by TikTok Ban: The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council has published an interim rule banning the use of TikTok (referred to in the interim rule by the name of the parent company, ByteDance) by federal contractors on systems or devices used for fulfilling federal contracts.
The new rule, FAR 52.204-27, states that contractors are prohibited ‘from having or using a covered application [TikTok] on any information technology owned or managed by the Government, or on any information technology used or provided by the contractor under a contract, including equipment provided by the contractor’s employees.’
All solicitations for proposals or bids on federal goods and services issued on or after June 3, 2023, will include this limitation and the limitation will be included in agreements when the government extends or modifies an existing contract. Contractors who use subcontractors to perform work on federal contracts are required to flow down this requirement to their subcontractors. For more information on coverage of the new rule, see https://www.regulations.gov/document/FAR-2023-0010-0001.
New Corporate Scheduling Announcement List (CSAL): On June 5, 2023, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) published a fresh list of 250 federal construction contractors who will be scheduled for agency review. The CSAL, found at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ofccp/scheduling-list, is a public posting that serves as a courtesy notice to contractors selected for an audit or review by the agency.
The actual agency review starts once the contractor receives OFCCP’s scheduling letter, also known as the 30-day letter. It is known as the 30-day letter because recipients have thirty days to respond to the questions in the notice. In addition to sending in all the relevant Affirmative Action Plans for the contractor selected for review, the contractor must provide answers and supporting documentation on various policies and practices. For more information on the agency’s processes in reviewing contractors, see our January 22, 2023 posting on OFCCP reviews.
