A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has made it clear that Federal agencies can and must dutifully monitor whether their contractors comply with the E-Verify program that focuses on verifying the legal eligibility of employees to work in the U.S.
The report, published on Oct. 3, looked at three different Federal agencies, which include the Department of Defense (DoD), Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to gage the level of contractor compliance with the program and found the use of the program was “inconsistent.”
“Some officials thought they were not responsible for monitoring contractor compliance. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) office that directs federal procurement policy told GAO that it expects agencies to monitor contractor E-Verify compliance. However, OMB has not clearly,” stated the GAO.
The report indicates that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has terminated some 300 federal contractor accounts and “more than 5,000 such accounts for non-use” from 2020 to March 2023.
“USCIS no longer terminates contractor accounts for non-use,” stated the GAO.
Some of the underlying issues that plague its consistent compliance are due to USCIS not meeting requirements to refer accounts that have been terminated to suspension and debarment officials “who determine whether contractors should be temporarily disqualified or excluded from government contracting,” said the GAO.
The report concludes by laying out eight recommendations to Federal agencies which include all of the following:
- The secretary of Defense should ensure that the DOD’s Principal Director of Defense Pricing and Contracting takes steps to ensure that contracting staff correctly select the Employment Eligibility Verification response in FPDS for applicable contracts and orders;
- The secretary of DHS should ensure that DHS’s Chief Procurement Officer takes steps to ensure that contracting staff correctly select the Employment Eligibility Verification response in FPDS for applicable contracts and orders;
- The secretary of HHS should ensure that HHS’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisitions takes steps to ensure that contracting staff correctly select the Employment Eligibility Verification response in FPDS for applicable contracts and orders;
- The Director of OMB should ensure that the Office of Federal Procurement Policy’s Administrator takes steps to identify the extent to which there are government-wide issues with the accuracy of FPDS’s Additional Reporting field, and takes appropriate management measures as necessary;
- The OMB director should ensure that the Office of Federal Procurement Policy’s Administrator issues guidance for agencies clarifying its expectations that they should monitor contractor enrollment in and use of E-Verify with resources provided by USCIS;
- The director of USCIS should identify and implement an approach to collect quality information on federal contractors enrolled in E-Verify to help agencies monitor contractor compliance;
- USCIS director should develop and implement an approach to communicate quality information to agencies to monitor contractor compliance with E-Verify;
- DHS should ensure that the USCIS director takes steps to implement a process for referring Federal contractors to a suspension or debarment official if USCIS terminates their E-Verify MOU.
All agencies concurred with the recommendations.
