The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council on March 31 issued several new reporting requirements for contractors and procurement officials disbursing stimulus funds.The new rules require the following:Prime contractors who win work funded by the economic recovery package must file detailed public reports to the government on the nature of their work and job creation data;All construction, repair or maintenance projects use only iron, steel and manufactured goods produced in the United States. The rule provides a number of narrow exceptions and waivers, such as cases when goods are not available domestically, or if the local price is not reasonable;Prohibits nonfederal employers from firing, demoting or discriminating against whistleblowers who alert the government to questionable uses of stimulus funds. Contractors who refuse to abide by this rule will not be eligible for stimulus contracts;Acquisition officials must issue public notices on publicizing contract action worth more than $25,000; and,Provide the Government Accountability Office with the authority to audit both contracts and subcontracts related to the stimulus, and to interview contractor and subcontractor employees. The same rights, except the ability to interview subcontractor workers, are granted to inspectors general.AGC is currently reviewing the rules in detail to ensure they are fair and reasonable for construction contractors performing work funded by the recovery plan. The FAR Council is accepting comments on these rules through June 1, 2009.For more information, contact Marco Giamberardino at (703) 837-5325 or giamberm@agc.org
GSA has unveiled a $5.5 billion project list that highlights the unprecedented role the agency will play in assisting in the nation's economic recovery and putting American citizens back to work. Projects are funded across the country, providing benefit for local and state economies, and every state should see at least one GSA project related to the Recovery Act.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) reintroduced legislation (S.458) on February 24 to expand the scope of the Federal False Claims Act (FCA). The legislation is cosponsored by the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.).Current law authorizes the Attorney General to recover treble damages and fines from anyone who submits or causes someone else to submit a false claim for payment to the Government. AGC is greatly concerned this legislation will virtually rewrite the intent and spirit of the Act. It will expand the universe of claims – many of which would not involve truly false claims nor involve any loss to the Federal Treasury – and will complicate management of government programs, allow opportunistic plaintiffs to recover funds that should go to the Treasury, and impose huge burdens on non-profits, state and local governments and small businesses.AGC is working with its coalition partners in the business community to oppose passage of this legislation, which will raise companies' cost of doing business, increase the government's cost of contracts, discourage large and small businesses from doing business with the government and cause irreparable damage to the government contracting process. For more information, contact Marco Giamberardino at (703) 837-5325 or giamberm@agc.org.
On February 6 President Obama issued an Executive Order that repeals a previously enacted Executive Order that bans Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) on federal projects (Executive Order 13202 of February 17, 2001), even going so far as to encourage (but not mandate) agencies to use PLAs in federal construction projects with a total cost of $25 million or more.
Registration has now been activated for AGC’s Federal Contractors Conference, and can be accessed through the new website – www.agc.org/fedcon.
The federal government has agreed to further delay implementation of a rule requiring federal contractors and subcontractors to use the Department of Homeland Security's E-Verify system to verify employment eligibility. An official announcement is expected to be published in the Federal Register on January 30.
On November 15, 2008, the Federal Acquisition Regulation Council issued a final rule to require federal contractors and subcontractors to use the U.S. Citizenship and immigration Services (USCIS), or "E-Verify," system as a means of verifying that their employees are eligible to work in the United States. While the final rule originally applied to solicitations issued and contracts awarded after January 15, 2009, a legal challenge to the rule has led to the government agreeing to suspend applicability of the rule until February 20, 2009. Solicitations that occur prior to February 20, 2009 would not contain the contract clauses that the rule would impose.For more information, contact Marco Giamberardino at (703) 837-5325 or giamberm@agc.org.
On January 15, the House Democratic Leadership announced details of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Details of the $825 billion package were released by the House Appropriations and Ways and Means Committees. The total package consists of $275 billion in economic recovery tax cuts and $550 billion in targeted investments, coupled with several unprecedented accountability measures. AGC estimates that approximately $150 billion of the spending proposed in this bill would benefit the construction industry.
On November 14, 2008, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council issued a final rule to require federal contractors and subcontractors to use the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' (USCIS), or “E-Verify” system as the means of verifying that their employees are eligible to work in the United States.