PSC Applauds House Disapproval of Fair Pay Rule

February 2, 2017

Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed a resolution under the Congressional Review Act to disapprove of the August 25, 2016 “Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces” Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) final rule. While the rule had yet to take effect due to a federal court order, PSC welcomed the House’s action to roll back the intrusive, burdensome and duplicative “blacklisting” rule.
 
While PSC has supported many of the specific labor laws that already require government contractor compliance, we have strongly objected to the “Fair Pay” rule because it lacks due process, imposes extensive and overly burdensome reporting requirements, and does nothing to help contractors comply with these laws. Due to these shortcomings, PSC filed extensive comments in opposition to the rule. 
 
In a statement on the passage of the resolution, PSC President and CEO David Berteau said, “This blacklisting rule fails to provide companies with basic due process, imposes significant new and non-value added reporting requirements, and risks denying federal buyers access to the best private-sector providers to meet government needs. With the disapproval of this rule by the House, and we hope with prompt action by the Senate and then signature by the President, a significant overhang will be removed from the acquisition process.”
 
PSC joined 18 other associations in a February 1 letter to House members, highlighting that President Obama acknowledged that “the vast majority of federal contractors play by the rules;” yet this final rule requires significant and costly action by virtually every government contractor over and above the vast array of protections already available to the government for companies that fail to follow the laws. We applaud the decisive action taken by the House of Representatives, and urge the Senate and the President to quickly follow suit.