As military food transformation gathers steam, a dispute lingers over the reach of a key policy that determines which entity operates food.
The outcome will have major implications for channeling billions of dollars into commissary prepared foods and outposts, exchange organic food operations and concessions, driving more business to exchange main stores, modernizing the enlisted DFAC food experience and many other productive and beneficial tangents.
The Randolph Sheppard Act mandates vending machine and food service contracts for blind individuals on federal property. On December 23, 2025 , the Secretary of Education announced in a Federal Register notice that Army dining halls will no longer give blind applicants the same priority after the after determining doing so “adversely affects the interests of the United States.” The Secretary of Education’s action came after the Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll followed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s call for relief from the restrictions.
The Randolph Sheppard (blind preference) program has been a festering dispute going back several years when the Army started its food transformation program at the Army Materiel Command that included overhauling dining facilities and most recently issuing a solicitation for the use of a campus-style meal card that can be used across the installation including in commissaries and exchanges as well as DFAC facilities.
On July 11, 2025, the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth wrote to the Department of Education requesting approval of a limitation exempting the U.S. Department of Defense under the Randolph-Sheppard Act regarding the operation of vending facilities, including cafeterias, on military installations. Secretary Hegseth expressed concerns that the “application of the R-S Act on DoD installations reduces the revenue that serves as a vital funding source for morale, welfare, and recreation (MWR) activities and negatively impacts service members’ quality of life.”
The Department of Education replied on August 8, 2025 requesting more information.
On January 10, 2025, the Biden Administration issued a notice that sought to greatly expand the reach of the Randolph Sheppard program and that many were concerned that it could affect exchange convenience stores, more food programs and other on-base retail activities. I’ve also included that notice below as well. ALA expressed major concerns on this matter because it threatened the exchange’s ability to provide programs and services and contribute earnings to underwrite critical on-bae community programs.
