Revocation of Executive Order 13673

Smaller businesses seeking to do business with the federal government will no longer have to measure up to what some might call an impossible standard.

President Trump has revoked Executive Order 13673. 

Executive Order 13673  applies to procurement of any federal contracts in excess of $500,000. It requires contractors, as a condition of eligibility for such high dollar contracts, to self-report on both their own, and their subcontractors’, records of “compliance with labor laws.

Basically any violations within a 3 year period would place businesses on what some called a blacklist, requiring further review before approval.

E.O. 13673 also requires such contractors to establish special paycheck notifications for employees working on any contracts that are subsequently awarded and, for contracts in excess of $1,000,000, prohibits contractors from imposing mandatory arbitration of employment law claims.

The basic premise is that high dollar contracts should go to those contractors who play by the rules, as demonstrated by a sound record of labor law compliance.

These labor laws include:

-Fair Labor Standards Act

-Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970

-Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act

-National Labor Relations Act

-Davis-Bacon Act

-Service Contract Act

-Executive Order 11246

-Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

-Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974

-Family Medical Leave Act

-Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

-The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

-Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967

-Executive Order 13658

Compliance with these laws comes at a high cost to smaller businesses and makes them less competitive for government contracts with larger companies.

The revocation of Executive Order 13673 will give smaller businesses a better chance of competing with larger companies for government contracts.

Sources:
Executive Order 13673
Presidential Executive Order on the Revocation of Federal Contracting Executive Orders
Understanding the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order, Part 1

By Bill Williams