March 7, 2017

PSC Applauds Senate Passage of Fair Pay Rule CRA

 Arlington, Va. – The Professional Services Council (PSC) applauded last night’s Senate passage of a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution disapproving the August 25, 2016 final “Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces” Federal Acquisition Regulation, often referred to as the “blacklisting” regulation.

“This vote is a significant step that will return fairness and due process to the government contracting community, while retaining the labor law enforcement mechanisms that ensure compliance and accountability,” said PSC President and CEO David Berteau.

Specifically, the regulation would have: (1) denied contractors due process rights by elevating allegations to the same status as convictions as a basis for rejecting contracts; (2) established a duplicative and costly compliance and reporting regime; and (3) offered no material benefit to the government in return.

Last week, PSC and 20 other associations urged Senators to support the resolution stating: “This costly, unnecessary and unworkable blacklisting regulatory scheme undermines congressional efforts to attract innovative large and small businesses by streamlining the acquisition process and removing needless regulations and barriers to entry into the federal marketplace.”

Having passed the House of Representatives on February 2, 2017, the resolution will now be sent to the President for his signature. “The Statement of Administration Policy on the resolution stated the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces regulation would ‘bog down federal procurement with unnecessary and burdensome processes.’ PSC agrees and urges President Trump to sign the resolution expeditiously to remove this significant overhang from the acquisition process,” Berteau said.

Note: The final rule has not gone into effect because, in October, a Texas Federal court enjoined nationwide implementation of the rule, except for a small portion relating to pay transparency. PSC welcomed that court action, which remains in effect.  

###

About PSC: PSC is the voice of the government technology and professional services industry. PSC’s more than 400 member companies represent small, medium and large businesses that provide federal agencies with services of all kinds, including information technology, engineering, logistics, facilities management, operations and maintenance, consulting, international development, scientific, social, environmental services, and more. Together, the trade association’s members employ hundreds of thousands of Americans in all 50 states. Follow PSC on Twitter @PSCSpeaks.

Contact:

Jeremy Madson
Director, Public Policy
Professional Services Council

Email:  madson@pscouncil.org
Direct:  703-875-8392
Office:  703-875-8059