Our affiliated non-profit association, the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC), as filed written comments with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regarding that agency’s latest attempt to amend its procurement regulations to require USDA contractors to certify compliance with “all applicable labor laws” and deny contracts to bidders based on USDA’s assessment of their compliance records. As we reported recently, this is the second time that USDA has floated a “blacklisting” proposal, the first time being during the Obama Administration. That proposal was ultimately withdrawn in light of numerous adverse comments.
The comments strongly oppose USDA’s latest proposal for many of the reasons that we objected to it the first time around, including the vague terms used, the infeasible certification process, potential liability under the False Claims Act for improper certification, and USDA’s claimed authority to decide whether to award contracts based on its assessment of a company’s compliance with “applicable labor laws,” all pointing to the proposal’s likely unlawfulness.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.