Michael Wooten, administrator of the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), has issued a new memo outlining five measures agencies should take to boost the participation of people with disabilities in federal contracting through the AbilityOne program.
OFPP directs senior procurement executives at agencies to designate an AbilityOne (ABOR) representative that promotes federal procurement in compliance with required source contracting procedures and engages with personnel to advance the use of the program, according to the memo released Friday.
The OFPP will establish and oversee a cross-agency team of ABORs to support the work of the AbilityOne Commission by advocating and sharing best practices for increasing opportunities for people with disabilities and assisting with the development of legislative changes and regulations that promote job opportunities for persons with disabilities, among others.
Other measures are making a pledge with the commission by Dec. 15th to boost the percentage of spend on services and products from the procurement list, identifying hiring opportunities for people with disabilities within their acquisition workforce and announcing a call for ideas to identify employment opportunities for people with disabilities in the federal contracting field.
