UTICA — The Central Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CABVI) recently won a contract with the U.S. Army Security Assistance Command (USASAC) as a prime vendor for foreign military sales (FMS) programs.

Under the contract, CABVI will provide troop-support equipment and clothing items in support of the Aberdeen Contracting Center Aberdeen Proving Ground.

“Our agency will supply U.S. allies, like Canada or Iraq, with individual troop requirements like uniforms, mess kits, and field packs, just to name a few items,” CABVI President and CEO Rudy D’Amico said in a news release announcing the contract. “These products will be produced by agencies that employ people who are blind or have other severe disabilities.”

CABVI’s job is to find the necessary products in military surplus, find the makers of the products, and make the products that it can, said Stephen Gannon, director of development at the agency.

The way the FMS process works is that a foreign military will make a request to purchase an item on the AbilityOne Procurement List from the Aberdeen Center, with most items in military surplus. Representatives from Aberdeen will forward the request to CABVI, who will then find the products or suppliers. If the items can be produced or picked from storage and supplied to the customer, Aberdeen will pay CABVI a prime-vendor fee.

While it won’t necessarily boost product at CABVI, the contract still helps the agency continue its mission to help people who are blind or visually impaired find employment., D’Amico said.

The agency expects a number of its employees who are blind to work on the contract and also expects it will need to hire additional workers, although it is not clear yet how many workers the agency might need. The agency currently employs 200 people, and about half of those employees are legally blind or visually impaired.

The AbilityOne program, formerly the Javits-Wagner-O’Day program, creates employment for thousands of people who are blind or disabled. AbilityOne coordinates its activities and participation with more than 600 non-profit organizations and employs more than 40,000 personnel with severe disabilities. 

“Every organization that has products on the AbilityOne procurement list had the ability to compete for the prime-vendor designation,” Gannon said. “Ours was the most attractive proposal.”

Headquartered at 507 Kent St., Utica, CABVI also has facilities on Beechgrove Place and Dwyer Avenue, along with locations at the S.S. Stratton VA Medical Center in Albany; a Dolphin Express Store in New London, Conn.; a Galaxy Express Store in Westover, Mass.; a Shipyard Express Store in Kittery, Maine; and an Island Express Store in Newport, R.I.