporate fraud and why that’s never addressed.

BTW - Goodwill Industries in stores do not get  a pass, they hire disabled workers at pennies per hour, due to an antiquated law that needs to be removed.