On 12/22/00, the NAM joined other business associations in filing a complaint challenging the Clinton Administration’s "blacklisting" regulations for federal contracting. These rules revise the Federal Acquisition Regulations ("FAR") to mandate that only those deemed by the contracting agency to be in "satisfactory compliance with the law" are eligible for a federal contract. This includes federal, state, and even foreign laws, with an emphasis on tax, labor and employment, environmental, antitrust, and consumer protection laws. Furthermore, every contractor must certify whether they have violated federal or state law in those fields within the three preceding years, with civil and criminal penalties for being incorrect. The NAM is concerned that these regulations will inject an unacceptable level of subjectivity and uncertainty into the federal contracting process, and is urging the District Court to find them contrary to law. Effective 4/3/01, the Bush Administration suspended the rule for 270 days or until the regulation is repealed. Published at the same time was a proposed rule that would permanently repeal the blacklisting regulation. The rule was completely revoked on 12/27/01.
On April 27, the NAM and the other plaintiffs filed a notice of voluntary dismissal of the suit. Thanks go to the law firms of Wiley, Rein & Fielding and Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart for their work in bringing this issue to a successful conclusion.