certifications

This week, the Department of State (“State”), Verité, and other global NGOs, unveiled a sample human trafficking compliance plan and online resource to help contractors comply with the FAR’s anti-human trafficking rule (the “Rule”).  As we have previously summarized, the Rule requires contractors to implement a compliance plan for contracts exceeding $500,000 that are for non-COTS goods or services acquired outside the United States.  Because the final Rule included few specifics on compliance plan requirements, contractors have sought guidance regarding their responsibilities to implement a plan and perform supply chain due diligence.  The recently-released sample compliance plan and other web-based tools at ResponsibleSourcingTool.org appear to provide some guidance.
Continue Reading Sample Human Trafficking Compliance Plan Finally Released

The Department of State (“State”) recently announced the upcoming release of the model anti-human trafficking compliance plan. State and Verité, a global NGO, developed this highly-anticipated model compliance plan in response to the amendments to FAR 52.222-50, which require contractors to perform supply chain due diligence and implement a compliance plan for contracts exceeding $500,000 that are for the acquisition of services or non-COTS goods outside the United States.  Because the rule contains relatively little guidance regarding these requirements, the model could provide the contracting community much needed direction regarding supply chain due diligence and compliance plan obligations.
Continue Reading Human Trafficking Model Compliance Plan and Internet-Based Compliance Tools Set for Release this Month

Late last week the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved H.R. 400, which would require the Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to propose a definition of recruitment fees within 180 days of the statute’s enactment.  H.R. 400 explains that “contractors sometimes employ foreign workers who are citizens neither of the United States nor of the host country and are recruited from developing countries where low wages and recruitment methods often make them vulnerable to a variety of trafficking-related abuses,” including the charging of certain fees during recruitment.  Highlighting the potential for harm associated with such fees, H.R. 400 discusses a  report of the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of State, which found that 77 percent of foreign workers reported paying fees to recruiters and that a majority of these fees resulted in “debt bondage at their destinations.”
Continue Reading Efforts to Define Recruitment Fees Move Forward as Newly-Revised Human Trafficking Rule Goes into Effect

On January 29, 2015, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) Council published the long-awaited  final rule (“the Final Rule”) implementing Executive Order 13627 and title XVII of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013, significantly augmenting existing human trafficking-related prohibitions for Federal contractors and subcontractors.  The Final Rule is similar to the previously summarized proposed rule.
Continue Reading New Human Trafficking Rule Imposes Compliance Obligations on All Government Contractors and Subcontractors Starting March 2015