NDAA Controversy?

shared an article regarding a committee markup of the FY17 National Defense Authorization Act. The potentially controversial aspect of the markup is that it addresses exemptions for federal contractors who believe their religious rights would be compromised by complying with an executive order that bars federal contractors from discriminatory behavior. The language was offered by Congressman Steve Russell, a Republican from Oklahoma.

We go out of our way to avoid partisan discussions, so please accept this as a data point for consideration. Federal contractors have long been held to more stringent standards than non-contractors. Our company is happy to comply with FAR guidelines for the federal contracts we hold. We develop a compliance matrix for each contract we are awarded, and we have had to change our company policy or add new policies on occasion to adhere to the rules. For example, a few years ago we had a training session to roll out our policy discouraging employees from being involved in human trafficking. This is also part of our HR Manual.

If we don’t want to comply with the rules for being a federal contractor, we have a choice. We can simply not bid on federal contracts. No one forces us to take the federal government’s money. They are a great customer, and we are pleased to follow their rules.

On the plus side, this is bound to make people interested in the appropriations process.