GSA finds China-made tech labeled ‘Made in USA’ in federal procurement program, orders sweeping review

FIRST ON FOX — An independent federal agency is under review for allegedly listing foreign-made products as American, including technology manufactured in China, and the Trump administration is demanding a sweeping audit of its products, pricing and supply chains.

In a draft letter viewed exclusively by Fox News Digital, the General Services Administration directs the U.S. AbilityOne Commission to verify the country of origin of every product on its Mandatory Procurement List and conduct a comprehensive audit of products offered through GSA on pricing, sourcing and compliance with federal law and procurement policy. 

"Federal tax dollars spent on the AbilityOne program should support jobs for blind and disabled Americans, not foreign competitors," GSA Administrator Edward Forst wrote in a statement.

AbilityOne oversees a federal purchasing program intended to provide employment opportunities for people who are blind or have significant disabilities. Federal agencies are generally required to buy products and services placed on the commission’s mandatory list from participating nonprofit organizations.

"Many of AbilityOne’s product offerings raise serious national security concerns and cast doubt on its ability to carry out its mission," Forst added in the statement. "GSA will not allow questionable products to undermine the security of the federal marketplace."

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Forst's department sent a letter to AbilityOne Commission Chair Christina Brandt to follow through on President Donald Trump’s March 2026 executive order requiring truthful "Made in America" advertising across federal procurement. The audit has also drawn interest from Vice President JD Vance's anti-fraud task force.

"GSA requests that the Commission promptly conduct a full audit of all items offered for sale through GSA and related procurement data to verify COO [Country of Origin] representations, pricing, sourcing, and compliance with applicable law and policy," Forst's letter dated Friday read.

"Such an audit is necessary to provide transparency and accountability to the American people, protect the integrity of Federal procurement, and ensure that taxpayer dollars are not supporting inaccurate or misleading claims."

GSA said it found multiple examples of AbilityOne-associated technology products labeled on GSA procurement platforms as "Country of Origin: USA" that are, in fact, from foreign countries like China.

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AbilityOne was given until Nov. 12 to respond to GSA's "areas of concern" and provide corrected country-of-origin information for products offered through the Federal Acquisition Service Verified Product Portal, address products currently listed with unclear origin designations and provide documentation explaining how it will conduct ongoing reviews.

"GSA holds all its contractors to the highest standards," Forst's letter concluded. "To ensure we apply the same rules to the AbilityOne Program, I'm instructing my 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. He will work with GSA and the Commission to ensure effective implementation."

"GSA appreciates the Commission’s prompt attention to this matter. Ensuring that PL products available through GSA channels are fully compliant is essential to maintaining the integrity of the AbilityOne Program, the Federal marketplace, and the Government’s procurement obligations," he added.

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The letter goes beyond country-of-origin concerns, raising questions about pricing and executive compensation at nonprofits participating in the program.

GSA said AbilityOne-affiliated nonprofits can sell products to the government with markups of as much as 55%, depending on pricing arrangements. The agency alleged that some products provide "limited or no meaningful employment or value added to the taxpayer" while nonprofit executives receive compensation reaching more than $1 million annually.

The letter contrasts those figures with an average annual salary of approximately $33,000 for blind workers, citing National Industries for the Blind data. An appendix identifies several AbilityOne nonprofits where executive compensation reportedly ranged from $500,000 to more than $1 million.

GSA also pointed to previous False Claims Act cases involving AbilityOne nonprofits.

Industries for the Blind and Visually Impaired, a Wisconsin nonprofit, agreed to pay $1.9 million in 2020 to resolve federal allegations involving false claims and kickbacks on government contracts. GSA also cited a 2021 settlement in which Connecticut-based CW Resources paid $600,000 to resolve allegations that it falsely certified compliance with AbilityOne labor requirements.

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Those settlements involved allegations resolved in prior cases and are separate from the country-of-origin findings outlined in the new GSA letter.

Those figures are expected to intensify scrutiny of whether participating organizations are directing enough federal contract revenue toward their workforce and whether executive compensation is consistent with AbilityOne’s mission.

The National Council on Disability (NCD), an independent federal advisor, is concerned the "policy relic" is "failing" in its mission, another example of how government waste, fraud and abuse must be audited by the Trump administration’s anti-fraud task force led by Vance.

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"For years, NCD has reported that AbilityOne is a policy relic that hasn’t kept up with the needs of Americans with disabilities," NCD Acting Chair Neil Romano wrote in a statement Friday. "This is just another example of that overall failing."

Fox News Digital reached out to AbilityOne for comment on the allegations and the call for an audit and has not yet heard back.

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.