General

29 C.F.R. Part ..., Subpart A
in effectEffective: 2024-07-01

29 C.F.R. § 9.1 Purpose and scope.

(a) Purpose. This part contains the Department of Labor's (Department) rules relating to the administration of Executive Order 14055 (Executive order or the order), “Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers Under Service Contracts,” and implements the enforcement provisions of the Executive order. The Executive order assigns enforcement responsibility for the nondisplacement requirements to the Department. (b) Policy. (1) The Executive order states that the Federal Government's procurement interests in economy and efficiency are served when the successor contractor or subcontractor hires the predecessor's employees. A carryover workforce minimizes disruption in the delivery of services during a period of transition between contractors, maintains physical and information security, and provides the Federal Government the benefit of an experienced and well-trained workforce that is familiar with the Federal Government's personnel, facilities, and requirements. Accordingly, Executive Order 14055 sets forth a general position of the Federal Government that requiring successor service contractors and subcontractors performing on Federal contracts to offer a right of first refusal to suitable employment (i.e., a job for which the employee is qualified) under the contract to those employees under the predecessor contract and its subcontracts whose employment will be terminated as a result of the award of the successor contract will lead to improved economy and efficiency in Federal procurement. (2) The Executive order provides that executive departments and agencies, including independent establishments subject to the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act, must, to the extent permitted by law, ensure that service contracts and subcontracts that succeed a contract for performance of the same or similar work, and solicitations for such contracts and subcontracts, include a clause that requires the contractor and its subcontractors to offer a right of first refusal of employment to service employees employed under the predecessor contract and its subcontracts whose employment would be terminated as a result of the award of the successor contract in positions for which the employees are qualified. Nothing in Executive Order 14055 or this part will be construed to permit a contractor or subcontractor to fail to comply with any provision of any other Executive order, regulation, or law of the United States. (c) Scope. Neither Executive Order 14055 nor this part creates or changes any rights under the Contract Disputes Act, 41 U.S.C. 7101 et seq., or any private right of action that may exist under other applicable laws. The Executive order provides that disputes regarding the requirement of the contract clause prescribed by section 3 of the order, to the extent permitted by law, must be disposed of only as provided by the Secretary of Labor in regulations issued under the order. The order, however, does not preclude review of final decisions by the Secretary in accordance with the judicial review provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 701 et seq. Additionally, the Executive order also provides that it is to be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

29 C.F.R. § 9.2 Definitions.

For purposes of this part: Administrative Review Board (ARB) means the Administrative Review Board, U.S. Department of Labor. Administrator means the Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division and includes any official of the Wage and Hour Division authorized to perform any of the functions of the Administrator under this part. Agency means an executive department or agency, including an independent establishment subject to the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act. Associate Solicitor means the Associate Solicitor for Fair Labor Standards, Office of the Solicitor, U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, DC 20210. Business day means Monday through Friday, except the legal public holidays specified in 5 U.S.C. 6103, any day declared to be a holiday by Federal statute or executive order, or any day with respect to which the U.S. Office of Personnel Management has announced that Federal agencies in the Washington, DC, area are closed. Contract or service contract means any contract, contract-like instrument, or subcontract for services entered into by the Federal Government or its contractors that is covered by the Service Contract Act (SCA). Contract or contract-like instrument means an agreement between two or more parties creating obligations that are enforceable or otherwise recognizable at law. This definition includes, but is not limited to, a mutually binding legal relationship obligating one party to furnish services and another party to pay for them. The term contract includes all contracts and any subcontracts of any tier thereunder, whether negotiated or advertised, including any procurement actions, cooperative agreements, provider agreements, intergovernmental service agreements, service agreements, temporary interim contracts, licenses, permits, or any other type of agreement, regardless of nomenclature, type, or particular form, and whether entered into verbally or in writing, to the extent such contracts and subcontracts are subject to the SCA. Contracts may be the result of competitive bidding or awarded to a single source under applicable authority to do so. In addition to bilateral instruments, contracts include, but are not limited to, awards and notices of awards; job orders or task letters issued under basic ordering agreements; letter contracts; orders, such as purchase orders, under which the contract becomes effective by written acceptance or performance; and bilateral contract modifications. Contracting officer means an agency official with the authority to enter into, administer, and/or terminate contracts and make related determinations and findings. This term includes certain authorized representatives of the contracting officer acting within the limits of their authority as delegated by the contracting officer. Contractor means any individual or other legal entity that is awarded a Federal Government service contract or subcontract under a Federal Government service contract. Unless the context of the provision reflects otherwise, the term “contractor” refers collectively to a prime contractor and all of its subcontractors of any tier on a service contract with the Federal Government. The term “employer” is used interchangeably with the terms “contractor” and “subcontractor” in various sections of this part. The U.S. Government, its agencies, and instrumentalities are not contractors, subcontractors, employers, or joint employers for purposes of compliance with the provisions of the Executive order. Employee means a service employee as defined in the Service Contract Act, 41 U.S.C. 6701(3), and its implementing regulations. Employment opening means any vacancy in a position on the contract, including any vacancy caused by replacing an employee from the predecessor contract with a different employee. Federal Government means an agency or instrumentality of the United States that enters into a contract pursuant to authority derived from the Constitution or the laws of the United States. This definition does not include the District of Columbia or any Territory or possession of the United States. Month means a period of 30 consecutive calendar days, regardless of the day of the calendar month on which it begins. Office of Administrative Law Judges means the Office of Administrative Law Judges, U.S. Department of Labor. Same or similar work means work that is either identical to or has primary characteristics that are alike in substance to work performed on another service contract. Secretary means the U.S. Secretary of Labor or an authorized representative of the Secretary. Service Contract Act means the McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act of 1965, as amended, 41 U.S.C. 6701 et seq., and the implementing regulations in this subtitle. Solicitation means any request to submit offers, bids, or quotations to the Federal Government. United States means the United States and all executive departments, independent establishments, administrative agencies, and instrumentalities of the United States, including corporations of which all or substantially all of the stock is owned by the United States, by the foregoing departments, establishments, agencies, instrumentalities, and including non-appropriated fund instrumentalities. When used in a geographic sense, the United States means the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Outer Continental Shelf lands as defined in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Wake Island, and Johnston Island. Wage and Hour Division means the Wage and Hour Division, U.S. Department of Labor.

29 C.F.R. § 9.3 Coverage.

(a) This part applies to any contract or solicitation for a contract with an agency issued or entered on or after the applicability date of this part, provided that: (1) It is a contract for services covered by the Service Contract Act; and (2) The prime contract is equal to or exceeds the simplified acquisition threshold as defined in 41 U.S.C. 134. (b) Contracts and solicitations that satisfy the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section, and that succeed a contract for performance of the same or similar work, must contain the contract clause described in § 9.11(a), and contractors on such contracts must comply with all the requirements of § 9.12 unless the contract is excluded or excepted under this part. (c) Contracts and solicitations that satisfy the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section, but do not succeed a contract for performance of the same or similar work, must contain the contract clause described in § 9.11(a), and all contractors on such contracts must comply with the requirements of § 9.12(a)(4), (e), (f), and (g), unless the contract is excluded or excepted under this part.

29 C.F.R. § 9.4 Exclusions.

(a) Small contracts—(1) General. The requirements of this part do not apply to prime contracts under the simplified acquisition threshold set by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act, as amended (41 U.S.C. 134), and any subcontracts of any tier under such prime contracts. (2) Application to subcontracts. The amount of the prime contract determines whether a subcontract is excluded from the requirements of this part. If a prime contract is under the simplified acquisition threshold, then each subcontract under that prime contract will also be excluded from the requirements of this part. If a prime contract meets or exceeds the simplified acquisition threshold and meets the other coverage requirements of § 9.3, then each subcontract for services under that prime contract will also be subject to the requirements of this part, even if the value of an individual subcontract is under the simplified acquisition threshold. (b) Federal service work constituting only part of employee's job. This part does not apply to employees who were hired to work under a Federal service contract and one or more nonfederal service contracts as part of a single job, provided that the employees were not deployed in a manner that was designed to avoid the purposes of Executive Order 14055.

29 C.F.R. § 9.5 Exceptions authorized by Federal agencies.

(a) A contracting agency may waive the application of some or all of the provisions of this part as to a prime contract, if the senior procurement executive within the agency issues a written determination that at least one of the following circumstances exists with respect to that contract: (1) Adhering to the requirements of Executive Order 14055 or this part would not advance the Federal Government's interest in achieving economy and efficiency in Federal procurement; (2) Based on a market analysis, adhering to the requirements of the order or this part would: (i) Substantially reduce the number of potential bidders so as to frustrate full and open competition, and (ii) Not be reasonably tailored to the agency's needs for the contract; or (3) Adhering to the requirements of the order or this part would otherwise be inconsistent with statutes, regulations, Executive Orders, or Presidential Memoranda. (b) Any agency determination to exercise its exception authority under section 6 of the Executive order and paragraph (c)(1) of this section must include a specific written explanation, including the facts and reasoning supporting the determination, and must be issued no later than the solicitation date. Any agency determination to exercise its exception authority under section 6 of the Executive order and paragraph (c)(1) of this section made after the solicitation date or without a specific written explanation will be inoperative. In such a circumstance, the agency must take action, consistent with § 9.11(f), to incorporate the contract clause set forth in Appendix A of this part into the relevant solicitation or contract. Where an agency determines that a prime contract is excepted under this section, the nondisplacement requirements will also not apply to any subcontracts under the excepted prime contract. For indefinite-delivery-indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contracts, an exception must be granted prior to the solicitation date if the basis for the exception cited would apply to all orders. Otherwise, exceptions must be granted for each order by the time of the notice of the intent to place an order. (c) In exercising the authority to grant an exception for a contract because adhering to the requirements of the order or this part would not advance economy and efficiency, the agency's written analysis must, among other things, compare the anticipated outcomes of hiring predecessor contract employees with those of hiring a new workforce. The consideration of cost and other factors in exercising the agency's exception authority must reflect the general findings in section 1 of the Executive order that the Federal Government's procurement interests in economy and efficiency are normally served when the successor contractor hires the predecessor's employees and must specify how the particular circumstances support a contrary conclusion. General assertions or presumptions of an inability to procure services on an economical and efficient basis using a carryover workforce are insufficient. (1) Factors that the agency may consider include, but are not limited to, the following: (i) Whether factors specific to the contract at issue suggest that the use of a carryover workforce would greatly increase disruption to the delivery of services during the period of transition between contracts (e.g., the carryover workforce in its entirety would not be an experienced and trained workforce that is familiar with the Federal Government's personnel, facilities, and requirements as pertinent to the contract at issue and would require extensive training to learn new technology or processes that would not be required of a new workforce). (ii) Emergency situations, such as a natural disaster or an act of war, that physically displace incumbent employees from the location of the service contract work and make it impossible or impracticable to extend offers to hire as required by the Executive order. (iii) Situations where the senior procurement executive reasonably believes, based on the predecessor employees' past performance, that the entire predecessor workforce failed, individually as well as collectively to perform suitably on the job and that it is not in the interest of economy and efficiency to provide supplemental training to the predecessor's workers. (2) Factors the senior procurement executive may not consider in making an exception determination related to economy and efficiency include any general assumption that the use of carryover workforces usually or always greatly increase disruption to the delivery of services during the period of transition between contracts; the job performance of the predecessor contractor (unless a determination has been made that the entire predecessor workforce failed, individually as well as collectively); the seniority of the workforce; and the reconfiguration of the contract work by a successor contractor. The agency also may not consider wage rates and fringe benefits of service employees in making an exception determination except in the following exceptional circumstances: (i) In emergency situations, such as a natural disaster or an act of war, that physically displace incumbent employees from the locations of the service contract work and make it impossible or impracticable to extend offers to hire as required by the Executive order; (ii) When a carryover workforce in its entirety would not constitute an experienced and trained workforce that is familiar with the Federal Government's personnel, facilities, and requirements but rather would require extensive training to learn new technology or processes that would not be required of a new workforce; or (iii) Other, similar circumstances in which the cost of employing a carryover workforce on the successor contract would be prohibitive. (d) In exercising the authority to grant an exception to a contract because adhering to the requirements of the order or this part would substantially reduce the number of potential bidders so as to frustrate full and open competition, the contracting agency must carry out a market analysis. Where an incumbent contractor's employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement, the contracting agency must, to the extent consistent with mission security, include the employees' representative in any market-research-related exchanges with industry that are specific to the nondisplacement requirement. A likely reduction in the number of potential offerors indicated by market analysis is not, by itself, sufficient to except a contract from coverage under this authority unless it is coupled with the finding that the reduction would not allow for adequate competition at a fair and reasonable price and adhering to the requirements of the order would not be reasonably tailored to the agency's needs. When determining whether a fair and reasonable price can be achieved, the agency must consider current market conditions and the extent to which price fluctuations may be attributable to factors other than the nondisplacement requirements (e.g., costs of labor or materials, supply chain costs). In finding that inclusion of the contract clause would not be reasonably tailored to the agency's needs, the agency must specify how it intends to more effectively achieve the benefits that would have been provided by a carryover workforce, including physical and information security and a reduction in disruption of services. (e) Before exercising the authority to grant an exception to a contract because adhering to the requirements of the order or this part would otherwise be inconsistent with statutes, regulations, Executive orders, or Presidential Memoranda, the contracting agency must consult with the Department of Labor, unless the agency has regulatory authority for implementing and interpreting the statute at issue, or the Department has already issued guidance finding an exception on the basis at issue to be appropriate. (f) Section 6 of Executive Order 14055 requires that, to the extent permitted by law and consistent with national security and executive branch confidentiality interests, each agency must publish, on a centralized public website, descriptions of the exceptions it has granted under this section. Each agency must also ensure that the contractor notifies affected workers and their collective bargaining representatives, if any, in writing of the agency's determination to grant an exception. Each agency also must, on a quarterly basis, report to the Office of Management and Budget descriptions of the exceptions granted under this section.

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