Central Nonprofit Agencies: NIB and NISH

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 AbilityOne 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 AbilityOne Program.