This blanket purchase agreement serves to provide vocational expert witnesses to the SSA for hearings before an administrative law judge (ALJ) appealing denial of certain benefits administered by SSA.…

This Blanket Purchase Agreement, awarded by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to Jennifer Ruhnke, doing business as Everlasting Earth Recycling, provides vocational expert witness services for hearings before Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) in Social Security disability benefits appeal proceedings. The contract, effective from April 1, 2025, through March 31, 2030, carries a ceiling value of $250,000 and represents a single-award BPA with no set-aside preferences applied. Under this agreement, Ruhnke delivers specialized vocational expert consulting and VHR Express Reporting services to support SSA's evaluation of claimant work capacity, functional limitations, and available vocational options during disability benefit claim adjudications. The vocational expert services are particularly critical for ALJ hearings involving appeals of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefit denials, where expert testimony regarding labor market conditions and job availability directly informs judicial determinations of claimant eligibility.

Ruhnke, a woman-owned small business sole proprietor, brings a documented performance history with the SSA dating to at least 2019, having successfully completed multiple firm fixed-price task orders valued between $19,506 and $28,904 under predecessor agreements. The vendor's prior performance under an April 2020 single-award BPA generated task order activity through June 2020 and demonstrated competency in delivering timely vocational assessments to support Region 07 hearing offices. Under the current BPA structure, individual task orders will be issued on a firm fixed-price basis to address specific ALJ hearing requirements, with the $250,000 ceiling establishing the maximum obligation across the five-year performance period through March 2030.

This blanket purchase agreement serves to provide vocational expert witnesses to the SSA for hearings before an administrative law judge (ALJ) appealing denial of certain benefits administered by SSA. These hearings involve claims for benefits author