[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 10 (Monday, March 13, 1995)]
[Pages 382-384]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Executive Order 12954--Ensuring the Economical and Efficient 
Administration and Completion of Federal Government Contracts

March 8, 1995

    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 Unit- 
ed States of America, including 40 U.S.C. 

[[Page 383]]

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.
    (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 judgment 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

[[Page 384]]

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 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.
                                     William Jefferson Clinton
The White House,
March 8, 1995.

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 1:49 p.m., March 8, 
1995]

Note: This Executive order was published in the Federal Register on 
March 10.