The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council issued final modifications to the FAR that clarify and elaborate upon contracting officer requirements to consider a bidders history of labor law violations, integrity and business ethics prior to contract award. The new rules were published in the December 20, 2000 Federal Register and they become effective January 19, 2001.Existing FAR regulations require that purchases be made from and contracts awarded to responsible prospective contractors only. FAR further requires that no awards be made unless contracting officers affirmatively determine contractor responsibility. In the absence of information clearly indicating that the prospective contractor is responsible, the contracting officer must make a determination of non-responsibility. See 48 CFR 9.103(b) and (c).
In accordance with the statutory definition of "responsible source," the FAR requires that a responsible source have a satisfactory record of integrity and business ethics. Beyond this simple language, the FAR had not elaborated upon what it means to have a satisfactory record of integrity and business ethics nor had FAR provided contracting officers with a framework to guide their analysis and assist them in making this statutorily required determination.
In publishing the rules, language has been added to FAR Part 9 that:
Clarifies that contracting officers should coordinate non-responsibility determinations based upon integrity and business ethics with agency legal counsel. See FAR 9.103(b).
Clarifies that a satisfactory record of integrity and business ethics includes satisfactory compliance with the law including tax, labor and employment, environmental, antitrust, and consumer protection laws. See FAR 9.104-1(d).
Provides an expanded guidance statement to contracting officers that (1) reinforces the link between a satisfactory record of integrity and business ethics, compliance with law and the Government's interest in contracting with responsible reliable, honest and law abiding contractors; in sum, contractors it can trust; (2) requires contracting officers to consider all relevant credible information but states that the greatest weight must be given to offenses adjudicated within the past three years; (3) explains that a single violation of law will not "normally" give rise to a determination of non-responsibility, and that the focus of the assessment should be on "repeated, pervasive or significant" violations of law; and (4) requires the contracting officer to take into account any administrative agreements entered into between the prospective contractor and the Government. See FAR 9.104-3(c). The FAR Council states in the preamble to the new rules that responsibility determinations need to include an evaluation by the contracting officer of the prospective contractor's record of compliance with legal requirements.
OSHA DATA has been awarded GSA Contract GS-23F-0012L offering Special Item Number 559-22 "Electronic Business Information Services" which provides government access to our Online Search Utility. This web-based tool permits contracting officers to simultaneously search across multiple regulatory violation databases including OSHA, Wage and Hour, NLRB, EEOC, INS and the GSA Excluded Parties List. The Online Search Utility is listed in the GSA Advantage system.
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