88.5 WFDD - IFB Solutions: Recent Episodes
Neal Charnoff
Workers at IFB Solutions in Winston-Salem. DAVID FORD/WFDD
U.S. Representative Virginia Foxx has co-sponsored a bill to restore federal contracts with IFB Solutions. The Winston-Salem-based company has made eyeglasses for the Department of Veterans Affairs for the past two decades.
The resolution addresses laws that oversee federal contracts with companies that employ the blind or severely disabled.
IFB Solutions is fighting to keep over 100 positions following an announcement that the VA would end three optical contracts with the agency.
The Winston-Salem Journal reports that IFB is the largest employer of the blind in the U.S.
Foxx, a North Carolina Republican, is asking the government to review VA contracts drawn up under AbilityOne, a congressional act giving the federal government preference to award contracts to companies that employ the blind. A recent court ruling sided with veteran-owned businesses over AbilityOne nonprofits.
IFB has appealed that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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Ken Mullins, an IFB Solutions employee who is blind, gives guidance to another blind employee. Image courtesy of IFB Solutions.
A local nonprofit that provides employment and training for people who are blind or visually impaired is fighting to keep jobs. IFB Solutions is set to lose over 100 positions after the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced it would end three optical contracts with the agency.
The company has made eyeglasses for the VA for the past two decades.
But a court ruling in 2018 sided with small veteran-owned businesses over AbilityOne nonprofits that employ those who are blind or have significant disabilities when it comes to VA contracts.
Dan Kelly is Chief Operating Officer for IFB Solutions. He says they’re taking their fight to the Supreme Court.
“We need the Supreme Court to look at this and decide basically there are ways for these two programs to coexist where we can protect employment opportunities for people who are blind, to include veterans who are blind, while at the same time affording opportunities to small businesses for competitively awarded opportunities,” Kelly says.
The Supreme Court will decide which cases it will hear in the upcoming year in October.
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A legal battle is potentially threatening 52 IFB employees, many of whom are blind or visually impaired. (DAVID FORD/WFDD)
A federal judge has ruled that a Triad company can continue to employ dozens of blind workers.
The judge ruled Friday that it's in the public interest to allow IFB Solutions to continue to employ nearly four dozen blind and severely handicapped workers until the case is resolved.
The Winston-Salem Journal reports that nearly $15 million in annual revenue is at stake for the nonprofit group formerly known as Winston-Salem Industries for the Blind Inc.
The group's Winston-Salem optical lab is in the middle of a dispute between the U.S. Veterans Administration and PDS, the New Jersey company that has a contract to manufacture eyeglasses for the agency.
The ruling means the VA is not allowed to change its current hiring contract.
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IFB Solution's Optical Department currently runs two shifts manufacturing eyeglass lenses for VA distribution centers across the country. DAVID FORD/WFDD
A federal judge is keeping in place a law that will impact blind and visually impaired workers in the Triad. The Winston-Salem nonprofit IFB Solutions will be forced to cut its staff as a result.
Founded in 1936, IFB Solutions (formerly Winston-Salem Industries for the Blind) has grown to become the largest employer of people who are blind or visually impaired in the country. DAVID FORD/WFDD
IFB Solutions (formerly Industries for the Blind) makes and sells eyeglasses for public consumers, but since 2000, its largest contracts have been with more than thirty Department of Veterans Affairs facilities in five states. Two years ago, the local IFB optical lab underwent a million-dollar expansion to meet growing demand from a new five-year supplier contract with the VA valued at $1.7 million annually.
In March, the VA reversed its policy on contract opportunities for nonprofits employing blind workers. At issue was the AbilityOne Act passed by Congress in 1938. It gave federal government agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs preference to award contracts to companies that employ the blind. But in 2006, Congress passed a new law, the Veterans Beneficiary Act, which instead gave that preference to businesses owned by disabled military veterans. IFB sued the VA for allegedly altering the contracting process improperly.
IFB's optical department currently employs 84 workers, many of whom are blind or visually impaired. DAVID FORD/WFDD
Chief Operating Officer Dan Kelly says IFB employs both veterans and blind or visually impaired individuals.
“It’s really been our stance that the two statutes don’t conflict,” says Kelly. “The AbilityOne program is an employment program that leverages the purchasing power of the government. There are restrictions in place to make sure that the program doesn’t take opportunities from small businesses or cause severe and adverse impact. And [it] takes contracts out of the competitive marketplace to make sure that people who are blind can maintain long term, sustainable employment.”
Now, the judge has ruled that the Veterans Beneficiary Act stands. Kelly says that eliminates IFB Solutions from the bidding process.
“A decision of this magnitude means immediate and permanent harm to the community of people who are blind. The reason we exist as a not-for-profit is because the commercial marketplace has not found a way to create equal opportunities for employment for people who are blind.”
Unemployment among the blind stands at roughly 70 percent nationwide. Kelly says the new ruling means a 62 percent reduction in its optical business, and the forced layoff of up to 30 blind employees.
This story has been updated from an earlier version.
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IFB's optical department currently employs 84 workers, many of whom are blind or visually impaired. DAVID FORD/WFDD.
A Winston-Salem non-profit organization that employs the blind or visually impaired is facing job cuts. IFB Solutions (formerly Industries for the Blind) is in a legal battle that’s pitting its workers against the veterans they serve.
The non-profit company manufactures, among other items, eyeglasses for U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs facilities across the country. Since 2000, the VA has awarded contracts to the organization, and IFB recently underwent a million-dollar expansion to meet growing demand.
Founded in 1936, IFB Solutions (formerly Winston-Salem Industries for the Blind) has grown to become the largest employer of people who are blind or visually impaired in the country. DAVID FORD/WFDD.
But in March, the VA reversed its policy on contract opportunities for non-profits employing blind workers. Now they’re also awarding contracts to businesses owned by disabled veterans.
IFB Chief Operating Officer Dan Kelly says the timing of the change and the way it was implemented compelled them to lodge a complaint.
“[It was] without public notice, without time for public comment, [and] without going through administrative procedures," says Kelly. "Changing a policy that’s been in place for 7-8 years and has allowed for us to expand employment opportunities for people who are blind... I’ve been confused, shocked and dismayed.”
IFB Solution's Optical Department currently runs two shifts manufacturing eyeglass lenses for VA distribution centers across the country. DAVID FORD/WFDD.
Kelly says the lawsuit accuses the VA of allegedly altering their contracting rules improperly. He says this threatens the livelihoods of hundreds of blind employees — 50 of whom work in Winston-Salem — as well as fifteen veteran employees.
“There is an intersection that can create jobs for people who are blind, and can create not only jobs for veterans but entrepreneurial opportunities for veterans who want to have their own businesses," says Kelly. “There’s $80 billion dollars of spending at the VA. I think we can find space that’s appropriate for both of us within that market space.”
VA spokeswoman Ndidi Mojay told WFDD that the department is unable to comment on pending litigation.
IFB Solutions in Winston-Salem is the nation’s largest employer of visually impaired individuals with nearly 500 employees.
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