The three federal agencies that make up the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council, the entity that administers the government’s procurement requirements, have issued a proposed rule to make permanent a four-year pilot program providing enhanced protection for whistleblowing employees of civilian contractors. The proposal contains no other substantive changes.
The expanded whistleblower protections for employees of civilian contractors were enacted as a four-year pilot program by Congress in 2013 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The FAR Council subsequently issued interim implementing regulations. In 2016, Congress made the program permanent, and the current proposal would amend the regulations to reflect that change.
The Federal Register notice containing the proposal is available here.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.