Congress’ third coronavirus relief package, passed Friday, should help blunt the financial repercussions of the soaring unemployment and depressed stock market that have accompanied the outbreak, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said this week during a press conference just before the vote.
“The most important part of the bill was making it clear that the people that work at the [federal] sites and are furloughed will be paid – irregardless of whether they are federal employees, contractor employees or subcontractor employees,” said Seth Kirshenberg, executive director of the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA), in an email this week.
A wide coalition of organizations had lobbied on behalf of that compensation language, including ECA, a group of municipal governments near Energy Department sites, and the Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) that represents vendors in the weapons complex.
The package includes $28 million to support telecommuting for DOE employees, as well as $3.3 million for personnel at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The package also has provisions for federal agencies to offer employees of their contractors and subcontractors paid leave up to an average of 40 hours per week to keep workforces “in a ready state” through Sept. 30. This is reserved for vendor employees who cannot do their work because a federally owned or leased site has closed down or restricted because of the novel coronavirus.
These are individuals whose occupation range from equipment operators and mechanics to employees who work within classified settings.
Aside from the legislation, DOE and the National Nuclear Security Administraiton (NNSA) recently increased the amount government contracting officers can pay on “micro-purchases” and “simplified’ acquisitions in order to cope with effects of the pandemic. The updates are outlined in an emergency purchasing flexibility document posted by DOE.
The federal procurement officers can now make a micro-purchase inside the United States for up to $20,000 to help address expenses related to COVID-19. Such a purchase from a vendor outside the country can be made for up to $30,000.
The current limit for micro-purchases is $10,000.
The announcement says the simple acquisition threshold, under the Federal Acquisition Regulation, will be set at $750,000 for purchases or contracts made in the United States. The current limit is $250,000. The cap for international expenditures is set at $1.5 million under the emergency action, set to expire July 1.
