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Javits-Wagner-O'Day Program (JWOD)

Logo of Javits-Wagner-O'Day Program, with slogan 'Creating Jobs and Training for People Who Are Blind Or Severely Disabled', as used on JWOD website.

The Javits-Wagner-O'Day (JWOD) Program provides employment opportunities for Americans who are blind or have other severe disabilities. It orchestrates Government purchases of products and services provided by nonprofit agencies that employ people with disabilities throughout the country.

NOTE: The Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled approved a name change for the JWOD program in late 2006. AbilityOne will become the new name of the longstanding procurement program employing people who are blind or who have other severe disabilities under the auspices of the Javits-Wagner-O’Day Act. AbilityOne will replace the "JWOD" acronym, but does not change the underlying law.

History of JWOD

Photo of President Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) in a wheelchair, with his dog and a young girl. In 1938, the Wagner-O'Day Act was passed under President Franklin D. Roosevelt in order to provide employment opportunities for people who are blind by allowing them to manufacture mops and brooms to sell to the Federal Government. In 1971, under the leadership of Senator Jacob Javits, Congress amended this Act (41 U.S.C. 46-48c) to include people with severe disabilities and allow the program to also provide services to the Federal Government. This socioeconomic program provides Federal customers with a wide array of products and services, while providing people with severe disabilities jobs and increased independence.

The Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled is the JWOD Program's Federal overseer. Through two Central Nonprofit Agencies, National Industries for the Blind (NIB) and NISH (serving people with a range of disabilities), the Committee works with nonprofit agencies across the country, as well as in Puerto Rico and Guam, to provide employment opportunities to people with severe disabilities. The purchase of JWOD products and services by Federal customers helps reduce the 70 percent unemployment rate faced by this group of people.

Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled

The amended JWOD Act of 1971 created the Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled, the independent Federal agency that administers the JWOD Program. The Committee is comprised of 15 Presidentially-appointed members, 11 of whom represent Governmental agencies (Departments of Agriculture, Air Force, Army, Commerce, Defense, Education, Justice, Labor, Navy and Veterans Affairs, and the General Services Administration). The remaining four members are private citizens knowledgeable about the employment problems of people who are blind or have other severe disabilities, including those employed by nonprofit agencies affiliated with the JWOD Program.

The Committee, as part of its responsibilities:

· Determines which products and services purchased by the Federal Government must be procured from JWOD-participating nonprofit agencies;

· Establishes the fair market prices for these products and services, and revises the prices when appropriate;

· Ensures that nonprofit agencies comply with Committee rules and regulations (through on-site reviews of agency operations, annual certifications and other means);

· Assists entities of the Federal Government in expanding their JWOD procurement; and

· Designates one or more distributors for JWOD products and services.

To help carry out its mandate, the Committee has a full-time staff located in Arlington, Virginia. The staff reviews proposed products and services to ensure that the Committee has adequate data to determine their suitability for addition to the Procurement List. Information compiled by the staff is submitted to Committee members for consideration in deciding whether to add the products and services to the Procurement List.

Central Nonprofit Agencies

The JWOD Act directs the Committee to designate "a central nonprofit agency or agencies to facilitate the distribution" of Government orders of Procurement List products and services among nonprofit agencies employing people who are blind or have other severe disabilities. The Committee has designated National Industries for the Blind (NIB) and NISH (serving people with a range of disabilities) as the National nonprofit organizations that perform this and other functions that assist nonprofit agencies to participate in the JWOD Program. NIB and NISH work closely with contracting activities and nonprofit agencies to match Government requirements with nonprofit agency capabilities.

One of NIB's and NISH's key activities is visiting Government contracting activities to jointly explore with Government personnel products and services that may be suitable for provision by nonprofit agencies. Once a potential procurement list addition is identified, NIB or NISH works closely with the contracting activity to obtain the data needed by the Committee to determine its suitability for the JWOD Program.

Contact Information

The Committee for Purchase from People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled
1421 Jefferson Davis Highway
Jefferson Plaza 2, Suite 10800
Arlington, VA 22202-3259

Phone: (703) 603-7740
Fax: (703) 603-0655

http://www.jwod.gov/
http://www.abilityone.gov/

Additional Information

The complete text of the Javits-Wagner-O'Day (JWOD) Act appears in Title 41 of the United States Code, Sections 46 through 48c. A document that gives the current legislative language of the JWOD Act with references to the applicable U.S.C. sections is available at:
http://www.jwod.gov/jwod/library/JWOD_Act.html

Source

Information for this topic was drawn from the website of the Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled at:
http://www.jwod.gov/jwod/index.html
http://www.jwod.gov/jwod/library/pr_AbilityOne.pdf