Contracts: House Approves One-Year Delay in 3% Withholding Requirement
Opponents of a statutory mandate that agencies withhold 3% of the value of contracts they award are hopeful that House passage on Oct. 10 of a one-year delay of the requirement injects new life into their campaign to abolish it. “I think it helps the repeal effort,” says Steve Hall, the American Council of Engineering Companies’ vice president for government affairs.
The 3% withholding now is to take effect at the end of 2010. A provision to delay it for one year was attached to a bill the House already approved that would bar the Internal Revenue Service from contracting with private firms to collect unpaid taxes. Supporters of repealing the 3% provision say that the vote sends a message to House leaders that a repeal effort could be successful in the lower chamber.