September 15th, 2009
ICS Alert
US Citizenship and Immigration Services offers Additional Guidance for Federal Contractors
By now, federal contractors should be well aware that the new E-Verify mandate went into effect on September 8. Accurate compliance with this rule is essential to maintaining and growing federal business. If you are a federal contractor, it is critical that you understand that all new federal solicitations will contain the new E-Verify clause and many existing IDIQ contracts may be bi-laterally amended to include the clause. To ensure the best chance for success, your company should already be strategizing on a company policy for complying with the new mandate.
In response to the significant questions raised regarding implementation of the new rule, on September 8, US Citizenship and Immigration Services issued supplemental guidance for federal contractors. You should read this guidance, as it highlights some significant areas that companies should focus on. The guidance highlights the importance of your initial decisions with respect to either only running E-Verify for new employees and employees assigned to the covered contract or your whole work force. The guidance also details the particular how an employer should handle certain expired documents, specifically documents that were appropriately used during the original completion of an employee’s I-9, but that are now expired. The rules and requirements vary depending on the documents at issue, so in all cases you should check with your contacting officer as well as government contracts counsel to determine applicability of certain aspects of the FAR rule.
When reviewing the guidance, be aware that in some instances there may be additional factors for you to consider that are not highlighted in the guidance. For example, when discussing whether existing employees who have been identified to be E-Verified, should complete new I-9s or update existing I-9s when allowable, the guidance does not list some of the risks and new liabilities that may be associated with the new I-9s that contain errors or contradictions. The USCIS guidance is also unclear on issues surrounding the photo tool, suppliers, subcontractor flow down compliance and the applicability of certain exemptions.
Accurate compliance with the E-Verify mandate is important for protecting your federal contracts. If you have any questions about E-Verify implementation, managing the subcontractor process, or whether your potential contract item falls under an exemption, please contact ICS at 1-877-577-7053 or read our recently issued factsheet, “Federal Contractors and the New E-Verify Requirement” at www.iandsolutions.com
Click here to view the USCIS “Supplemental Guide For Federal Contractors”
