Clark County commissioners are expected to dramatically increase the number of public contracts that require bidders to prove they have signed up with a federal database that allows them to check the citizenship status of their workers.
Under the proposed policy, companies bidding on contracts worth $25,000 or more would have to show they’ve entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Homeland Security, which administers the federal E-Verify database.
The free service matches a worker’s Social Security number to the assigned name and citizenship status.
In September 2009, commissioners decided to test E-Verify and use it for contracts worth $1million or more.
Expanding the use of E-Verify will be discussed at the commissioners’ Oct. 19 meeting, 10 a.m. at the Public Service Center, 1300 Franklin St.
Commissioners Marc Boldt, Tom Mielke and Steve Stuart all support expanding the use of E-Verify, which was pushed last year by Mielke.
The new policy would go into effect Nov. 1.
“One million was a preliminary mark, to figure out how it works and get feedback from those who were using the system,” said Stuart, who serves as chairman. “It seems to be working.”
Mike Westerman, the county’s purchasing manager, said $25,000 is the minimum that, in most cases, triggers the sealed bid process in which the county has to advertise and go with the lowest bid that meets county requirements.
He said companies that sign up for E-Verify can terminate the agreement with the Department of Homeland Security at any time, so the county would keep updated files on companies that bid on county work.
The policy would be applied to contracts for professional services, client services, public works and maintenance, said Mark McCauley, director of general services. Those are the same classifications used by the federal government.
McCauley said the E-Verify system was used on 14 contracts since commissioners approved the use of it last fall.
With the threshold at $25,000, McCauley said he estimated E-Verify will be a requirement of 268 contracts a year.
Westerman said companies that sign up for E-Verify receive a login name and password and can check the status of employees. However, it used to be that a company could check every employee. Now, unless the company has a federal contract, only workers hired after the company signs up with the Department of Homeland Security can be checked.
“It will be a long process, a decade or longer, before you really have an impact,” Westerman said.
Chuck Miller of the Camas-based nonprofit group Washington Citizens for Responsible Government advocates the use of E-Verify on every government contract.
“Those jobs will go for American workers and documented or legal workers,” Miller said.
Clark County has the state’s highest unemployment rate.
“That’s our concern, putting our people back to work,” Miller said. “When you come here, come here legally.”
The use of E-Verify varies in Clark County.
The city of Vancouver, for example, uses it for contracts worth $500,000 or more. The city of Washougal uses it for contracts worth $100,000 or more. When Washougal’s policy took effect in February, city councils in Ridgefield and Camas discussed using E-Verify but decided to wait and see how well it works elsewhere.
