Ethics Program Requirements

The new more formal requirements for government contractors to have in place ethics programs require firms to have more extensive documentation on business ethics.

Every contractor with a “covered contract” (defined as a contract of over $5 million and lasting more than 120 days) must have:

1. A written business ethics plan.

2. A written process for employees to report possible ethics violations by the business or its subcontractors (supported by notification of employees of how this works)

3. Processes in place to show that all employees have been instructed in how the plan works

4. Principal employees must have sufficient background checks to determine they do not have past ethics violations that would bar them from government contracts. While Principals is not defined, it appears to mean persons with contract responsibility, such as the PM or PIC.

5. That processes are in place to verify that proposed subcontractors meet these ethics requirements

These rules are contained at FAR 52.203-13

Since most A/E contracts will require performance over a longer than 120 period, it is likely that if you have FAR covered contracts, you will need to meet these standards.
Of particular concern is the requirement to verify that subs are in compliance, since this may affect how you select teams even before you are selected for a project.