The US Department of Education has awarded BayFirst Solutions a five year contract to provide Sign Language Interpreting and related accessibility services to department Department employees nationwide. The contract was developed and awarded under the US Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Program for selected small, disadvantaged businesses. Under the contract, BayFirst will provide scheduling, fulltime interpreting, and other services such as remote captioning and computer aided real-time translation (CART) captioning. “We are honored that the Department has shown its support to a small deaf-owned company with innovative approaches toward providing accessibility to deaf and hard of hearing professionals” says Robert Rice, President of BayFirst. Martha Prine is serving as the Program Manager.

BayFirst Solutions LLC, a leader in disability and accessibility consulting, has announced that Ken Nakata will be joining the firm as Director of Disability Initiatives and Government Compliance. Mr. Nakata will lead the firm's effort in providing ADA, Section 508 and disability-related professional support to help businesses, educators, and Federal and state government agencies manage an important imperative: Integrating accessibility into their strategic business planning and technology.

The new effort will help BayFirst clients develop comprehensive strategies that will enable them to meet and comply with various Federal and state laws affecting accessibility and information technology including e-government, ADA, IDEA, and the Rehabilitation Act. By doing so, the practice empowers government agencies to reduce risk exposure and companies to enhance business agility.

"We are honored to have one of the country's top ADA and Section 508 experts join our team," noted Robert Rice, President and Managing Partner of BayFirst Solutions. "Ken provides a great mix of professional experience, leadership and advanced understanding of disability legislation and accessibility. He has proven his keen ability to balance the needs of government, private industry, and persons with disabilities throughout his distinguished career."

Mr. Nakata brings more than 12 years of experience as a key figure in the disability rights arena. As a senior trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, he has been responsible for investigating and litigating as well as developing policy for many of the groundbreaking cases involving the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Since 1998, Mr. Nakata has demonstrated his leadership as the primary legal and policy analyst for the Department of Justice in the area of disability rights and information technology. He has authored key policy papers involving the ADA's coverage of internet activities and the Department of Justice's reports on Federal agency compliance with Section 508 to Congress and the President of the United States. In 2000, Mr. Nakata spearheaded the Department of Justice's biannual government-wide survey of agency compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.

Mr. Nakata is also a Sun Certified Programmer for the Java 2 Platform and has a working knowledge of numerous programming languages such as HTML, Java Script, SQL and Cold Fusion. These skills supported him in writing many of the technical assistance materials used by the Federal government to train their IT professionals. He has also frequently lectured specific coding techniques and technical best practices to enable web and technical developers to meet various legal requirements and achieve compliance.

Together, Mr. Nakata and BayFirst provide clients with several key areas of expertise: Design, development, implementation and marketing of software and other information technology to fully leverage agency requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act; Training and streamlining of Section 508 government procurement processes to meet related FAR requirements; Development, review and assessment of compliance strategies; ADA compliance and complaint resolution for public and private entities; Authoring of disability and accessibility related white papers and other materials that help clients educate and inform internal and external stakeholders

"I am eager to share my expertise with BayFirst's clients and provide them with the opportunity to leverage my unique knowledge base," said Mr. Nakata.

An active participant in public forums, Mr. Nakata has spoken at major international conferences in the United States and Asia including those sponsored by private industry, Federal and state agencies, academia and international policy organizations. He is also a recipient of the U.S. Attorney General's Award for Excellence in Information Technology.

Before he joined the Department of Justice, Mr. Nakata worked in the New York law firm of Gilbert, Segall, and Young as a corporate litigator. Earlier, he served as a staff attorney in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mr. Nakata received his Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from Johns Hopkins University, and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

SBA has awarded 8(a) status to BayFirst and waived two-year operating requirement. BayFirst is now admitted to the US Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program, a program created to help small disadvantaged businesses compete in the American economy and access the federal procurement market. We are also the only deaf-owned company to ever have the required 2-year operating period needed for 8(a) program acceptance waived due to our recognized business experience and perceived ability to succeed.