The General Services Administration discovered that multiple products sold through federal procurement channels and labeled "Made in USA" actually originate from China and other foreign nations. GSA Administrator Edward Forst has ordered the AbilityOne Commission to conduct a sweeping audit of all products, pricing, and supply chains by November 12, 2026—a direct response to what he calls a fundamental breach of taxpayer trust.
"Federal tax dollars spent on the AbilityOne program should support jobs for blind and disabled Americans, not foreign competitors," Forst said in a draft letter reviewed exclusively by Fox News Digital. "Many of AbilityOne's product offerings raise serious national security concerns and cast doubt on its ability to carry out its mission."
The order follows President Donald Trump's March 2026 executive order requiring truthful "Made in America" advertising across federal procurement. It represents a significant enforcement action against a program that's supposed to prioritize American workers with disabilities—but has instead funneled taxpayer dollars to foreign manufacturers while obscuring their origins.
The Scope of Mislabeling
Forst's letter directs AbilityOne to verify the country of origin of every product on its Mandatory Procurement List. The agency also wants the commission to address products currently listed with unclear origin designations and provide documentation explaining how it will conduct ongoing reviews. GSA made clear it won't tolerate questionable products undermining the security of the federal marketplace.
The audit has drawn attention from Vice President JD Vance's anti-fraud task force, signaling administration-wide focus on procurement integrity. This isn't merely a labeling problem. Forst instructed his Senior Procurement Executive to "promptly take appropriate action to eliminate the exception that permits the Commission to offer items originating in China and other non-allied nations."
Pricing and Compensation Questions
Beyond country-of-origin concerns, the GSA letter raises troubling questions about how AbilityOne-affiliated nonprofits operate. According to the agency, these nonprofits can sell products to the government with markups as high as 55%, depending on pricing arrangements. Some products, GSA alleged, provide "limited or no meaningful employment or value added to the taxpayer" while nonprofit executives receive compensation exceeding $1 million annually.
The contrast is stark. An appendix identified several AbilityOne nonprofits where executive compensation reportedly ranged from $500,000 to more than $1 million. Meanwhile, according to National Industries for the Blind data, the average annual salary for blind workers in the program sits at approximately $33,000. That's a 30-to-1 ratio between executive pay and worker compensation—hardly the outcome taxpayers expect from a program designed to support disabled Americans.
History of Compliance Failures
This isn't the first time AbilityOne-affiliated nonprofits have faced federal enforcement action. In 2020, Industries for the Blind and Visually Impaired, a Wisconsin nonprofit, agreed to pay $1.9 million to resolve federal allegations involving false claims and kickbacks on government contracts. In 2021, Connecticut-based CW Resources paid $600,000 to resolve allegations that it falsely certified compliance with AbilityOne labor requirements.
Those settlements involved separate cases but establish a pattern. When organizations repeatedly misrepresent facts to federal agencies, it suggests systemic problems rather than isolated incidents.
The "Essentially the Same" Problem
GSA is also scrutinizing an AbilityOne policy known as "Essentially the Same," which allows certain products to be substituted for items already approved for the mandatory list. According to the draft letter, foreign-made goods have quietly displaced American products through that process, undercutting domestic manufacturers while continuing to benefit from preferential federal purchasing rules. It's a backdoor mechanism that defeats the program's stated purpose.
The National Council on Disability, an independent federal advisor, has grown impatient with the program's failures. NCD Acting Chair Neil Romano said Friday, "For years, NCD has reported that AbilityOne is a policy relic that hasn't kept up with the needs of Americans with disabilities. This is just another example of that overall failing."
AbilityOne has until November 12 to respond to GSA's areas of concern and provide corrected country-of-origin information. The commission hadn't responded to Fox News Digital's request for comment at the time of reporting.
Why This Matters:
Federal procurement exists to serve the public interest—in this case, supporting employment for blind and disabled Americans. When billions in taxpayer dollars get redirected to foreign manufacturers through mislabeling and inflated markups, the program fails its core mission while enriching nonprofit executives. The GSA audit addresses a fundamental rule-of-law issue: government agencies must enforce the rules uniformly and hold all contractors accountable. The discovery of Chinese-origin products labeled as American-made raises national security questions about supply chains embedded in federal procurement. More broadly, this case illustrates why government programs require rigorous oversight and why exceptions to standard contracting rules—no matter how well-intentioned—often create opportunities for abuse. The audit's findings will determine whether AbilityOne can be reformed or whether the program itself needs fundamental restructuring.