Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order Suffers Setback

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On July 31, 2014, President Obama issued Executive Order (EO) 13673, requiring covered federal contractors to disclose labor violations and contracting agencies to assess these violations when making contract awards.  Final regulations implementing EO 13673 are expected to be issued this spring.

However, EO 13673 has suffered a setback in the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee (HASC).  The HASC included an amendment to the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act to prohibit  application of the Fair Pay Executive Order to Department of Defense contracts. Since the Department of Defense accounts for the majority of all federal contracts, this is a major set-back.

 The bill must still work its way through the entire House, be included in the House-Senate compromise bill, and survive a potential Presidential veto.  Nevertheless, this opposition signals there will be an uphill battle before this Executive Order is implemented.