On July 10, the House of Representatives joined the President in seeking to combat unfair labor practices when it passed the 2015 Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, providing funding for the U.S. Department of Energy ("DOE") and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ("USACE") for Fiscal Year 2015. The bill, which is now under consideration in the Senate, would cut the aggregate budget of the two agencies by about $50 million.
While the pie may be shrinking somewhat, the number of competitors for it might shrink even more dramatically. The House version of the bill contains provisions restricting the DOE and USACE from using the appropriated funds to contract with businesses that have violated the Fair Labor Standards Act, whistleblower protection laws, or certain other requirements, effectively debarring offenders. These restrictions would add to the nine government-wide statutory disqualification provisions found in laws ranging from the Clean Water Act to the Drug-Free Workplace Act, as well as numerous other agency-specific restrictions.
The bill also contains restrictions on contracting with businesses convicted of, or under indictment for, fraud, antitrust violations, or similar crimes, and would continue Congress' recent trend of restricting contracting with domestic inverted corporations by prohibiting the use of any appropriated funds to contract with inverted corporations incorporated in Bermuda or the Cayman Islands. While the bill is pending in the Senate, contractors with significant business with either the DOE or the USACE should take the opportunity to at least preliminarily assess the prospective impact in the event that the legislation is passed into law.
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