Mark Riccobono, President | 200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place Baltimore, MD 21230 | 410 659 9314 | www.nfb.org 

 

August 20, 2025 

The Honorable Pete Hegseth 

Secretary 

United States Department of Defense 

1400 Defense Pentagon 

Washington, DC 20301 

Re: Randolph-Sheppard Program 

Dear Mr. Secretary: 

It has come to the attention of the National Federation of the Blind, the nation’s premier membership and advocacy organization of blind Americans, that you recently sent a request to the Department of Education (DOE) seeking a waiver to the Randolph-Sheppard priority on all Department of Defense (DOD) properties. Your request is predicated on the assertion that vending facilities operated by blind vendors adversely affect the interests of the United States. On behalf of the more than 1,300 blind entrepreneurs who operate vending facilities across the country, including approximately 115 on DOD properties, we respectfully disagree. We hope to enter into much-needed dialogue with DOD on how Randolph-Sheppard vendors can better meet the needs of the men and women in our military. We recognize that the current process leads to some inefficiencies and, working with the Department of Education and your office, we believe we can drastically streamline and improve operations. As the Secretary of Defense, you are uniquely positioned to make that happen. 

In that regard, I want to note that part of the problem is that the Program operates under an outdated model that has not changed in the last fifty years. Our organization has ideas on how to modernize the program to improve efficiencies. This may be the perfect opportunity for DOE, DOD, and the Randolph-Sheppard stakeholders to work collaboratively toward such modernization. 

Your letter addresses two different issues. The first relates to military troop dining contracts and the other to traditional vending facilities such as automated vending machines, micromarkets, and snack bars. We want to keep the issues separate and wish to start with concerns about the dining contracts. 

National Federation of the Blind Mark Riccobono, President | 200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place Baltimore, MD 21230 | 410 659 9314 | www.nfb.org 

Blind entrepreneurs currently operate dining contracts on only fifty-five bases, so we are a fairly small piece of the pie. Still, the Randolph-Sheppard community is very proud of the quality of dining services it provides. In 2025, two of our blind entrepreneurs were presented with the Captain Edward F. Ney Memorial Food Service Award that recognizes best mess halls in the Navy. Eddie Turner, who manages the contract at the Meridian Naval Air Station in Mississippi, was presented the award in May for having the best Navy food service in the East and Jerry Gann at the San Diego Naval Base was presented the award for the best in the West. Another of our blind entrepreneurs, Virgil Stinnett at the Marine Corps Base Hawaii, was presented the same award in 2024. Over the years, multiple blind entrepreneurs have won the Air Force’s John L. Hennessey Trophy and the Phillip A. Connelly Award for Excellence in Army Food Services. These numerous accolades speak to the high quality that blind entrepreneurs deliver to their customers. If there is a perceived lack of quality, it should be stressed that our blind entrepreneurs can only contribute so much since they are typically required to use food and recipes provided by the military. In some instances, we don’t even cook the food and provide only dining facility attendant services. 

As for the expense of Randolph-Sheppard contracts, the contracting officers have statutory authority to directly negotiate contracts with state licensing agencies that ensure a fair and reasonable price. Increasingly more contracting officers are taking advantage of this flexibility, which increases contracting efficiencies and saves the DOD millions in costs associated with lengthy and expensive solicitations. Through Randolph-Sheppard, contracts can be awarded faster and with much less administrative overhead. We cannot overemphasize that the price is negotiated and that the contracting officers determine and ensure a fair price to the United States government. Direct negotiation is a tool granted by Congress that offers the opportunity for everyone to win, and we are seeing it in practice right now. 

It is worth noting that if the Secretary of Education grants your request, we do not believe you will get the outcome you desire. First, Secretary McMahon’s determination would be challenged in court, which would mean a significant expense of time and taxpayer dollars. Even if she were to prevail, other set-aside programs would step in to fill the void. The AbilityOne program currently operates more dining contracts than Randolph-Sheppard, and that program would then expand to more bases. However, AbilityOne contracts can cost more than Randolph-Sheppard contracts, so troop dining costs could increase rather than decrease. Other set-aside programs such as 8a would be in line to assume some of the slack as well. 

Admittedly, the arbitration process can be burdensome, and if state licensing agencies believe the contracting officer inappropriately applied the priority, they often request the Secretary of Education to convene an arbitration panel. These can be frustrating, costly, and time-consuming. We understand that. Just a few short years ago there were multiple 

National Federation of the Blind Mark Riccobono, President | 200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place Baltimore, MD 21230 | 410 659 9314 | www.nfb.org 

arbitrations at any given time. Today, there is not a single active arbitration. That speaks to the progress that has been made. 

Before leaving the issue of cafeteria contracts, I want to directly address the upcoming national contract to provide food services at all Marine Corps bases in the United States. This is a textbook example of how the Randolph-Sheppard priority can be used to the advantage of everyone involved. Sodexo is the incumbent, and by all indications the Marines are happy with the service and would be more than happy for Sodexo to continue. Randolph-Sheppard has proposed a unique approach whereby the states involved would team with Sodexo, and thirteen blind entrepreneurs would help manage that contract at a price the Marine Corps believes is fair. A burdensome and costly solicitation would be avoided. Randolph-Sheppard has proposed direct negotiations as a means to accomplish this. In this scenario everyone wins. The Marines will be able to ensure the same high-quality service by keeping Sodexo as a partner in the contract. The contracting officers know they will get a fair and reasonable price because they get to negotiate price and only agree if they are satisfied. Thirteen blind entrepreneurs in eight states will have jobs. The state agencies for the blind that administer the programs will be able to fulfill their responsibility to create opportunities for the blind. It is a win-win-win scenario. Our concern is that if your letter filters down to the Marine Corps contracting officers, they will be hesitant to proceed down a road they have indicated they desire to follow but that may be seen as being in conflict with your position. Under the circumstances, we urge your office to communicate with the Marines and other branches of the military and allow them to continue operating under the status quo until we have an opportunity to work with you to explore other possibilities. 

Finally, I want to briefly address traditional vending facilities, which are more typical of most businesses operated by blind entrepreneurs. By our count, there are 348 military installations in the United States and blind vendors have a presence on only 22 percent of those installations in terms of operating vending machines, snack bars, micromarkets, etc. By law, a blind entrepreneur should be on every installation. Opportunities have been blocked by the exchanges. Congress granted a priority to blind vendors. The exchanges do not have any such statutory priority other than internal policies and directives. This has created friction. And that friction has only intensified because the Army and Air Force Exchange Services (AAFES) and some members of your staff have refused to have conversations on how AAFES and Randolph-Sheppard can co-exist and complement each other. It is not the goal of Randolph-Sheppard to take over everything and run the exchanges out of business. We understand and appreciate their mission. But the Randolph-Sheppard Act requires at least one blind vendor on every base if practicable. There are opportunities if those involved could just sit down with the intent of working things out and engage in meaningful dialogue. Our members have tried but have been blocked at every turn. Randolph-Sheppard has much to offer. Some bases are very unhappy with the quality of AAFES vending services on their bases. If a base commander wants better service for his soldiers, isn’t having options other than AAFES a positive for 

National Federation of the Blind Mark Riccobono, President | 200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place Baltimore, MD 21230 | 410 659 9314 | www.nfb.org 

our troops? What if Randolph-Sheppard could bring national chains to your men and women in uniform? Chick-fil-A may not be inclined to do business with the federal government, but there could be an opportunity to bring its restaurants to military bases through Randolph-Sheppard. We’ve met with them in the past and have at least one Chick-fil-A operating in a state building in Tennessee. Perhaps we need to revisit that. What if we can offer healthier options that are more in line with the Make America Healthy Again initiative? Aren’t the exchanges by statute restricted to selling to uniformed personnel with some limited exceptions? They serve civilians in multiple locations. Could that be a starting point for discussions? I say all of this to highlight that there are opportunities for collaboration. 

In conclusion, the National Federation of the Blind urges you to work with the Randolph-Sheppard community in a mutually beneficial way. We request that you withdraw your waiver request until such time as we can meet with you, which we request at your earliest convenience. We look forward to ushering in a new era of collaboration. 

Sincerely, 

Mark Riccobono, President 

National Federation of the Blind 

Cc: The Honorable Linda McMahon