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President revokes ‘Fair Pay And Safe Workplaces’ EOs

President Donald J. Trump has loosened the federal government’s grip on businesses looking to secure federal contracts.

On March 27, 2017, the president signed Executive Order 13782 revoking executive orders by President Barak Obama that had regulated the conduct of federal contractors. President Trump’s EO 13782 expressly revokes Obama’s EO 13673, also known as the “Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces” order, as well as subsequent amendments, set forth in Section 3 of EOs 13683 and 13738.

President Obama issued EO 13673 on July 31, 2014, with the stated purpose of ensuring that federal contractors comply with applicable labor laws. EO 13673 contained three major provisions that separately addressed (i) disclosure of compliance with labor laws, (ii) paycheck transparency and (iii) arbitration clauses for claims of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and discrimination.

  • More specifically, EO 13673 required federal agencies to include provisions in their solicitations to potential service providers directing them to disclose “whether there has been any administrative merits determination, arbitral award or decision, or civil judgment” for violations of certain labor laws issued against them within the preceding three years.
  • EO 13673 also required all agency solicitations and contracts to include that service providers must issue to individuals performing work under the contract a document containing information on “that individual’s hours worked, overtime hours, pay and any additions made to or deductions made from pay.”
  • EO 13673 further required agencies to include in their solicitations and contracts a provision that service providers are prohibited from including in their contracts with employees clauses requiring the arbitration of claims arising under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, or sounding in any tort relating to or arising out of sexual assault or harassment.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=692996

 

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Buy American, Hire American: Will it impact contractors’ ability to store data offshore?

Buy American and hire American.

The concept is easy, but the implementation can be far more complicated, particularly in the current government contracting world where waivers to those requirements have become common.

In an attempt to strengthen the commitment to buying American and hiring American, on January 26, 2018, a bipartisan group of ten Senators sent a letter to President Trump urging him to “keep the promises” that he had made in April 2017 to buy American and hire American. The letter follows Senators Rob Portman (R-OH), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Chris Murphy’s (D-CT) introduction of the bipartisan BuyAmerican.gov Act of 2018 on January 9, 2018.

This new legislation seems to be an effort to codify President Trump’s April 18, 2017, Buy American and Hire American Executive Order (the Executive Order), and slow what the BuyAmerican.gov Act Press Release calls the “excessive number of waivers” to the Buy American laws. Since President Trump signed the Executive Order, much has been written about the potential effects of that Executive Order. However, the potential impacts on government contractors who maintain or store data relating to their performance of federal government contracts have been largely disregarded.

To date, nothing in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) prohibits contractors from storing contract-related data offshore — i.e., outside the United States.  Some federal agencies have included an obligation for bidders to disclose their intentions regarding data storage if they are successful and awarded a contract, but these efforts have not been consistent across federal agencies. States have been the most aggressive in terms of policing a contractor’s ability to store state contract data offshore. Seven states have statutes or regulations that prohibit contractors from storing state contract data outside the United States.  Multiple other states have regulations or include provisions in their solicitations that require bidders on state contracts to disclose where the contractor intends to store the state’s data.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/buy-american-hire-american-will-it-19180/

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Six takeaways from EO on assessing manufacturing and Defense industrial base

On July 21, 2017 – and during “Made in America Week” – President Trump issued Executive Order 13806 on “Assessing and Strengthening the Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base and Supply Chain Resiliency of the United States” (the “Manufacturing EO”).  The Manufacturing EO sets forth a policy stressing the importance of having a “healthy” domestic “manufacturing and defense industrial base and resilient supply chains” to meet “national security” needs. 

This policy comes on the heels of President Trump’s April 2017 “Buy American and Hire American” Executive Order (the “Buy American EO”), which announced a policy and action plan to increase U.S. manufacturing capabilities by “maximiz[ing]” the Federal Government’s procurement of “goods, products, and materials produced in the United States.”

The Manufacturing EO calls for a sweeping review and assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the defense industrial base (“DIB”) and supply chains, and cites the need for the United States “to surge in response to an emergency.”  This review stems from the Administration’s stated conclusion that the “manufacturing capacity and defense industrial base of the United States have been weakened by the loss of factories and manufacturing jobs.”  Although a report on this review is not due until April 2018, the Manufacturing EO’s underlying policies and reporting requirements offer contractors an important glimpse into the Trump Administration “America First” vision and potential impacts on federal procurement.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2017/08/six-takeaways-president-trumps-executive-order-assessing-manufacturing-defense-industrial-base/

 

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Agencies must be in compliance with ‘Buy America’ order by September

The Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Commerce released guidance on June 30, 2017 to instruct agencies how to enforce President Trump’s “Buy America” executive order. 

The April 18, 2017 executive order required agencies to review and assess free trade agreements with foreign government contractors, closing loopholes in those agreements that might provide a competitive edge over domestic competition.

The guidance outlines statutory exemptions, including:

  • Domestic­ non-availability of procurements.
  • Unreasonable cost of domestic procurements.
  • The purchase of commercial IT.
  • The resale of a procurement.
  • If there is a public interest determination.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/articles/omb-guidance-for-buy-american-order-calls-for-september-compliance-reports

Read OMB’s guidance at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/memoranda/2017/M-17-27_assessment_enforcement_domestic_preference_buy_american_laws.pdf

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White House prepping government reorg executive order

The White House is preparing a new executive order to require agencies to plan and suggest ways to reorganize the government.

Federal News Radio has learned that a draft order is circulating in the government and could be issued this week after the expected Senate confirmation of Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) to be the director of the Office of Management and Budget.

The draft order includes a series of requirements for agencies to quickly turn around plans to improve how the department meets its mission. The draft also details a list of elements the agencies need to include in those plans ranging from a list of programs that are duplicative to whether state and local governments or the private sector could do the work better to the costs of ending or merging the capabilities. The draft order also calls on agencies to determine if back-office functions are duplicative with other services within another agency, bureau or program and if so, could they be consolidated.

Keep reading this article at: http://federalnewsradio.com/omb/2017/02/white-house-prepping-government-reorg-executive-order/

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