Lawmaker rallies troops on repeal of contractor ethics rules

Members of the National Alliance Against Blacklisting, a vendors' group, promised Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., on Friday they would write letters to support the Bush administration's proposal to reverse recently implemented ethics regulations for federal contracts.

At a thank-you rally organized by alliance members for Davis, the lawmaker urged members to keep up the pressure on the administration to reverse the rules, which the business community has been fighting for the past two years. The group also was scheduled to honor Rep. James Moran, D-Va., but he could not attend the meeting.

"It was a meeting to rally the troops and continue the momentum," said Kate Koury, director of liability and regulatory programs at the American Consulting Engineers Council. "But we do have a battle yet to be fought, and we need to get our comments in."

Since 1999, a coalition of high-tech and other businesses have opposed Clinton administration regulations to require government contracting officers to review a firm's compliance with labor, employment, tax, environmental and antitrust laws before awarding a federal contract.

Under the rules, if there is "persuasive evidence of substantial noncompliance with a law or regulation," a company could be barred from being considered for a federal contract. The issue is of particular importance to the high-tech industry because the government is the largest single purchaser of high-tech goods and services. Many firms call the rules "blacklisting" regulations because many companies have been afraid to oppose the rule over concern they will be prohibited from being considered for a federal contract.

Despite objections by some of the government's largest federal contractors, the Defense Department, the General Services Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, the administration's regulations were cleared Jan. 19, 2001. The week George W. Bush was sworn in, however, he put a hold on all new regulations, and on April. 3, the new administration suspended the blacklisting rules for 270 days and proposed repealing them.

The public has a 60-day comment period, and there will be a public hearing at the GSA on June 18. Davis told members of the alliance that they should attend the meeting and send comments.

"Davis stressed to us to be vigilant. Don't think this is a done deal," said Thom Stohler, director of human resources policy at AeA, an electronics association.

Davis and Moran were among the congressional leaders last year who fought to block the contracting rules from being implemented. The AFL-CIO is expected to legally challenge the repeal of rules. However, a spokeswoman from the union said it is too early to comment on any future organization actions. The union plans to file comments opposing the repeal of the rules.