News from NDIA: COVID-19 Vaccination Attestation & Testing Requirements – Info on DoD Contractor

News from NDIA: COVID-19 Vaccination Attestation & Testing Requirements – Info on DoD Contractor

The Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce works to release information from the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA), including COVID-19 vaccination and testing requirements. Below is information provided via the NDIA and our Advocacy partner, RJL Solutions.

Additional information and downloadable PDFs can be found below:

White House Fact Sheet_ New Actions to Get More Americans Vaccinated and Slow the Spread of the Delta Variant

Revised COVID19_Safe Federal Workplace_Agency Model Safety Principles_20210728

Facility Access Signage (Final) 082021

Certification Vaccination On-site Contractors_Visitors


Some immediate actions are being taken by other Federal Agencies that will impact your contractor employee in workplaces, to which we are sharing where the Federal Protective Services control entry for the facility owners and at GSA leased facilities where your employees may share space in the building or with other federal agencies implementing the latest administration force health protection policies.

At least one other Federal agency (DHS Federal Protective Service (FPS)) has just issued guidance implementing the additional workplace safety measures.  This guidance will impact some DoD personnel, including contractor personnel, and will be effective as soon as tomorrow, Aug 25.  This will impact on-site DoD contractors that are in shared facilities where FPS and the facilities owners adopt these procedures and at GSA leased facilities. Guidance below and attached will help get the word out to your workforce on this near term development.

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Facilities Controlled by the Federal Protective Service

“Federal Protective Service COVID-19 Guidance Update” is effective Wed, Aug 25, 2021.

This guidance applies to federal facilities (to include GSA leased/owned facilities and other Federal buildings), that are controlled/secured by the FPS.

For example, FPS controls 11 facilities in the NCR alone, and many others throughout the country, where we have Service members, DoD civilian employees, and DoD contractor personnel in those GSA leased facilities.

FPS may enforce vaccination and testing status attestations only after:

Written signage is posted at each public entrance on the property (see attached Facility Access Signage).

All occupying federal agencies developed and communicated internal policies and/or accommodations for their personnel (to include contractors) who are not vaccinated due to medical or religious reasons.

These tasks will be accomplished facility by facility, so some facilities may begin enforcing attestations tomorrow, some may begin at a later date.

Once these conditions are met, DoD personnel in FPS controlled facilities will be subject to the FPS entry guidance/requirements.

Entry requirements for DoD contractor personnel working in FPS controlled facilities

On-site contractors and visitors must present a Certification of Vaccination form (FPS will be using attached OMB vaccine certification format)

DoD has been told that FPS will have forms available on-site for personnel to complete at the entry point.

FPS will ask the contractor if they possess the required paperwork (e.g., travel orders, official meeting appointment?) for entry into the facility as required by the signage.

FPS personnel will not require contractors/visitors to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 tests, and the responsibility to assess compliance is with the specific agency associated with the contractor or visitor.

The forthcoming P&R implementation guidance will address testing requirements for all DoD personnel categories, to include frequency, and how to obtain tests.  So, for now, DoD contractor personnel will have met all DoD requirements simply by completing the attestation form being requested by FPS or at GSA leased facilities.

BOTTOM LINE:  DoD contractor personnel should be able to enter FPC controlled facilities by simply completing the attestation form (for now). 

We expect that there will be some uneven implementation as this rolls out at FPS controlled facilities throughout the country, and have asked that our contracting officers/contracting officer’s representatives engage with building management to resolve issues as they arise.

Recap/Overview of new health protection & workforce Safety Measures

– POTUS directed new health protection and workplace safety measures in his 29 July briefing to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 during the ongoing pandemic (fact sheet attached).

– Following the President’s announcement, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force updated their model safety principles (attached).  Key updates to those principles are:

In areas of high or substantial transmission, Federal employees, contractors, and visitors must wear a mask inside Federal buildings, except for the limited exceptions discussed in the section on F ace Masks and Physical Distancing below. Individuals who are not fully vaccinated must wear a mask regardless of community transmission level.

Federal agencies need to ask about the vaccination status of Federal employees and “onsite contractors”—employees and onsite contractors must sign an attestation confirming their vaccination status, or they will be treated as not fully vaccinated for purposes of safety protocols. Federal agencies also must establish a program to test not fully vaccinated Federal employees and onsite contractors weekly or twice-weekly (TBD).

Those Federal employees and onsite contractors who are not fully vaccinated or decline to provide their vaccination status must wear a mask, physically distance, and comply with a weekly or twice-weekly screening testing requirement, and are subject to Government-wide restrictions on official travel.

Way Forward for DOD:

OUSD(P&R) is finalizing guidance to implement additional force health protection (FHP) and workplace safety measures directed by the White House’s Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (attached) to reduce the transmission of COVID-19.  Significantly, this forthcoming issuance will provide guidance on how to determine the COVID-19 vaccination status of Service members, DoD civilian employees, DoD contractor employees and official visitors, and outlines COVID-19 screening testing requirements for unvaccinated individuals in these personnel categories.  So more to follow once that is final, what we wanted to share above is more pressing.