The three federal agencies responsible for administering the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) — the FAR Council — have finalized a rule that bans federal contractors from requiring their employees or subcontractors to sign a confidentiality agreement that restricts them from reporting fraud, waste, or abuse to the appropriate government representative.
The final rule, which is similar to the proposed rule published last year, implements a congressionally approved spending provision that prohibits the expenditure of any federal funds for contracting with an entity that requires employees or subcontractors to sign such an agreement. The rule covers all federal contracts other than those with an individual for personal services, and creates two new mandatory contract clauses.
The rule requires prospective contractors to promise they will not require employees or subcontractors to sign a prohibited confidentiality agreement; contains a flow-down provision requiring contractors to include the required contract language in their covered subcontracts; and requires contractors that have been using the kind of now-prohibited confidentiality agreements to notify employees that such agreements are no longer in effect.
The final rule took effect on January 19, 2017, and is available here.
Members of the Equal Employment Advisory Council (EEAC) can read more here.