[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 47 (Friday, March 10, 1995)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 13023-13025]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-6121]



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  Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 47 / Friday, March 10, 1995 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President  
[[Page 13023]] 


                Executive Order 12954 of March 8, 1995

                
Ensuring the Economical and Efficient 
                Administration and Completion of Federal Government 
                Contracts

                Efficient economic performance and productivity are 
                directly related to the existence of cooperative 
                working relationships between employers and employees. 
                When Federal contractors become involved in prolonged 
                labor disputes with their employees, the Federal 
                Government's economy, efficiency, and cost of 
                operations are adversely affected. In order to operate 
                as effectively as possible, by receiving timely goods 
                and quality services, the Federal Government must 
                assist the entities with which it has contractual 
                relations to develop stable relationships with their 
                employees.

                An important aspect of a stable collective bargaining 
                relationship is the balance between allowing businesses 
                to operate during a strike and preserving worker 
                rights. This balance is disrupted when permanent 
                replacement employees are hired. It has been found that 
                strikes involving permanent replacement workers are 
                longer in duration than other strikes. In addition, the 
                use of permanent replacements can change a limited 
                dispute into a broader, more contentious struggle, 
                thereby exacerbating the problems that initially led to 
                the strike. By permanently replacing its workers, an 
                employer loses the accumulated knowledge, experience, 
                skill, and expertise of its incumbent employees. These 
                circumstances then adversely affect the businesses and 
                entities, such as the Federal Government, which rely on 
                that employer to provide high quality and reliable 
                goods or services.

                NOW, THEREFORE, to ensure the economical and efficient 
                administration and completion of Federal Government 
                contracts, and by the authority vested in me as 
                President by the Constitution and the laws of the 
                United States of America, including 40 U.S.C. 486(a) 
                and 3 U.S.C. 301, it is hereby ordered as follows:

                Section 1. It is the policy of the executive branch in 
                procuring goods and services that, to ensure the 
                economical and efficient administration and completion 
                of Federal Government contracts, contracting agencies 
                shall not contract with employers that permanently 
                replace lawfully striking employees. All discretion 
                under this Executive order shall be exercised 
                consistent with this policy.

                Sec. 2. (a) The Secretary of Labor (``Secretary'') may 
                investigate an organizational unit of a Federal 
                contractor to determine whether the unit has 
                permanently replaced lawfully striking workers. Such 
                investigation shall be conducted in accordance with 
                procedures established by the Secretary.

                    (b) The Secretary shall receive and may investigate 
                complaints by employees of any entity covered under 
                section 2(a) of this order where such complaints allege 
                lawfully striking employees have been permanently 
                replaced.
                    (c) The Secretary may hold such hearings, public or 
                private, as he or she deems advisable, to determine 
                whether an entity covered under section 2(a) has 
                permanently replaced lawfully striking employees.

                Sec. 3. (a) When the Secretary determines that a 
                contractor has permanently replaced lawfully striking 
                employees, the Secretary may make a finding that it is 
                appropriate to terminate the contract for convenience. 
                The Secretary shall transmit that finding to the head 
                of any department or agency that contracts with the 
                contractor. [[Page 13024]] 

                    (b) The head of the contracting department or 
                agency may object to the termination for convenience of 
                a contract or contracts of a contractor determined to 
                have permanently replaced legally striking employees. 
                If the head of the agency so objects, he or she shall 
                set forth the reasons for not terminating the contract 
                or contracts in a response in writing to the Secretary. 
                In such case, the termination for convenience shall not 
                be issued. The head of the contracting agency or 
                department shall report to the Secretary those 
                contracts that have been terminated for convenience 
                under this section.

                Sec. 4. (a) When the Secretary determines that a 
                contractor has permanently replaced lawfully striking 
                employees, the Secretary may debar the contractor, 
                thereby making the contractor ineligible to receive 
                government contracts. The Secretary shall notify the 
                Administrator of the General Services Administration of 
                the debarment, and the Administrator shall include the 
                contractor on the consolidated list of debarred 
                contractors. Departments and agencies shall not solicit 
                offers from, award contracts to, or consent to 
                subcontracts with these contractors unless the head of 
                the agency or his or her designee determines, in 
                writing, that there is a compelling reason for such 
                action, in accordance with the Federal Acquisition 
                Regulation.

                    (b) The scope of the debarment normally will be 
                limited to those organizational units of a Federal 
                contractor that the Secretary finds to have permanently 
                replaced lawfully striking workers.
                    (c) The period of the debarment may not extend 
                beyond the date when the labor dispute precipitating 
                the permanent replacement of lawfully striking workers 
                has been resolved, as determined by the Secretary.

                Sec. 5. The Secretary shall publish or cause to be 
                published, in the Federal Register, the names of 
                contractors that have, in the judgement of the 
                Secretary, permanently replaced lawfully striking 
                employees and have been the subject of debarment.

                Sec. 6. The Secretary shall be responsible for the 
                administration and enforcement of this order. The 
                Secretary, after consultation with the Secretary of 
                Defense, the Administrator of the General Services, the 
                Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space 
                Administration, and the Administrator of the Office of 
                Federal Procurement Policy, may adopt such rules and 
                regulations and issue such orders as may be deemed 
                necessary and appropriate to achieve the purposes of 
                this order.

                Sec. 7. Each contracting department and agency shall 
                cooperate with the Secretary and provide such 
                information and assistance as the Secretary may require 
                in the performance of the Secretary's functions under 
                this order.

                Sec. 8. The Secretary may delegate any function or duty 
                of the Secretary under this order to any officer in the 
                Department of Labor or to any other officer in the 
                executive branch of the Government, with the consent of 
                the head of the department or agency in which that 
                officer serves.

                Sec. 9. The Secretary of Defense, the Administrator of 
                the General Services, and the Administrator of the 
                National Aeronautics and Space Administration, after 
                consultation with the Administrator of the Office of 
                Federal Procurement Policy, shall take whatever action 
                is appropriate to implement the provisions of this 
                order and of any related rules, regulations, or orders 
                of the Secretary issued pursuant to this order.

                Sec. 10. This order is not intended, and should not be 
                construed, to create any right or benefit, substantive 
                or procedural, enforceable at law by a party against 
                the United States, its agencies, its officers, or its 
                employees. This order is not intended, however, to 
                preclude judicial review of final agency decisions in 
                accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 
                U.S.C. 701 et seq.

                Sec. 11. The meaning of the term ``organizational unit 
                of a Federal contractor'' as used in this order shall 
                be defined in regulations that shall be issued by the 
                Secretary of Labor, in consultation with affected 
                agencies. This order [[Page 13025]] shall apply only to 
                contracts in excess of the Simplified Acquisition 
                Threshold.

                Sec. 12. (a) The provisions of section 3 of this order 
                shall only apply to situations in which contractors 
                have permanently replaced lawfully striking employees 
                after the effective date of this order.

                    (b) This order is effective immediately.

                    (Presidential Sig.)>

                THE WHITE HOUSE,

                    March 8, 1995.

[FR Doc. 95-6121
Filed 3-8-95; 1:49 pm]
Billing code 3195-01-P