The E-Verify federal contractor rule: when FAR 52.222-54 applies, the deadlines, and which employees to verify

The E-Verify federal contractor rule is the Federal Acquisition Regulation's requirement, in subpart 22.18 and the contract clause at FAR 52.222-54, that contractors with the clause enroll in E-Verify and use it for their new hires and for existing employees assigned to the contract. As of November 2026, the clause goes into contracts over $150,000 that last 120 days or more and include work in the United States, unless they are only for commercially available off-the-shelf items. A contractor not yet enrolled has 30 calendar days from award to enroll, then 90 days to start verifying, and the clause flows down to subcontracts for services or construction over $3,500.

Is the rule still in force in November 2026?

Yes. Two 2025 and 2026 changes to federal contracting are easy to confuse with it:

• Executive Order 11246 is gone, the E-Verify clause is not. Executive Order 14173 revoked EO 11246, and the Labor Department's final rule at 91 FR 54444 removed 41 CFR part 60-1 effective October 26, 2026. The E-Verify MOU names a different authority for the contractor rule: FAR subpart 22.18 and Executive Order 12989, as amended. FAR 52.222-54 remains in the FAR on acquisition.gov.
• The FAR overhaul kept the clause. The Revolutionary FAR Overhaul version of Part 22 (issued September 30, 2025 and updated April 20, 2026, and adopted by agencies through class deviations listed on acquisition.gov) keeps subpart 22.18. It renumbers the clause prescription as 22.1802-2 with the same $150,000 threshold and exceptions, and its version of 52.222-54 is marked "(Deviation)" with the same enrollment and verification deadlines.

The job advertising side of federal contracting changed more; see job posting requirements for federal contractors.

Which contracts carry the clause?

The obligation comes from the clause being in your contract. E-Verify's coverage page notes that existing contracts, including IDIQ contracts, can be bilaterally modified to add it, and that a contractor whose IDIQ contract is modified must participate within 30 calendar days of the modification. In exceptional cases the head of the contracting activity may waive the requirement, and that authority cannot be delegated (FAR 22.1802(d)).

What are the deadlines?

These come from FAR 52.222-54(b). New hires means all new hires working in the United States, whether or not they are assigned to the contract. Institutions of higher education, state and local governments, federally recognized tribal governments and sureties performing under a takeover agreement may verify only employees assigned to the contract, new or existing (52.222-54(b)(3)).

Which existing employees do you verify?

An "employee assigned to the contract" is one hired after November 6, 1986 who is directly performing work in the United States under the contract. Someone who normally does support work, such as indirect or overhead functions, and performs no substantial duties under the contract is not assigned to it (52.222-54(a)). The Supplemental Guide's Section 3.3 sorts the rest:

If you choose to verify employees you are not required to verify, the guide says to do so for all of them, to avoid discrimination in the verification process. In its example of an employee skipped because of a security clearance, the employer notes the reason on that employee's Form I-9. Choosing "Entire workforce" can be reversed only until you begin verifying existing employees (Section 3.2). Why employers without the clause may not run existing staff is covered in E-Verify for existing employees.

How do you handle existing employees' Forms I-9?

The MOU (Article II.B.2(e)) lets you create a case for an assigned employee from a previously completed Form I-9 if it is complete, including the Social Security number, meets the E-Verify document rules, the employee's work authorization has not expired, and you have confirmed with the employee that their Section 1 attestation has not changed. Otherwise, complete a new Form I-9 or update the old one (Article II.B.2(f)). The guide's Section 2.1 offers two approaches:

1. New Forms I-9 for everyone being verified. Simpler, and applied the same way to everyone.
2. New forms where needed, updates where allowed. Requires reviewing each form; the decision may never turn on citizenship, immigration status or national origin.

Either way, keep the earlier Forms I-9 and make them available for inspection. If a document recorded on an otherwise valid form, such as a U.S. passport or Permanent Resident Card, has since expired, the MOU says not to require new documents or use photo matching for that case.

What changes if you are already enrolled?

1. Do not re-enroll. E-Verify's timeframes page says to update the Company Information page to "Federal Contractor with FAR E-Verify clause" within 30 calendar days of the award.
2. Choose which employees to verify when you update the profile: new hires plus assigned employees, or the entire workforce (Section 1.4).
3. Complete the federal contractor tutorial. Program administrators and general users must pass it before using E-Verify again; E-Verify's FAQ says it takes about 30 minutes.
4. Add your Unique Entity Identifier. E-Verify's June 23, 2026 notice asked contractors with the clause to add their UEI from SAM.gov to the Company Information section, warning that contractors without one would lose case creation once yearly account certification became mandatory. E-Verify switched that validation feature off on July 16, 2026 after technical problems, so add the UEI now rather than wait.
5. Pick the right tool for each case. E-Verify+ has been open to contractors with the clause since May 2025. E-Verify's FAQ says to use E-Verify, not E-Verify+, for an existing employee who is not completing a new Form I-9.

For signing up from scratch, see E-Verify enrollment steps; choose the federal contractor category during enrollment.

How does the clause reach subcontractors, agents and staffing firms?

• Subcontractors. The prime must include the clause in covered subcontracts. E-Verify's exemptions page says the prime contract's exemptions do not apply to subcontracts, and its subcontractor page says suppliers are not covered. A subcontractor can prove enrollment by printing its company information page (Supplemental Guide 1.5).
• Affiliates. Only the legal entity that signs the contract is the federal contractor.
• Employer agents. Once a client tells its agent about the award, the agent must update the client's profile within 30 days of the contract award date (agent MOU Article II.A.11), and a subcontractor may use any agent, not just the prime. See E-Verify employer agents.
• Staffing agencies. Temps placed on a covered contract raise their own questions about who verifies; see E-Verify for staffing agencies.

What happens after a merger, at contract end, or when E-Verify is down?

• Mergers and acquisitions. A contractor already using E-Verify under the clause has 180 days from the effective date to verify acquired non-exempt employees if it verifies its entire workforce, or 90 days for acquired employees assigned to the contract (Section 7.0). See I-9 mergers and acquisitions.
• The contract ends. You may end your federal contractor participation with written notice to DHS. Without that notice you stay enrolled under the ordinary employer terms and must keep verifying all new hires (MOU Article V.B.3).
• E-Verify is unavailable. After the October 2025 outage, E-Verify's notice said calendar days when the system was down do not count toward federal contractor deadlines.
• DHS or SSA terminates your MOU. You are referred to a suspending and debarring official, and you are excused from the clause's verification duties until that official decides (FAR 22.1802(e)).

What may a federal contractor not do?

• Run existing employees through E-Verify under a contract that lacks the clause.
• Create a second case for an employee already verified as a new hire (MOU Article II.B.2).
• Choose which existing employees to verify by citizenship, immigration status or national origin, which the Supplemental Guide warns may violate 8 U.S.C. 1324b or Title VII.
• Use E-Verify to screen applicants before an accepted offer, which is barred for every participant.

A contract-award checklist

• Confirm 52.222-54 is in the contract and note the award date.
• Enroll, or update your profile, within 30 calendar days.
• Decide between assigned employees and entire workforce before verifying anyone.
• List assigned employees and their assignment dates; diary the 90-day and 30-day deadlines.
• Mark exempt employees on their Forms I-9.
• Have every user pass the federal contractor tutorial; add your UEI.
• Flow the clause down to covered subcontracts and collect proof of enrollment.