Senators urge repeal of ethics rules for contractors
Two leading Senate Republicans have urged the General Services Administration to repeal a regulation allowing agencies to deny federal contracts to firms that have been accused of violating federal laws.
Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., and Senate Minority Whip Don Nickles, R-Okla., are urging the General Services Administration to move forward with repeal of the Clinton administration regulation allowing government procurement officers to deny private contractors federal contracts if the contractors have been the subject of complaints for violating federal laws. "The contractor responsibility regulation radically changes federal procurement law and impedes the legislative authority of the Congress," Lott and Nickles said in a letter last week to GSA Administrator Stephen Perry. The letter added: "This overly subjective regulation empowers federal contracting officers to blacklist prospective contractors for even alleged violations. Current law already provides for a mechanism to protect the government from contractors with patterns of behavior inconsistent with procurement goals, as contained in Part 9 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations." However, proponents of the rule say it is needed to keep bad actors from being rewarded. According to the AFL-CIO's Web site, the proposed regulation is needed to expand government officials' current authority to review contract candidates and close legal loopholes in the current regulation that have allowed hundreds of thousands of dollars to go to companies that violate environmental and civil rights laws. The Federal Acquisition Regulation Council--which consists of representatives from the Defense Department, NASA, GSA, and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy and sets federal procurement policy--proposed a repeal of the contractor responsibility regulation April 3, citing cost concerns. The government received about 4,700 comments before the comment period closed July 6, and plans to publish the comments on its Web site soon. Nickles and Sen. Tim Hutchinson, R-Ark., worked last year to attach an amendment to a spending bill that would block the regulation until further study, but the provision was removed at the last minute.