Labor Dept. | The Contracting Education Academy

April 18, 2017 By AMK

Wage violators retain lucrative federal contracts, says government watchdog

Government agencies are paying out millions of dollars to contractors that violate federal labor laws and affect more than 11,000 workers around the country, according to a new report from the Center for Public Integrity.

Examining 1,154 contractors recently investigated by the Department of Labor, the Center for Public Integrity found that between January 2015 and July 2016 federal contracts were modified or granted with 68 contractors with substantive violations, according to an exposé by Talia Buford and Maryam Jameel.

Some of the most egregious violators included Sterling Medical Associates (a health care provider for the Department of Veterans Affairs, among other agencies), the Corrections Corporation of America (the nation’s second-largest private prison firm) and Cornell University. In total, these three were flagged for nearly 3,000 violations and had to pay more than $2.4 million in back wages.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/articles/wage-violators-retain-lucrative-federal-contracts-says-government-watchdog

August 31, 2016 By AMK

‘Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces’ final rule and guidance released

Just in time for Labor Day, the Labor Department and FAR Council issued a final rule and accompanying “Guidance” to implement the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order.

Fair Pay & Safe Workplaces 2016 The new regulations will take effect on October 25, 2016. The regulations—which run to nearly 900 pages—contain a number of changes from the proposed regulations to demonstrate that the Department listened to stakeholders during the lengthy comment period.

Despite some concessions to industry comments, the final regulations still establish substantial compliance obligations.

In light of those burdens, the contracting community is well advised to invest time to understand these provisions. In this post, we summarize key changes and examine the way ahead for contractors.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2016/08/fair-pay-safe-workplaces-final-rule-guidance-released/

March 15, 2016 By AMK

Federal agencies are using last year’s ‘cyber sprint’ to justify sole-source IT contracts

Several federal agencies are not letting eligible companies compete for IT contracts, reasoning that only a current or other favored supplier can handle work demanded by a 30-day cybersecurity exercise.

But that exercise was supposed to have ended last July, and some of these so-called sole-source contracts issued by the departments of Homeland Security and Labor, among others, appear to strain, if not outright violate, federal contracting rules, according to procurement attorneys.

A keyword search through the government’s business opportunity website for “cyber” contracts posted July 30 or afterward turned up eight such noncompetitive deals. Because many contracts are not disclosed online or are published in unsearchable PDFs, the total number may be much higher, say federal acquisition experts.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2016/03/federal-agencies-are-using-last-summers-cyber-sprint-justify-sole-source-it-contracts/126528

May 26, 2015 By AMK

Justice Dept. gets $9M back from bankrupt vendor

The federal government is exacting a little payback from Global Computer Enterprises in the form of a False Claims Act settlement.

After GCE applied for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 in September, the Labor Department and the General Services Administration had to pay the company $23 million to get access to financial systems and data.

Now the Justice Department is collecting $9 million back after GCE and its owner Raed Muslimani agreed to settle charges brought against them.

DoJ said in a May 7 press release that GCE and Muslimani do not admit to any wrong doing, but agreed to pay the $9 million fine.

Justice brought up charges against GCE and Muslimani claiming the company “misrepresented and/or concealed that it was utilizing engineers and other employees who were expressly prohibited from working on the contracts due to their citizenship/immigration statuses,” in contracts with Labor, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), GSA, the Secret Service and the Coast Guard.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federalnewsradio.com/130/3855194/Justice-gets-9M-back-from-bankrupt-vendor-GCE

August 8, 2014 By AMK

Executive order will mandate federal contractors report labor law violations

Contractors will have to report any labor law violations to federal agencies under an executive order signed by President Obama July 31, 2014.

Contractors will need to disclose any labor law violations from the past three years before a contract can be awarded to them. Violations include family and medical leave, collective bargaining and wages.

The order would also charge agencies with taking contractor labor law violations into account when awarding contracts.

Only contracts valued at more than $500,000 would be affected and the order will be implemented in 2016.

The order also lays out rules for agencies and contractors.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.fiercegovernment.com/story/executive-order-will-mandate-federal-contractors-report-labor-law-violation/2014-08-04

Just in time for Labor Day, the Labor Department and FAR Council issued a final rule and accompanying “Guidance” to implement the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order.

Several federal agencies are not letting eligible companies compete for IT contracts, reasoning that only a current or other favored supplier can handle work demanded by a 30-day cybersecurity exercise.

The federal government is exacting a little payback from Global Computer Enterprises in the form of a False Claims Act settlement.

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