According to the US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) web page, starting September 8, 2009, Federal Contractors will be required to use E-Verify to verify their employees' eligibility to work in the United States. If a contract includes the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) E-Verify Clause and your company is awarded a contract on or after September 8th, you will have 30 days after award to enroll your company in the E-Verify system. Keep in mind that once you're in the system, you're required to use it for all employees regardless if they work on a federal contract or not. If your current contracts don't include the E-Verify clause you may want to consider enrolling anyway, especially if you are marketing a contract that could include the clause. It may be a competitive advantage to say your already enrolled and using it versus saying you will use it in the future.

The requirement to use E-Verify is not limited to prime contractors; subcontractors will also be required to use it. It may also be required for companies awarded contracts using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) or Stimulus funds.

We enrolled in the E-Verify system almost a year ago. We find it easy to use and have made it part of our new hire administrative processes.

For more information on the E-Verify program:

• Visit the USCIS website:http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=109cc691d0673210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel;=68439c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD


• Visit the E-Verify site: www.dhs.gov/e-verify


• Or call E-Verify Customer Support at (888) 464-4218.