The General Services Administration (GSA) has issued Class Deviation CD-2021-13 to implement the new vaccine mandate clause in GSA contracts. We have discussed the new vaccine mandate in earlier alerts here and here. Significantly, the GSA class deviation provides:

• The new clause will be included in all new and existing Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contracts above the micro-purchase threshold ($10,000 per FAR 2.101), both for services and products. GSA is thus applying the requirement more broadly than mandated by the Executive Order or the Task Force guidance, which had only strongly encouraged agencies to apply the requirement to prime contracts for products. 
• GSA contracting officers are required to begin incorporating the clause into other contracting vehicles, such as Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs), Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs), Multi-Agency Contracts (MACs), and Agency-specific indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts, including those exclusively for products.
• The GSA class deviation clause pushes contracting officers to complete as many modifications as possible before November 14, 2021, with direction to initiate bilateral modifications on all existing contracts starting immediately. 

We will continue to monitor and report on the developments in COVID-19-related requirements for contractors and subcontractors. In the meantime, if you have questions about the COVID-19 safety requirements for federal contractors and subcontractors, please contact one of the Miller & Chevalier attorneys listed below.

Jason Workmaster, jworkmaster@milchev.com, 202-656-5893

Alex Sarria, asarria@milchev.com, 202-626-5822

Sarah Barney*

*Former Miller & Chevalier attorney

The information contained in this communication is not intended as legal advice or as an opinion on specific facts. This information is not intended to create, and receipt of it does not constitute, a lawyer-client relationship. For more information, please contact one of the senders or your existing Miller & Chevalier lawyer contact. The invitation to contact the firm and its lawyers is not to be construed as a solicitation for legal work. Any new lawyer-client relationship will be confirmed in writing.

This, and related communications, are protected by copyright laws and treaties. You may make a single copy for personal use. You may make copies for others, but not for commercial purposes. If you give a copy to anyone else, it must be in its original, unmodified form, and must include all attributions of authorship, copyright notices, and republication notices. Except as described above, it is unlawful to copy, republish, redistribute, and/or alter this presentation without prior written consent of the copyright holder.