Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors

The order directs all federal agencies to include a clause in covered contracts requiring contractors and their subcontractors — at every tier — to comply with Safer Federal Workforce Task Force guidance for the duration of the contract. Covered contracts include service contracts, construction contracts, leasehold interests in real property, Service Contract Act-covered work, concession contracts, and contracts related to services on federal lands. Compliance is mandatory whenever the Office of Management and Budget Director affirmatively determines that the Task Force Guidance promotes economy and efficiency in procurement; that determination must be published in the Federal Register. The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council must amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation to incorporate the clause, and agencies must independently act for any contracts not covered by that regulation.

The order does not apply to grants, tribal self-determination agreements, contracts at or below the simplified acquisition threshold, employees working outside the United States, or subcontracts solely for products. A severability clause preserves the rest of the order if any part is struck down, and nothing in the order excuses noncompliance with more protective state, local, or other federal safety requirements.

Federal contractors and subcontractors at all tiers performing services, construction, or work connected to federal property under covered contracts entered into, extended, renewed, or exercised on or after October 15, 2021. Federal agencies responsible for procurement are also directly directed to act.

Contractors and their workers on federal job sites must follow Task Force safety protocols — which were expected to include vaccination requirements — or risk being in breach of their contracts. Companies bidding on or renewing federal contracts face new compliance obligations that apply to their entire supply chain of subcontractors.

Agencies must include the compliance clause in all covered contract actions on or after October 15, 2021. The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council issues the standard clause and policy direction by October 8, 2021; agencies acting outside the FAR do so independently by the same date. The Task Force issues the specific safety protocols by September 24, 2021, but those protocols only become binding once the OMB Director affirmatively determines they promote economy and efficiency and publishes that finding in the Federal Register. Contracts issued before October 15 are not required to include the clause but must add it upon extension, renewal, or option exercise.