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AGC Submits Comments Opposing Blacklisting Executive Order

On Aug. 26, AGC submitted its comments to the Federal Acquisition Regulation Council and the U.S. Department of Labor on their proposed rule and guidance, respectively. The rule and guidance implement the president’s “Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces” Executive Order 13673, commonly called the Blacklisting Executive Order.

Under the proposed rule, both prime and subcontractors must report violations of 14 federal labor laws and “equivalent” state labor laws during the previous three years, and again every six months, on federal contracts over $500,000. Prime contractors would also be responsible for evaluating the labor law violations of its subcontractors at all tiers. A single violation, or a combination of multiple violations, could lead a contracting officer to either (1) deny a prime contractor the right to compete for a federal contract; or (2) remove a prime contractor or subcontractor from an ongoing project. Such determinations would be made on an individual contracting officer basis with assistance from newly-created agency labor law compliance advisors. The Department of Labor guidance further articulates the policies outlined in the proposed rule.  The rule would only apply to direct-federal contracts and not to federal-aid contracts, like highway contracts awarded by state departments of transportation.

In its comments, AGC explained why the executive order, proposed rule and proposed guidance should be withdrawn because they are unfounded, unnecessary, unworkable and unlawful.  Since the administration issued the Blacklisting Executive Order in July 2014, AGC has advocated against its implementation on Capitol Hill and helped form an industry coalition to stop it. AGC also participated in a White House meeting with Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez, where the association noted its deep concerns with the Order.

To read AGC’s comments on the FAR Council proposed rule, click here. To read AGC’s Comments on the proposed DOL Guidance, click here.

For more information, please contact Jimmy Christianson at 703-837-5325 or christiansonj@agc.org

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