How do the 2026 FAR service contract labor rules affect contractors and subcontractors?

According to FAR Subpart 22.10, the practical effect on federal contractors and subcontractors is wage-and-fringe-benefit compliance, not any source-backed OPM bargaining shutdown. The subpart applies to service contracts and defines contractor to include a subcontractor at any tier whose subcontract is subject to the statute. For service contracts over $2,500, the contract must include mandatory provisions covering minimum wages, fringe benefits, safe and sanitary working conditions, employee notice of minimum compensation, and equivalent Federal classifications and wage rates. For successor contracts performing substantially the same services in the same locality, the contractor must pay at least the wages and fringe benefits in a bona fide predecessor collective bargaining agreement, and that obligation is self-executing. FAR 22.1012-2 also sets timing rules for when a new or changed collective bargaining agreement becomes effective in sealed bidding and other contract actions. The supplied sources therefore support a labor-standards and wage-determination answer, not a claim that OPM issued a directive ending collective bargaining.