Jump to content

Contractors Working on Government Facilities without Federal Employees Present


Recommended Posts

Has anyone had experience with Contractor employees continuing to work on Government facilities when Government employees are not present?  I have a contract for laboratory-related services, and the work cannot be performed remotely.  Due to the remote location and size of the Federal facility, Government employees may not be onsite while the Contractors are working.  It has been unwritten policy/procedure that Contractor employees should not be onsite without Government employees present, but this Program wants an exception.

I am looking for a sample liability form or other information to create a Contractor liability form so that if anything happens (e.g. vandalism, equipment breakage, etc.).  Or how other Contracting Officer reduce the potential risk to the Government from Contractor employees working onsite while Government employees are on 100% telework or deployed supporting the COVID-19 response.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Seems to me you should review the contract terms. There may be some terms regarding management and liability for government owned property and general liability insurance for property and bodily injury at the site.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

amerikanerin,

Be careful.  Make sure you know exactly what you are doing.  Do you want to bail the property to the contractor?  

At first pass, I think you should handle contractor damage to Government property (equipment breakage) the same way as before -- it is irrelevant that Government employees are not in the building.  But third-party damage (vandalism) is a different matter entirely.

You should expect your contract price to go up to reflect the liability you want the contractor to assume.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know your specific situation, but in my experience contractors, such as security guards, maintenance workers and custodial workers, frequently work at government facilities while government employees are not present.  If you have contracts of this nature, maybe you should look at them to see how this issue is handled by your organization.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ji20874 - I do not want to bail property to the Contractor per se.  I want to ensure that the Government and the Contractor employees are protected if anything should happen in case of emergency.  And I do expect if there are risk tradeoffs, there will be cost adjustments as well.  My concern is that something unexpected happens while the Contractor employees are alone on Federal property and how to reasonably protect the Government and the Contractor.

 

I have not found explicit policy, but the general guidance has been that the Agency does not allow Contractor staff onsite without at least one Government employee onsite, except for security and custodial services.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, amerikanerin said:

the general guidance has been that the Agency does not allow Contractor staff onsite without at least one Government employee onsite, except for security and custodial services

And what happens if they vandalize or break government property?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The big question is do the two FAR clauses ji20874 mentioned as well as insurance clauses cover it all?  If not, what else needs addressed? 

If this were my action, I would find out how other agencies cover similar issues.  Already contracts for security and maintenance are mentioned.   I would also check facility management and GOCO operations contracts.  Start with FedBizOpps/beta.SAM searches.  I would then take everything, see what else is needed, and write my own clause to fill-in the gaps.

Just some personal advice - if you can’t find some examples that are right on, don’t waste time looking more towards the perfect one.  You probably won’t come across it.  Just make up one that meets your needs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...