The Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has delayed, for a second time, the enforcement of a rule that requires federal contractors to use E-Verify to verify their employees' eligibility to work legally in the United States.

Federal contractors and subcontractors will be required to begin using the E-Verify system starting May 21, 2009. Initially, the rule was scheduled to take effect January 15. However, the federal government has pushed the effective date twice now—at first to February 20 and now to May 21. The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council amended the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to reflect this change.

The new rule implements Executive Order 12989, as amended by President George W. Bush on June 6, 2008, directing federal agencies to require that federal contractors agree to electronically verify the employment eligibility of their employees. The amended Executive Order reinforces the policy, first announced in 1996, that the federal government does business with companies that have a legal workforce. The new rule requires federal contractors to agree, through language inserted into their federal contracts, to use E-Verify to confirm the employment eligibility of all persons hired during a contract term, and to confirm the employment eligibility of federal contractors’ current employees who perform contract services for the federal government within the United States.

Federal contracts awarded and solicitations issued after May 21, 2009 will include a clause committing government contractors to use E-Verify. The same clause will also be required in subcontracts over $3,000 for services or construction. Contracts exempt from this rule include those that are for less than $100,000 and those that are for commercially available off-the-shelf items. Companies awarded a contract with the federal government will be required to enroll in E-Verify within 30 days of the contract award date. They will also need to begin using the E-Verify system to confirm that all of their new hires and their employees directly working on federal contracts are authorized to legally work in the United States.

E-Verify is a web-based system that allows participating employers to verify electronically the employment eligibility of newly-hired employees. E-Verify evolved from the Basic Pilot/Employment Eligibility Verification Program which was originally developed in 1997 and was made available to employers as a web-based program in 2004. USCIS operates the program in partnership with the Social Security Administration.