On September 9th, 2021 President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14042 on Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors. In it, executive departments and agencies are directed to include a clause in all covered contracts requiring contractors to comply with guidance issued by the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force. 

In mid-October, the federal government began enforcing the requirements of the COVID vaccine mandate, which ensures adequate COVID-19 safety protocols for federal contractors across the U.S. Specifically, by requiring that all employees of covered federal contractors and those working in connection with federal contracts be fully vaccinated no later than December 8th, 2021. 

Let’s Break It Down

The mandate has three basic requirements: 

1. Covered contractor employees are required to be fully vaccinated by December 8th, 2021. This also flows down to subcontractors.
2. Covered contractors are required to ensure employees follow CDC protocols.
3. Covered contractors are also required to designate a lead person for compliance with the mandate. 
   

What do they mean by “covered federal contractors”? 

• Any full-time or part-time employee of a covered contractor working on or in connection with a covered contract or working at a covered contractor workplace. This includes employees of covered contractors who aren’t working on or in connection with a covered contract themselves. 
  

What about fully remote employees? 

• They also fall under the coverage obligations if they’re working on government contracts. 
  

What about independent contractors? 

• There isn’t a specific direction on vaccinating independent contractors just yet. But where it’s clear that they’re performing work on federal contracts, the subcontractor flow-down obligations apply. This means they’ll also have to be vaccinated by December 8th, 2021. Federal contractors can protect themselves by requiring independent contractors to provide written proof that they’ve been vaccinated or have an exemption. They should also follow CDC social distancing and masking protocols in covered workplaces. 
  

The bottom line is unless there’s a legal exception, the mandate applies to any contractor employee working on a covered contract, any contractor employee working in connection with a covered contract, and anyone who would come into contact with contractors at covered workplace locations. 

How Eyrus Can Help 

Before December 8th, 2021, all federal contractors need to have strong compliance mechanisms in place to help them adhere to the new federal executive order. At a minimum, employees will have to follow CDC masking and social distancing protocols in a contractor-covered workplace. 

The Eyrus platform can help by providing an easy, reliable way to track COVID vaccinations at the worker levels. Reports can be built out and automatically sent for construction safety compliance tracking anytime, from anywhere. Read about how your team can stay safe and maintain progress with our construction workforce  solutions here. 

To make sure you’re protected, we advise contractors and subcontractors to seek advice from counsel regarding the new positions being taken by the government and to determine whether compliance is mandatory, and fully understand the risks associated with pushing back on the government’s mandate. You can read the full mandate here. 

To learn more about how Eyrus’s workforce visibility solutions like Zone Management and Contact Tracing can help you navigate the new COVID-19 vaccine mandate requirements, contact the Eyrus team here, or reach out to KnowMore@eyris.com. We’re here to support you.