[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]
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
