IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1401 

Directing the Committee on House Administration to take certain actions 

to promote the procurement of goods and services from the AbilityOne 

program established under chapter 85 of title 41, United States Code 

(commonly known as the Javits-Wagner-O’Day Act), and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 2, 2024 

Ms. CROCKETT (for herself, Mr. MOLINARO, Mr. LOUDERMILK, and Mr. 

THOMPSON of California) submitted the following resolution; which was 

referred to the Committee on House Administration 

RESOLUTION 

Directing the Committee on House Administration to take 

certain actions to promote the procurement of goods 

and services from the AbilityOne program established 

under chapter 85 of title 41, United States Code (commonly known as the Javits-Wagner-O’Day Act), and for 

other purposes. 

Whereas, in 1971, Congress passed the Javits-Wagner-O’Day 

Act to advance employment opportunities for Americans 

who are blind or who have significant disabilities by requiring the Federal Government, including legislative entities, when seeking to procure a product or service, to 

first assess whether their needs can be met by products 

or services provided by Ability One Participating AgenVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:39 Aug 03, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR1401.IH HR1401

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•HRES 1401 IH 

cies and included on the AbilityOne Procurement List 

maintained by the AbilityOne Commission; and 

Whereas, as a result of the AbilityOne Program, tens of thousands of Americans who are blind or who have significant 

disabilities, including a large and growing number of returning veterans, are employed at competitive wages providing products and services to the Federal Government, 

greatly enhancing their self-sufficiency and providing critical career skills: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, 

2 SECTION 1. PROMOTING PROCUREMENT OF ABILITYONE 

3 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FOR HOUSE OF 

4 REPRESENTATIVES. 

5 (a) UPDATE TO GENERAL GUIDELINES.— 

6 (1) PROCUREMENT BY CAO.—Not later than 

7 January 1, 2025, the Committee on House Adminis8 tration shall update the Committee document enti9 tled ‘‘Guidelines for Procurement of Goods and 

10 Services for the U.S. House of Representatives’’ to 

11 direct the Chief Administrative Officer to procure, to 

12 the maximum extent practicable, products and serv13 ices which are included on the AbilityOne Procure14 ment List from Participating AbilityOne Agencies. 

15 (2) APPLICABILITY TO ALL PRODUCTS AND

16 SERVICES PROCURED.—Paragraph (1) shall apply 

17 with respect to products and services procured by 

18 the Chief Administrative Officer for the use of Office 


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1 of the Chief Administrative Officer or any other of2 fice of the House, including products and services 

3 which are procured by the Chief Administrative Offi4 cer and made available to other offices of the House 

5 through the House Supply Store. 

6 (b) SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS FOR HOUSE SUPPLY

7 STORE.—Not later than January 1, 2025, the Committee 

8 on House Administration shall take the following actions 

9 with respect to the operation of the House Supply Store: 

10 (1) Ensuring that on the internal website of the 

11 House Supply Store, AbilityOne products and serv12 ices are ranked as the first result in generic product 

13 filters and generic product searches. 

14 (2) Including on the homepage of the internal 

15 website of the House Supply Store a separate 

16 hyperlink through which users may find all of the 

17 products and services of the Store which are 

18 AbilityOne products and services. 

19 (3) The placement of permanent signage in 

20 prominent locations in the Store which identifies 

21 AbilityOne products and services. 

22 (c) NEW MEMBER ORIENTATION PROGRAM.— 

23 (1) INCLUSION OF INFORMATION IN PRO24 GRAM.—As part of the orientation program for 

25 Members-elect, the Committee on House AdministraVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:39 Aug 03, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR1401.IH HR1401

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1 tion, in consultation with the Director of the Con2 gressional Research Service, shall develop program3 ming and other events to provide Members-elect with 

4 information on— 

5 (A) an overview of the AbilityOne Pro6 gram; 

7 (B) the economic impact of such program 

8 nationally, and to the best approximation, the 

9 economic impact of the program on the State 

10 and congressional district of each Member-elect; 

11 and 

12 (C) maximizing an office’s procurement 

13 from AbilityOne Participating Agencies. 

14 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Paragraph (1) shall 

15 apply with respect to the orientation program for 

16 Members-elect to the One Hundred Nineteenth Con17 gress and each succeeding Congress. 

18 SEC. 2. ABILITYONE REPRESENTATIVE. 

19 (a) DESIGNATION OF POSITION.— 

20 (1) OFFICE OF THE CAO.—Not later than 30 

21 days after the date of the adoption of this resolution, 

22 the Chief Administrative Officer shall designate an 

23 employee in the Office of the Chief Administrative 

24 Officer to serve in a position to be known as the 

25 ‘‘AbilityOne Representative’’. 


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1 (2) DUTIES.—The employee serving as the 

2 AbilityOne Representative shall carry out the fol3 lowing duties: 

4 (A) Promoting the purchase and use of 

5 AbilityOne products and services within the Of6 fice of the Chief Administrative Officer. 

7 (B) Providing the data required for pre8 paring the annual report required under section 

9 3. 

10 (C) Ensuring compliance with AbilityOne 

11 Commission regulations, as applicable. 

12 (D) Serving as a liaison to Members of the 

13 House of Representatives, AbilityOne Partici14 pating Agencies, the AbilityOne Commission, 

15 and the Commission’s central nonprofit coordi16 nating agencies on matters in the Office which 

17 relate to the AbilityOne program. 

18 (E) Developing and monitoring the imple19 mentation of a written strategic plan for in20 creasing procurement by the Office from the 

21 AbilityOne program. 

22 (b) APPLICATION TO OTHER SUPPORT OFFICES

23 UPON DIRECTION OF COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINIS24 TRATION.—The Committee on House Administration may 

25 direct a support office of the House to designate an emVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:39 Aug 03, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR1401.IH HR1401

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1 ployee of the office to serve in the position of AbilityOne 

2 Representative in the same manner and subject to the 

3 same terms and conditions which apply under subsection 

4 (a) to the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer. 

5 SEC. 3. ANNUAL REPORT. 

6 Not later than January 1 of each calendar year, be7 ginning with 2025, the Chief Administrative Officer shall 

8 submit to the Committee on House Administration a re9 port on— 

10 (1) the total amount spent on the procurement 

11 of products and services by the Office of the Chief 

12 Administrative Officer during the previous fiscal 

13 year; 

14 (2) of the amount described in paragraph (1), 

15 the total amount spent on AbilityOne products and 

16 services; 

17 (3) of the products and services described in 

18 paragraph (1), a description of the products or serv19 ices which were purchased from the AbilityOne pro20 gram and which were not; 

21 (4) for each product and service described in 

22 paragraph (3) which was not purchased from the 

23 AbilityOne program, an explanation of why the prod24 uct or service was procured from a source outside of 

25 the AbilityOne program; 


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1 (5) qualitative information on efforts to in2 crease procurement through the AbilityOne program; 

3 and 

4 (6) qualitative information on any obstacles 

5 faced in increasing procurement from the AbilityOne 

6 program. 

7 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this resolution, the following definitions apply: 

9 (1) The term ‘‘AbilityOne Commission’’ means 

10 the Committee for Purchase From People Who Are 

11 Blind or Severely Disabled established under section 

12 8502 of title 41, United States Code. 

13 (2) The term ‘‘AbilityOne Participating Agen14 cy’’ means a nonprofit agency for the blind or a non15 profit agency employing persons with significant dis16 abilities which is authorized by the AbilityOne Com17 mission to provide products or services pursuant to 

18 chapter 85 of title 41, United States Code (com19 monly known as the Javits-Wagner-O’Day Act), and 

20 associated regulations. 

21 (3) The term ‘‘AbilityOne Procurement List’’ 

22 means the list of products and services determined 

23 by the AbilityOne Commission to be suitable to be 

24 procured by the Federal Government from 


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1 AbilityOne Participating Agencies pursuant to sec2 tion 8503 of title 41, United States Code. 

3 (4) The term ‘‘AbilityOne program’’ means the 

4 program established under chapter 85 of title 41, 

5 United States Code (commonly known as the Javits6 Wagner-O’Day Act). 

7 (5) The term ‘‘Member of the House of Rep8 resentatives’’ includes a Delegate or Resident Com9 missioner to the Congress. 

10 (6) The term ‘‘support office of the House’’ 

11 means an office of the House other than the office 

12 of a Member of the House of Representatives, the 

13 office of a committee (including a select committee), 

14 or a House leadership office. 

Æ 


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