In February, the White House released an early look at the
Fiscal Year 2021 budget. This early look is a great indicator for small
business government contracting firms looking to make strategic adjustments. No
surprise, the IT industry gets the lion’s share. The figure? $92 Billion. That
is a 5% increase.
With the Unites States looking to get ahead of the tech
curve in areas like 5G, Cloud Computing, Cyber Security, Artificial
Intelligence and Machine Learning, the monetary requirement plays a huge
factor. Federal civilian agencies would receive a combined %53.4 billion, while
the Defense Department would receive $38.8 billion.
The biggest question for government contracting firms would
easily be, “Where is the money?” Agencies seeing a notable increase in IT-specific
funding are departments of Veterans Affairs (27%), Energy (18%), State (16%)
Health and Human Services (14%), and Education (14%).
On the opposite end, the General Services Administration,
Department of Transportation, and Department of Commerce all saw a decrease in
IT funding.
https://sabre88.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/budget.jpg505620Nakira Whiteheadhttps://sabre88.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/sabre88_bc_logo_trans-Copy.pngNakira Whitehead2020-03-13 11:59:482021-03-24 13:09:36Early FY 2021 Budget – Where is the Money
The Administrative Conference of the
United States commissioned the report, titled “Government by Algorithm:
Artificial Intelligence in Federal Administrative Agencies,” from researchers
at Stanford and New York Universities. Released in February, it found that 45%
of federal agencies have experimented with AI and related machine learning
tools and that those agencies are already improving operations in myriad ways,
such as monitoring risks to public health and safety and enforcing regulations
on environmental protection. “The growing sophistication of and interest in
artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) is among the most
important contextual changes for federal agencies during the past few decades,”
the report stated.
The Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs had 12
AI use cases — the most of the responding agencies. The Securities and
Exchange Commission and NASA follow with 10 and 9, respectively. In total, the
researchers documented 157 use cases across 64 agencies after studying 142
federal departments, agencies and subagencies.
More broadly, the top three policy areas where AI is used
were law enforcement, health and financial regulation. In terms of government
tasks, regulatory research, analysis and monitoring clocked in at about 80 use
cases, while enforcement had about 55, and public services and engagement had
about 35. The report also found that agencies were at different stages of AI
and ML use. Fifty-three use cases, or 33%, were fully deployed, whereas roughly
60 were in the planning phase and about 45 were piloting or have partially
deployed. More than half — 53% — of the AI and ML use cases were developed
in-house, while roughly a third were built by commercial contractors and about
13% involved collaboration with non-commercial entities such as an academic
lab.
One agency that uses AI for enforcement is SEC, which has a
suite of algorithmic tools to identify violators of securities laws. For
example, to detect fraud in accounting and financial reporting, the agency
developed the Corporate Issuer Risk Assessment, which has a dashboard of about
200 metrics that can find anomalies in the financial reporting of more than
7,000 corporate issuers of securities. An ML tool identifies filers who might
be engaging in suspicious activities by using historical data to predict
possible misconduct. Two other tools — the Advanced Relational Trading
Enforcement Metrics Investigation System and the Abnormal Trading and Link Analysis
System — look for suspicious trading. ARTEMIS hunts for potential serial
insider trading offenders by using an electronic database of more than 6
billion electronic equities and options trading records to study patterns and
relationships among traders. ATLAS analyzes for first-time offenders.
https://sabre88.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/image.png287430Nakira Whiteheadhttps://sabre88.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/sabre88_bc_logo_trans-Copy.pngNakira Whitehead2020-03-06 11:59:192021-03-24 14:12:54Artificial Intelligence in Federal Agencies
The West Virginia
Department of Health and Human Resources’ Bureau for Public Health is
continuing to prepare for the spread of COVID-19 — more commonly known as the
coronavirus — as the federal government increases its response to the disease.
There are no reported cases or investigations of coronavirus in West Virginia.
The bureau said Wednesday the immediate health risk is low, but international
outbreaks make it important for officials to prepare.
Gov. Jim Justice ordered the state Department of Health and
Human Resources to monitor the outbreak as well as reach out to local, state
and federal health officials as necessary. “We are working to ensure our health
systems, emergency management agencies, first responders and county health
departments are prepared and have the resources they need to respond to
localized outbreaks in West Virginia communities,” said Dr. Cathy Slemp, state
health officer and bureau commissioner. Officials are developing tools to
prepare and respond to localized outbreaks if needed. The U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday disclosed a new COVID-19 case in
California which could be the first American case involving the general population.
https://sabre88.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/sabre88_bc_logo_trans-Copy.png00Nakira Whiteheadhttps://sabre88.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/sabre88_bc_logo_trans-Copy.pngNakira Whitehead2020-02-28 11:59:302021-03-24 14:39:20State prepares for Coronavirus: Starting from Federal Government
How do federal agencies know when a new technology is mature
enough or safe enough to implement? Worse than remaining stagnant with
antiquated software can be the disastrous consequences of investing in an
immature new tech. For branches of the military and NASA, these risks are well
known and have been accounted for throughout the last few decades.
With the continuous rapid increase of technology of late,
other federal agencies and program management offices are looking for a
solution to the question, “When is technology safe to implement?” That answer
has been provided by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) with the
release of their “Technology Readiness Assessment (TRA) Guide,” and more
recently by the Air Force Research Laboratory who developed a “Technology
Readiness Level (TRL) Calculator.”
Using the guide provided by GAO, agencies can generate a
report that can help decision makers decide whether or not a prescribed TRL
goal has been achieved, or highlight areas of potential risk. These methods may
prove to be critical for the success of future projects and missions. They may
also prove critical for those government contractors looking to provide tech
solutions to federal agencies.
Implications for Small Businesses
It would behoove small business government contracting firms
to understand this process which is becoming more commonplace in a
better-connected federal marketplace. Previously, cyber-security certifications
had been discussed as potential barriers-to-entry for small businesses looking
to compete in government contracting, but now the ability for agencies to
utilize these new methods of evaluation for technical solutions may prove to be
an additional hurdle.
The moral of the story is that the landscape is always
changing. To remain competitive, small business contractors have to play to
their strengths and use the responsiveness enjoyed by small organizations to
get out in front of the growing technical hurdles that are so frequently
materializing. Knowledge is power, so small businesses should strive to stay
in-the-know and leverage that to win contracts.
https://sabre88.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/sabre88_bc_logo_trans-Copy.png00Nakira Whiteheadhttps://sabre88.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/sabre88_bc_logo_trans-Copy.pngNakira Whitehead2020-02-21 11:59:422021-03-24 14:40:52Federal IT Assessments: Small Business Concerns
Private employers
with federal contracts will soon be prohibited from requesting criminal history
information from candidates at the onset of the hiring process; instead, they
will have to wait until after an offer is made.
The Fair Chance to Compete for
Jobs Act of 2019 (Act) was discreetly tucked into the Defense Spending Bill
approved on December 20, 2019. The Act is part of a growing national trend of
“Ban the Box” laws, referring to the question on job applications asking
whether a candidate has been convicted of a crime. Ban the Box laws largely
have bipartisan support and, according to the National Employment Law Project,
have been approved in 35 states and more than 150 cities across the United
States.
As of March 31, 2017, the U.S.
Office of Personnel Management already required most federal agencies to wait
until the conditional offer stage of the hiring process to request criminal
history information from a job candidate. The Act supersedes this regulation
and applies the prohibition to both the federal government and now certain
private employers.
Specifically, the Act prohibits
private employers that contract with the federal government from requesting
criminal history information, including arrests and convictions, from
candidates for positions within the scope of the federal contracts until
after the conditional offer stage.
A “conditional offer” means an
offer that is conditioned upon the results of a criminal history inquiry. The
Act does not entirely prevent federal contractors from seeking criminal history
information, nor does it impose specific standards or requirements on how the
employer uses that information. It only delays the inquiry timing
until after a conditional offer has been made.
The Act is crafted so that it
only applies to prime contractors and to those employees performing work for
the federal government on a federal contract. The language is specifically
limited to those who “submit a bid for a contract” and those “receiving
a Federal Contract and receiving payments” from the federal government
on those contracts.
The Act is intended to be
consistent with and not supersede or restrict the application of Title VII of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based
on race, color, religion, sex and national origin, or other relevant federal
civil rights laws. Penalties for violating the Act range from a written warning
for the first violation up to suspending payment under the federal contract for
subsequent violations.
Critical to the Act, and to most
of the state and local Ban the Box laws, is that it includes exceptions to the
law. This particular Act does not apply to positions involving access to
classified information, law enforcement, or national security positions. Within
16 months of the enactment of the Act, the Administrator of General Services,
in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, must issue regulations
identifying additional positions to which the prohibitions do not apply, giving
consideration to positions involving interactions with minors, access to
sensitive information, or managing financial transactions.
The decision to prohibit
inquiries into criminal histories at any early stage of the hiring process is
intended to help qualified workers with arrest or conviction records compete
fairly for employment in federal agencies and with federal contractors. A study
in 2019 conducted by Daniel Shoag of Case Western University and Stan Veuger of
the American Enterprise Institute found the policy of banning criminal history
questions increased employment by 4% in the nation’s most criminalized
neighborhoods (i.e., neighborhoods with the highest concentrations
of people with records).
The Defense Spending Bill
included two other laws which affect the federal government and its employees.
The Defense Spending Bill included a 3.1% average federal pay raise increase
for federal employees and a paid parental leave program for all federal
workers. The program allows federal employees up to 12 weeks of paid time off
for the birth, adoption, or foster care of a new child. The paid parental
program will begin in October 2020.
The federal government joins
several states including California, New Jersey, and New York, which already offer
paid parental or sick leave. The Family and Medical Leave Act requires
employers with 50 or more employees to offer employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid
leave to attend to their own or close family member’s serious health condition
or for the birth or adoption of a child, among other things. The Defense
Spending Bill’s paid parental leave program only covers leave for the care of a
new baby after birth, adoption, or the start of foster care; it does not cover
care for a sick relative or oneself.
The Act does not take effect
until December 2021, two years from the date of enactment. Nonetheless,
employers that contract with the federal government should consider revising
their employment applications now to remove questions regarding a candidate’s
criminal history. Federal contractors should also begin training management to
not ask this question prior to a conditional offer of employment being made.
For all other employers, check your state and/or local laws to see whether a
Ban the Box law has been passed.
https://sabre88.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/sabre88_bc_logo_trans-Copy.png00Nakira Whiteheadhttps://sabre88.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/sabre88_bc_logo_trans-Copy.pngNakira Whitehead2020-02-14 11:59:422021-03-24 14:42:30Federal Contractors to Be Limited on Criminal Background Checks
“Coming together is a
beginning, staying together is progress and working together is success.” –
Henry Ford
There may be no “I” in team, but
being part of a team can help you grow. “By sharing information and essentially
cross training each other, each individual member of the team can flourish,”
says John Murphy, a specialist in business transformation and author of Pulling
Together: 10 Rules for High-Performance Teamwork. You might discover new
concepts from colleagues with different experiences. You can also learn from
someone else’s mistakes.
Teamwork is the combined action of a group of
people, especially when effective and efficient. At Sabre88 we strive to uphold
a company culture of teamwork, selflessness and cooperation. Our back office
hosts a modern open office layout, which is being adopted by many large
companies in hopes of improving their teamwork. For us at the back office it allows
for fluid communication and a friendly, open atmosphere. The practice of
prioritizing teamwork resonates not just through the back office. Paul McVeigh,
a member of the Sabre88 back office resonates this as he speaks on our office
community.
“Our office community is a team. We are a
collection of individuals who come together to achieve goals that help the
business grow and thrive. To do this, we communicate effectively and
efficiently through multiple avenues, making sure to keep everyone in the loop.
Both professional and casual communication is encouraged, and this helps build
relationships and ultimately strengthens the team. Our “Morning Huddle” is a
great example of using communication to forge interpersonal bonds, as we take
time each morning to discuss a topic brought by a different team member each
day”.
Teamwork is a core value of Sabre88
because of the inherent understanding that strong teamwork raises productivity
and happiness. There are many benefits to teamwork, for one, teamwork lowers
stress and increases creativity, according to 61% of an interviewed population.
When people with different perspectives come together in group brainstorms,
innovative ideas rise to the surface with one caveat. Research shows this can
only happen when communication within the team is open and collaborative. Sabre88
believes in establishing training and development support mechanisms that will
enable the organization to succeed. Consequently, this means the implementation
of innovative training measures that expand the knowledge base of all personnel
that can address potential weaknesses, develop consistent performance metrics
and create overall employee satisfaction.
When asked about
Sabre88’s training methods Paul said, “I appreciate Sabre88’s training
initiative. I rather enjoy the online trainings which are educational,
interactive and mostly fun. They also offer certificates upon completion that
can be kept and shown off! Personally, I enjoy going over opportunity scoring
methods with my coworkers. We do it in such a way that we are consistently
sharpening each other’s skills, helping the effectiveness of the team grow each
meeting”. We can all find times within our daily regime at Sabre88 that we rely
on the help of others, finding new methods to operate more successfully aligns
with our core values and team mentality.
“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win
championships.” – Michael Jordan
“Each individual has unique gifts, and talents and skills,”
says Murphy, “When we bring them to the table and share them for a common
purpose, it can give companies a real competitive advantage”. The consulting
firm McKinsey & Company backs this up in a recent study. It found teams
made up of members from diverse backgrounds are more creative and perform
better by up to 35 percent, compared to more homogeneous teams. Research from
Tufts University suggests that just being exposed to diversity can shift the
way you think. A study on a diverse mock jury found that interacting with
individuals who are different forces people to be more open minded, and to
expect that reaching consensus will take effort.
With teamwork the dream is actualized as everyone needs to motivate themselves. At Sabre88 we have a culture of self-motivation, where each individual is encouraged to grow and develop in their own fashion.
It is officially the year 2020 and that means it is time to examine
what the landscape looks like in the government contracting world as we head
into a new year. Some trends will inevitably remain the same, while new trends
and certain procedural and legislative changes may mean revisiting the old SWOT
analysis for some small business government contractors. In an effort to
highlight the major players affectively shaping government contracting in 2020,
let’s break it down:
Technology
No surprise here, technology is continuing to force
businesses to adapt as it evolves with overwhelming rapidity. We aren’t talking
flying cars yet, but many groundbreaking technologies have effectively changed
the way the world does business, i.e. the cloud, AI and machine learning,
blockchain, etc. As small businesses hustle to stay current and weight the pros
and cons of investing in the newest tech, it is important to note which
capabilities the government is looking to require for contractors when making
an award.
According Bloomberg Government (BGOV), cybersecurity will
become essential for contractors and their subprimes competing for certain
contracts and task orders. The Department of Defense’s Cybersecurity Maturity
Model Certification (CMMC) will set different levels of cybersecurity which
must be met in order to be considered for various contracts. BGOV added that,
“the CMMC program will create opportunities for firms to differentiate
themselves based on their cyber defense postures and raise the demand for
third-party assessment services”.
Legislation
The government is taking steps to help small businesses
remain competitive in the federal marketplace. The Small Business Runway Extension Act
(HR 6330) should become effective in 2020, which extends the calculation period
for receipts-based size standards for small businesses from 3 years to 5 years.
Unlocking Opportunities for Small Businesses Act of 2019 (HR
5146) will potentially help small businesses break into new markets by allowing
them to use past performance from which they served as subprimes.
Expanding Contracting Opportunities for Small Businesses Act
of 2019 (HR 190) eliminates the inclusion of option years in the award price
for certain sole source contracts (i.e., contracts awarded without a
competitive process). Under current law, option years in the award price for
such contracts limit their dollar award threshold.
Wrap-Up
As the technological and legal landscape shifts, small business government contractors must be responsive and adaptable. There are many changes that are encouraging for the future of small business government contracting, and it appears that there are many more to come. Staying current is half the battle!
https://sabre88.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/sabre88_bc_logo_trans-Copy.png00Nakira Whiteheadhttps://sabre88.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/sabre88_bc_logo_trans-Copy.pngNakira Whitehead2020-01-31 11:59:422021-03-24 14:55:09Small Business Government Contracting in 2020
For small businesses hoping to unlock more opportunities to win
prime contracts with federal agencies, there may be some good news from
Washington. On January 8, 2020, a bill entitled, “H.R.5146 Unlocking
Opportunities for Small Businesses Act of 2019,” passed the House of
Representatives, and was read in the Senate the following day.
The purpose
of the bill, provided on congress.gov, is as follows: “To amend the Small Business
Act to require contracting officers to take a small business concern’s past
performance as part of a joint venture into account when evaluating the small
business concern, and for other purposes.”
H.R.5146, sponsored by Representative Jim Hagedorn [R-MN-1] and cosponsored by Representative Dwight Evans [D-PA-3], seeks to fix a growing issue concerning the small business government contracting industry. Currently, small business contractors experience a great deal of difficulty expanding their scope of work, since the government will not yet officially consider past performance relevant if the work was not performed as the prime contractor. The current landscape is such that small businesses are joining together more frequently to form stronger, more competitive entities for entering the federal marketplace seeking to win government contracts. This bill aims to catch up to the times, requiring work done within these joint ventures to be considered for future competitive contracts.
This bill is the latest in the increased effort by the U.S.
government to help small businesses remain competitive in the government
contracting market. Legislation in the Senate (S-3038) seeks to help though
greater use of Small Business Association programs and reducing barriers, and
the President has signed into law (P.L. 116-103), which standardizes the
financial data which agencies will use in the award process.
It is encouraging to observe such legislature achieving success. The economy may be doing well and employment situation figures may be impressive, but it is important the note that when small businesses thrive, everybody wins.
https://sabre88.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/sabre88_bc_logo_trans-Copy.png00Nakira Whiteheadhttps://sabre88.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/sabre88_bc_logo_trans-Copy.pngNakira Whitehead2020-01-24 11:59:482021-03-24 15:34:40Passed in the House: Unlocking Opportunities for Small Businesses Act of 2019
“The companies on this year’s Inc. 5000 have followed so
many different paths to success,” says Inc. editor in chief James Ledbetter.
“There’s no single course you can follow or investment you can take that will guarantee
this kind of spectacular growth. But what they have in common is persistence
and seizing opportunities.” Sabre88 has never tired in the pursuit of its core
values, and uses them as opportunities for growth as it continues to improve
upon them.
Sabre88 prides itself on our customer service. Our teamwork
and open communication create a welcoming environment, while our understanding
of accountability drives us. Community service is a part of our lifeblood, we
aim to help the community as much as it has helped us. Our innovation-based
solutions offer creative approaches to modern uses of technology and vision to
reach the desired product.
Sabre88 was founded as a result of the realization of a need
for innovative small businesses that can provide the government with 100%
customer-focused service. Sabre88 takes pride in helping its clients improve
overall business processes by tailoring best practices into replicable
methodologies and by drawing on a capacity to assemble premier experts,
processes, and tools tailored to its client’s individual needs. Our mission is
to utilize its competitive mindset to enhance customer performance by
developing new strategies after an analysis of existing organizational
challenges. All of the figures that point to our growth and capabilities are
second to the fact that Sabre88 provides our customers with the defined and
impactful solutions to everyday problems.
Sabre88, LLC has a solid record of building strategic partnerships with the federal government to achieve mission-focused solutions. Sabre88 believes that building trusting relationships with the clients that it serves is critical to both organization’s success. Sabre88 takes a hands-on approach to serve its clients by making quarterly visits to clients and onsite personnel to identify possible problem areas and gain a deeper insight into the organizational culture. Additionally, the project managers on-site maintain crucial relationships with our customers, Project Manager Rossemery Duran exemplifies the culture we are trying to create saying, “Working in the same facility as the client has allowed my team and me to maintain constant and open lines of communication. I communicate with the client on a daily basis to ensure that they are receiving exceptional support. If any issues arise, I work with the client to rectify the issue as soon as possible”. Sabre88’s proven ability to help government leaders manage large-scale initiatives and achieve mission goals is unsurpassed in its fervent commitment to the objectives of clients 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. Far too often government requirements are fulfilled by hand- off contractors who lack the technical understanding and the management capabilities to satisfy task directives. Consequently, this leads to dissatisfied clients and growing distrust between federal agencies and contractors who attempt to support them. Sabre88, LLC has displayed a unique aptitude for bridging this gap to meet and satisfy the needs of Sabre88 clients and personnel. For Sabre88, this unique outlook in approach is the foundation of the company’s sustainability and growth which allows the organization to not just win new opportunities but develop exclusive and individualized partnerships based on a customer’s unique circumstances. We strive to maintain this company culture through our entire community, our project managers work hard to maintain strong relationships with our customers, “The client’s needs are always my top priority. I ensure that my team is aware that we need to be flexible in order to adapt to any of the changes that the client may have”. Good customer service starts with flexibility, insight, and resourcefulness. Throughout the organization, we strive to maintain and improve our skills with this core value with every experience.
Author: Bobby Cottingham
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) wants companies to be “friendlier” to their employees. And she wants the federal government to reward companies for it. The New York representative introduced a series of bills Wednesday aimed at creating what she calls a “just society.” That includes bills to update the federal poverty line, expand tenants’ rights, and to extend federal programs to all immigrants and former prisoners. She also wants to make sure all taxpayer-funded government contracts go to businesses that treat their workers well. It’s called the Uplift Our Workers Act. The bill would require the federal Office of Contract Compliance to create a scoring system that ranks businesses based on “worker friendliness.” Companies with the most worker-friendly policies would get the highest score, which in turn would give them an advantage in winning a lucrative government contract. This is no small thing. More than 42,000 US businesses hold federal contracts, and all of them agree to follow certain rules to keep their deals with the government. The score is not another requirement; it’s more of an incentive. Just like the government gives preference to minority-owned or veteran-owned business, it would also give preference to businesses with the best workplace policies.
It’s a creative policy idea, and one that would certainly burden
employers who are always trying to save on labor costs. But it’s comprehensive,
and creates a big incentive for America’s largest companies to give workers the
best benefits and perks available.
How the score works
Under the bill, the Department of Labor and the White House
would develop the scoring system for contractors who do government work, which
includes everything from making military uniforms to developing computer
software. Contract officers would score companies depending half a dozen
factors, such as whether the business and its subcontractors have been
penalized for violating any labor laws and whether the company can guarantee
that its workers won’t work more than 40 hours a week to fulfill the contract,
and whether they pay overtime to those who do. Higher scores would be given to
companies that pay all employees at least $15 an hour and provide them with at
least seven paid sick days. They would also give preference to those who
guarantee fair scheduling to allow “workers to effectively provide for their
families financially and emotionally.” That means giving workers a monthly work
schedule ahead of time, and a final schedule two weeks ahead of time.
Contract officers will also consider whether or not a company
compensating employees who are “on call” and whether it offers extra work hours
to current employees before hiring others. Employers would also score higher if
they guarantee at least 12 weeks paid family or parental leave and if they
provide high-quality, subsidized health care. Extra points if they support
employee unionizing efforts and have policies in place to analyze ethical,
social, and environmental risks in their supply chain. And here’s one of the
most interesting things: It directs contracting officers to consider this score
just as important — if not more — than the cost of the contract. That’s a
dramatic shift, considering that some contractors probably cut back on labor
costs to provide the lowest possible price in the bidding process. Making sure
that taxpayers don’t overpay businesses for their services is a legitimate
concern, but this bill would also ensure that taxpayer funds are also used to
reward companies that treat workers well.
It’s
a different means to the same end
Ocasio-Cortez is hardly the only member of Congress trying to
get businesses to treat workers better as income inequality in the US has
skyrocketed. For example, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced a bill that
would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, which passed the House
last month. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has sponsored the Family Act, which
guarantees up to 12 weeks of paid family leave to workers. Rep. Rosa DeLauro
(D-CT) introduced the Healthy Families Act, which would require businesses
to provide full-time workers with at least seven days of paid sick leave. She
also introduced the Schedules That Work Act, which guarantees predictable
schedules for workers, or extra pay if they have to work irregular schedules.
So far, Republicans in the Senate haven’t even debated these bills. What
Ocasio-Cortez’s bill does is create a huge incentive for businesses to do all
of this. Sure, not every business is interested in a federal contract. But the
42,000 companies that do include America’s largest corporations, which employ
tens of thousands of workers — like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, AT&T, and
FedEx. And most importantly, they would only get a higher score if their
subcontracted employees get the listed benefits, too — meaning Google’s
cafeteria workers could get paid sick days as an incentive.
It may be easy to dismiss the bill as unachievable, especially
coming from such a junior member of Congress. But Ocasio-Cortez has already
managed to change the conversation about what is achievable on Capitol Hill.
Just look at all the presidential candidates who endorse the Green New Deal.
