FAR Alert - Unified Ethics Policy Proposed

 

The FAR Council has proposed to establish policy on contractors’ code of ethics and business conduct and responsibility to avoid improper business practices. The proposal provides that contractors receiving awards valued above $5 million with a performance period of more than 120 days must implement a written code of ethics and business conduct within 30 days after award. The contractor must also establish an employee ethics and compliance training program within 90 days of award.

In addition, the policy requires contractors that receive awards valued above $5 million to display the agency Office of Inspector General (OIG) fraud hotline poster and, when appropriate, any special disaster relief poster from the Department of Homeland Security, at U.S. work locations and on the company web site. However, alternate clauses are proposed to accommodate agencies that do not have posters or that wish to extend the requirement to firms with contracts worth less than $5 million.

The proposed policy is intended to streamline code of ethics procedures throughout the federal government. Currently, three agencies (DoD, Department of Veteran Affairs, and the Environmental Protection Agency) have individual policies in place. The proposal would replace the individual policies and extend a single policy across all agencies.