Government contractors should speak up!
by Mary Scott Nabers, CEO of Strategic Partnerships, Inc.
Government contracting at the federal level is in a state of flux and it could become even more burdensome in the future. If this happens, large federal contractors may begin to focus more on state and local government opportunities. While state contracts may not be quite as large as those at the federal level, they are large enough and certainly less complicated, competitive and cumbersome.
The Obama administration is expected to weigh in heavily on initiating new federal contracting rules. One dreaded possibility is that a company could be required to hire certain contract employees if the company successfully captures an existing government contract. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is expected to issue a ruling that will contain a hiring mandate for outsourced workers in the near future.
An Executive Order dealing with this issue, signed by the President, is entitled "Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers under Service Contracts." It is the driver for a possible DOL contracting mandate. While the practice of hiring contract workers from an incumbent firm is not all that uncommon, there has never been a requirement. The complaint heard most often is that adding more rules, and constraining rules particularly, to already overburdened procurement processes will simply drive away good contractors who are already frustrated.
Worst of all, this rule could undermine one of the key principles of the Obama administration - holding contractors accountable. How can a government agency hold any company accountable when government has mandated who must be hired?
While it may sound like an overused phrase, now is the time to let Washington leaders and legislators hear from constituents. It is time to remember that this country has a representative form of government and that requires communication with elected representatives on issues of concern.
Mary Scott Nabers is president and CEO of Strategic Partnerships, Inc., a 15-year-old procurement consulting and procurement research firm headquartered in Austin, Texas.
