Millions of federal contractor employees must be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Dec. 8,根据9月24日的指南来自白宫更安全的联邦劳动力工作队。它指示承包商开始准备工作，要求大多数工人证明他们在该日期接种疫苗，除了能够获得指导所谓的“法律住宿”的人，例如残疾或根据联邦法律强烈持有的宗教信仰。

乔·拜登（Joe Biden）总统在9月9日的行政命令中寻求的指南将于10月15日生效，必须是该日期之后的合同招标和11月14日或之后授予的合同的额外条款。对于以前授予的当前合同10月15日，当行使合同选项或进行延期时，代理商必须包括条款。在10月15日至11月14日之间，合同征集仅必须包括该条款。

根据该指南，疫苗规定规则不适用于美国法规中的“简化的收购阈值”的联邦合同或分包合同，以及根据所提供的制造产品的“简化收购阈值”，但“强烈鼓励他们”将其包括在内。该指南说，该授权可能适用于低于灾难恢复，辩护和其他工作的阈值的合同。

在非美国工作地点工作的承包商雇员免于新规则，尽管根据联邦收购法规（FAR）规则，其他要求可能适用于他们。该指南说，承保范围确实扩展到与“与”联邦合同（例如人力资源，计费和法律审查中的雇员）的工作。

The council responsible for the FAR system will develop the new clause for agencies by Oct. 8, “and recommends that [they] exercise their authority to deviate from the FAR using the procedures set forth” to apply the rules to firms working under FAR-based contracts.

美国工程COS倡导高级副总裁史蒂夫·霍尔（Steve Hall）说：“我们正在密切关注这项工作，因为这是一项'艰难'任务，会影响各种规模的公司。”

Possible Fallout

Biden’s executive order for federal contractors directed executive departments and agencies, including those with large construction portfolios such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. General Services Administration, to ensure that covered contracts and contract-like instruments include a clause that the contractor and its subcontractors comply with all guidance for covered contractor or subcontractor workplace locations.

The guidance demands vaccination of nearly all federal contractor employees, their subcontractor employees and those of tier subcontractors. According to the Task Force, all prime contractors must require the new contract language mandating vaccination to pass on to subcontractors and tier contractors.

There is no exception for contractor employees who work in outdoor locations, such as those on federal project construction jobsites, who are covered by the guidance and must be vaccinated by Dec. 8, the guidance update says.

An outdoor exemption was requested by construction industry trade associations.

The contractor "is responsible for considering, and dispositioning, such requests for accommodations regardless of the covered contractor employee’s place of performance,” the task force said.

Contractors must provide physical proof documenting employees' vaccination status. Guidance now does not exempt contractor employees who have had COVID-19 from the vaccination policy and requires a contractor to designate one or more individuals to communicate policies to employees and ensure compliance. Contractors are not required to conduct workplace vaccinations.

The Sept. 24 guidance also sets mask-wearing and social distance rules for federal contractor employees, depending on their vaccination status, location and work activity.

It also "strongly encourages" firms to "incorporate similar vaccination requirements" for employees who are not working on a covered government contract but are at the same worksite as those who are. But areas where these two groups may intersect, such as meeting rooms, kitchens and dining areas, are considered "covered contractor workplaces" during contract performance unless firms can show there is no interaction.

霍尔指出：“公司如何成功地隔离员工的不确定性”参与了公司内部项目合作和与其他公司的合作工作，以及规则是否涵盖了从事联邦援助项目和计划的员工。新利18备用网址

Also he says, "if several employees of a firm are opposed to the vaccination, it puts employers in a difficult position of having to decide how to retain a key member of their team to perform the contract for an important client."

According to Hall, "employers that follow the federal regulations and executive order still face the risk of a suit by the employee," noting a need for liability protection under the executive order and FAR regulations. "This issue is further complicated by local and state mandates also being rolled out, which add to compliance challenges," he says.

“让更多的人接种疫苗”

Jason Miller, deputy White House office of management and budget director, said in an accompanying blog post that the “guidance issued today advances one of the main goals of this science-based plan: getting more people vaccinated.”

The US Labor Dept. separately plans to issue an emergency temporary standard through the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration that will require vaccinations or weekly testing of employees in firms with more than 100 workers, another measure Biden asked for on Sept. 9.

美国商务部长吉娜·雷蒙多（Gina Raimondo）表示，紧急标准将于10月发布，但是工作队指南中有一个条款，即使标准与新指南发生冲突，联邦承包商也必须遵守此规定的要求指导不管它们是否遵守其他工作场所安全标准。”

Construction industry trade groups such as the Associated General Contractors of America and the Associated Builders and Contractors had urged the administration to take a less broad approach to federal contractors and asked that outdoor work not be subject to a vaccine mandate.

在9月16日致远处理事会和工作队的信中，AGC首席执行官斯蒂芬·桑德赫（Stephen Sandherr）要求官员考虑免除户外联邦建设，声称大多数工作可以进行，而较低的风险则较低，即传播Covid-19。

In a separate letter dated Sept. 18 to Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor James Frederick, Sandherr warned that broadly applying an OSHA emergency standard to all construction activities, as proposed by Biden’s executive order, could impede the goal of increasing vaccination rates.

他说，许多承包商雇员将通过退出联邦工作或与少于100名员工的人寻求工作来应对强制性疫苗接种。

承包商反应

Carson-Mitchell Inc.的总裁兼首席运营官克里斯·卡森（Chris Carson）位于密苏里州斯普林菲尔德（Springfield），估计其现场员工中约有一半已接种疫苗，大致符合9月21日的州疫苗接种率47.1％- 根据卡内基 - 梅隆大学的一项研究，跨建筑速度。新利18备用

该公司采取了预防措施，例如执行社会距离，但卡森表示，他不确定有多少工人同意接种疫苗。

He added, however, that even if the government guidance did not include a vaccine mandate for federal contractors, company customers such as hospitals may require workers on-site to be vaccinated against COVID-19, as they do with other common inoculations, Carson noted.

他说：“我试图进入同一页面，但我还没有看到该行业的统一声音。”“这是一个很难进入的地方。”

Carson said he expects to lose some employees to any vaccine mandate. Many of them have other options beyond the industry, such as farm work or property maintenance in the southern Missouri and northern Arkansas area that his employees live in.

“We’re a medium-sized contractor in a great big economy,” Carson said. “So we’re in a wait-and-see approach, because we really don’t have any other choice.”

总部位于芝加哥的设计建造承包商Clayco Inc.的总裁兼首席执行官Russ Burns表示：“符合总统的宣布，”他的公司将很快宣布将其全部劳动力扩展到其对办公室工作人员现有疫苗接种要求的全部劳动力。

伯恩斯说：“我们还不确定时间表，但是我相信我们将有一个宽限期，以确保采取适当的步骤使这一成功。”“ Clayco计划遵循总统的指示，并将制定和实施一项简单和灵活的战略，以确保所有人的安全。”

迄今为止，理事会将需要修改其目前的规定，以适应如此广泛的疫苗接种授权，并制定规则，包括针对承保承包商的新指南和根据远基于远的合同进行的款项。

“如果远东委员会adopt this guidance, it would be very difficult to comply with,” said Brian Turmail, AGC vice president. “It is also not clear that implementing this guidance would be lawful. We look forward to working with the Council as they craft guidance that will address worker safety without imposing undue and possibly unlawful, burdens.”

Ben Brubeck, ABC vice president of regulatory, labor and state affairs, said the group "will be reviewing the guidance carefully with industry stakeholders to understand its full impact and unintended consequences. However, based on our initial reading, this guidance will result in additional compliance burdens, exacerbate the construction industry’s skilled workforce shortage and increase costs for federal contractors and taxpayers."

他说，ABC计划参加远处理事会的规则制定过程“，并将充分参与即将到来的OSHA [紧急标准]规则，该规则适用于所有具有100名或更多雇员的雇主。”