Action Alert - Oppose the DoD Rule of Two and Protect the AbilityOne Program

A provision has been included in H.R. 8070 the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 that will result in the loss of thousands of jobs for the AbilityOne Program. It is important that you reach out to your member of Congress to make them aware of this critical issue.

 

Section 861 requires the Secretary of Defense to establish an annual contracting goal for small businesses owned and controlled by veterans who are not service-disabled. The Secretary would be required to establish a Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) goal of at least 5% which could raise VOSB contracting dollars by approximately $4 billion. Since nonprofit agencies in the AbilityOne Program and small businesses rely on the same type of contract opportunities the Department of Defense could be forced to decrease new contracting opportunities for the AbilityOne Program in order to meet the new VOSB goal.

 

We are encouraging you to reach out to your members of Congress to let them know the impact this provision could have on the 36,000 AbilityOne employees and 2,500 veterans that are providing critical services and products to our warfighters.