Rules Impact Direct-Federal Contractors
Snow can close the federal government, but it does not stop the federal regulatory machine. The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council and U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently issued final and proposed rules, respectively, that impact direct-federal construction contractors.
The FAR Council issued a proposed rule that would impose a self-reporting requirement on prime contractors who have one or more small businesses serving it as a subcontractor under a contract requiring a small business subcontracting plan. Under the proposed rule, the prime contractor must notify the contracting officer (CO) if: (1) the prime contractor’s payment to a small business subcontractor is reduced; or (2) the payment is more than 90 days past due. The proposed rule would require that a CO record the identity of a self-reporting contractor with a history of late or reduced payments to small business contractors in the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS) and take such issues into account as a part of past performance evaluations. Comments are due on or before March 21.
The FAR Council also issued a proposed rule to prohibit contractors from forcing their employees or subcontractor’s employees from signing confidentiality agreements restricting the reporting of waste, fraud or abuse to federal authorities. The proposed rule requires that prime contractors, in order to be eligible for contract award from a federal agency, represent in their bids that they do not require their employees or subcontractors to sign or comply with such internal confidentiality agreements. A new FAR clause would apply to new and existing contracts funded with fiscal year 2015 and beyond funds. Comments are due March 22.
The SBA issued a final rule for the inflation adjustments the agency put in place in June 2014. The rule makes permanent the adjusted monetary small business size standards for inflation, which the agency put forth in an interim final rule raising a number of construction industry small business size standards. Under that rule, the size standard for most small business general contractors increased from $33.5 million to $36.5 million. The size standard for specialty trade contractors increased from $14 million to $15 million. Dredging and cleanup services contractor size standards increased from $25.5 to $27.5 million.
For more information, please contact Jimmy Christianson at christiansonj@agc.org or (703) 837-5325.