If a company is already enrolled in E-Verify as a federal contractor with a federal contract containing the FAR E-Verify clause and receives a subsequent federal contract that also contains the FAR E-Verify clause, the company must continue to create E-Verify cases for newly hired employees within three business days of their start date. However, the company will have 90 days from the award date of the subsequent contract to create an E-Verify case for existing non-exempt employees working on the subsequent contract.
The additional 90-day period to verify existing employees does not apply to companies that had chosen to verify their entire workforce when they entered into the initial federal contract with the FAR E-Verify clause. Also, if they had not already done so, companies do not receive an additional 30 days to enroll or update their company profiles since they enrolled as a ‘Federal contractor with FAR E-Verify clause’ when the initial federal contract containing the FAR E-Verify clause was awarded.
See the E-Verify Supplemental Guide for Federal Contractors.
The definition of commercial items is available in the FAR Part 2, which is available online at www.acquisition.gov.
E-Verify employer agents may verify their employees in one of two ways:
- Enroll in E-Verify by signing a separate memorandum of understanding (MOU) as an employer. If an E-Verify employer agent is already enrolled as an employer, it must update its Organization Designation in E-Verify to reflect its new status of ‘Federal Contactor with FAR E-Verify clause’.
Add their own company as a client. If the E-Verify employer agent is already enrolled as a client, it must update its status on the Client Company Administration page to ‘Federal Contactor with FAR E-Verify clause’.
A COTS item is an item sold in substantial quantities in the commercial marketplace and offered to the government in the same form that is available in the commercial marketplace, or with minor modifications. Federal contracts for COTS items are exempt from the E-Verify federal contractor rule.
E-Verify is an Internet-based system that compares information from an employee’s Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, to DHS data and Social Security Administration records to confirm employment eligibility.
The tutorial for new users is designed to be completed in approximately one hour. Users must pass the tutorial’s knowledge test with a score of at least 70 percent.
A legal document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement between/among parties. It constitutes a legally binding contract when properly executed (i.e., signed) by all the parties. Employers who participate in E-Verify must sign the E-Verify MOU, the agreement between the employer, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) and sets the terms of conditions of participation in the program.
After you and your client sign an E-Verify employer agent/client MOU, you must update the Client Company Administration page associated with your client’s E-Verify account to indicate that your client is a ‘Federal contractor with FAR E-Verify clause’. You must also enter your Organization Designation and update the Federal Contractor Category for your client’s E-Verify account with the correct information. For more information, see the E-Verify Supplemental Guide for Federal Contractors.
A contract is considered exempt if any of the following apply:
- It is for fewer than 120 days
- It is valued at less than the simplified acquisition threshold
- All work is performed outside the United States; or
- It includes only commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) items and related services
An employer may voluntarily enroll in E-Verify at any time. However, the employer may not create cases for existing employees unless the employer holds a federal contract that includes the FAR E-Verify clause and is enrolled in E-Verify as a Federal Contractor with the FAR E-Verify clause.
The E-Verify federal contractor rule requires federal contractors to enroll in E-Verify only if they are awarded federal contracts or have existing indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contracts that are bilaterally modified to contain the FAR E-Verify clause, on or after September 8, 2009.
If you have already enrolled in E-Verify and you are awarded a federal contract containing the FAR E-Verify clause on or after September 8, 2009, you must update your Company Information page to designate yourself as a Federal contractor with FAR E-Verify clause and take a federal contractor tutorial. For more information on enrolling in E-Verify, or, for existing users updating your enrollment status, see the E-Verify Supplemental Guide for Federal Contractors.
