The longest government shutdown in U.S. history ended in January 2019, but businesses that contract with the federal government are still seeing damaging effects for themselves and their employees months later, according to witnesses who testified at a May 6 House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing.
“Everyone thinks the shutdown ended on the 25th [of January]. The shutdown ended on the 25th for government employees. The shutdown didn’t end for our employees until we got a letter from the contracting officer authorizing us to come back to work,” said Roger Krone, CEO of Leidos.
“Where it may have been 35 days for government employees, it could be another 14 days or more for contractors. Because the contracting officer had to come to work, get through the pile of paper, figure out what contracts were under a stop work order, and then prioritize those and authorize the contractors to come back.”
Federal employees were guaranteed back pay for the time they were forced to stay home from work or work without pay during a shutdown. But contractors received stop-work orders or were unable to access the resources necessary for their contracts, and never received compensation for that time they were unable to go to work.
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