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