Agriculture Acquisition Regulation (AGAR)

Please see attached comments from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce strongly criticizing USDA's proposed new labor law violations reporting requirement and urging that it be withdrawn.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to make amendments to the Agriculture Acquisition Regulation (AGAR), which was published in the Federal Register on Feb. 17, 2022 includes major policy changes surrounding labor law compliance and reporting that will have far-reaching effects on businesses that perform work on AGAR contracts. The current 32-day comment period, closing Monday, poses serious challenges for affected stakeholders to productively analyze the proposal, solicit input and develop a meaningful response to the NPRM. Therefore, I urge USDA to provide an additional 90 days to submit comments. Specifically, the NPRM would insert an AGAR clause requiring contractors to certify compliance with 15 different labor laws and their state law equivalents, as well as certify the compliance of any subcontractors and suppliers. The NPRM would also insert a clause requiring contractors to certify that they and any subcontractors are in compliance with previously required corrective actions for adjudicated labor law violations and provide a list of specific violations to a contracting officer. The proposed clauses hold significant implications for contractors bidding on AGAR contracts across every level of their operations, and the USDA has only provided the stakeholder community 32 days to process what would be a complicated change to their procurement processes. Stakeholders need adequate time to evaluate the NPRM's impact on their businesses and collect the information needed in order to provide thoughtful and accurate input to USDA. Accordingly, USDA ought to extend the comment deadline by 90 days. Sincerely, Marc Freedman Vice President, Workplace Policy U.S. Chamber of Commerce