Effective Sept. 8, 2009, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will require government contractors and subcontractors  to use the E-Verify system to verify their employees’ eligibility to work in the United States if their contract includes the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) E-Verify Clause.

According to information published on the USCIS website, in July, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano “strengthened employment eligibility verification by announcing the Administration’s support for the regulation that will award federal contracts only to employers who use E-Verify to check employee work authorization.”

E-Verify is a free online platform that compares information from the Employment Eligibility Verification Form (I-9) against federal government databases to verify workers’ employment eligibility. It works to deter unauthorized individuals from attempting to work and also helps encourage employers to comply with federal immigration laws.

After Sept. 8, companies awarded a contract with an “e-verify clause”, will be required to enroll in E-Verify within 30 days of the contract award date. E-Verify will then confirm that any employee working for the company that is contracted, is legally able to work in the U.S.

Click here for more information on E-verify.

Are you a business interested in doing business with Africa?

The U.S. Commercial Service  has created a “one-stop-shop” portal just for businesses interested in trade opportunities with most African markets.

 Portal features include:

-Market research

-Up-to-date trade leads

 -Updated trade event announcements 

 -Specific business opportunities

According to a recent Next Gov article, the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board has hired  Maryland based company, Smartronix, to complete an $18 million contract to redesign the Recovery.gov Web site. 

Recovery.gov is a site that The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board claims that Smartronix  “won the contract over two other bidders, according to the General Services Administration, which made the award.”

A notice posted on Recovery.gov adds that Smartronix is teaming with three subcontractors: Washington-based Synteractive Corp.; TMP Government of McLean, Va., and New York-based KPMG.

The redesign project will cost $9.5 million through January 2010 and up to $18 million if all contract options are exercised through January 2014.

This federal government contract calls for Smartronix and its subcontractors to:

-Develop the next generation of Recovery.gov, which will be visually pleasing, user-friendly and highly interactive.

-Create a mapping capacity that will allow users to search for spending down to the neighborhood level.

-Provide the capacity to store and easily download massive amounts of data.

-Build a state-of-the-art security platform that will protect the integrity and availability of the data and a back-up system in the event of a major catastrophe such as a terrorist attack or large-scale power outage.

-Provide contract support to perform an array of hosting, maintenance, and operational services.