News Note: Federal Contractors May Need Clean Record For Three Years

Under a revised proposal by the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, companies would have to certify that they are in compliance with a broad range of federal laws to contract with the federal government. This new version of a rule proposed in 1999 clarifies the existing requirement that federal contractors have a satisfactory record of “integrity and business ethics.” It requires businesses to certify that, in the past three years, they have not had any criminal or civil judgments against them involving federal labor and employment, environmental, tax, antitrust or consumer protection laws.