FAR Circular Outlines State of Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces
The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council is out with another FAR Circular. This one collects the interim rule that requires contractors to allow all employees performing work on or connected to a contact to accrue and use sick leave. There’s also a section of the circular that includes caveats to the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Rule, that were indefinitely enjoined by a federal judge. The part of the rule requiring labor law disclosures and restricting arbitration agreements has been halted by the judge, but the paycheck transparency provision has not.
For the past three years, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) has used its “Needipedia” to publish its technology needs, and allow industry to pitch how they would fulfill those needs via whitepaper. But yesterday, DIA held a special industry day where companies could make 30-minute online presentations for how they would fulfill a specific need (in this case, a data aggregation tool). “It gives us the ability to see a live presentation of what these companies can do—this is not PowerPoint—and it lets our users see some of the knowns and the unknowns, so we can have further discussions,” said Robert Dixon, DIA’s special adviser for innovation. “From there, we can make a decision on whether we want to pilot that particular program and eventually bring it into our environment.”
Five Minutes to Better Communication with Industry
In the latest in Public Spend Forum’s five-minute training video series, PSF’s Director of Learning & Content Development Frank McNally walks through five ways agencies can communicate with industry while remaining compliant with regulations. The issue has come to the forefront with a new proposed rule issued last month encouraging industry engagement.