The AbilityOne® program requires federal agencies to purchase certain products and services from the National Institutes for the Blind (NIB) and the National Institute for the Severely Handicapped (NISH).
The program supplies janitorial and office products & services, medical supplies, food & warehouse services, recycling, laundry services and grounds maintenance to federal agencies.
Federal agencies can still purchase items from you, if they are not ‘essentially the same’ as the items on the AbilityOne® list. For example, AbilityOne® could provide a generic cleaning product, but your product may be more specialized, or have better environmental qualities. Determination of ‘Essentially the Same’ is made by AbilityOne® .
You may also apply to become a distributor of their products. Authorized AbilityOne® distributors agree not to sell commercial products to Federal customers that are considered Essentially the Same (ETS) as AbilityOne® products.