Executive Order 10308—Improving the Means for Obtaining Compliance with the Nondiscrimination Provisions of Federal Contracts

WHEREAS existing Executive orders require the contracting agencies of the United States Government to include in their contracts a provision obligating the contractor not to discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, creed, or national origin and obligating him to include a similar provision in all subcontracts; and WHEREAS it is necessary and desirable to improve the means for obtaining compliance with such nondiscrimination provisions; NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and statutes, and as President of the United States, including the authority conferred by the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended, and pursuant to the authority conferred by and subject to the provisions of section 214 of the act of Mary 3, 1945, 59 Stat. 134 (31 U.S.C. 691), it is ordered as follows: SECTION 1. The head of each contracting agency of the Government of the United States shall be primarily responsible for obtaining compliance by any contractor or subcontractor with the said nondiscrimination provisions of any contract entered into, amended, or modified by his agency and of any subcontract thereunder, and shall take appropriate measures to bring about the said compliance. SEC. 2. There is hereby established the Committee on Government Contract Compliance, hereinafter referred to as the Committee. The Committee shall be composed of eleven members as follows: (a) One representative of each of the following-named agencies (hereinafter referred to as the participating agencies), who shall be designated by the respective heads of the participating agencies: the Department of Defense, the Department of Labor, the Atomic Energy Commission, the General Services Administration, and the Defense Materials Procurement Agency. (b) Six other members, who shall be designated by the President. The Committee shall have a chairman and a vice-chairman, both of whom shall be designated by the President from among its members. SEC. 3. The Committee is authorized on behalf of the President to examine and study the rules, procedures, and practices of the contracting agencies of the Government as they relate to obtaining compliance with Government contract provisions prohibiting the discrimination referred to above in order to determine in what respects such rules, procedures, and practices may be strengthened and improved. The Committee shall confer and advise with the appropriate officers of the various contracting agencies and with other persons concerned with a view toward the prevention and elimination of such discrimination, and may make to the said officers recommendations which in the judgment of the Committee will prevent or eliminate discrimination. When deemed necessary by the Committee it may submit any of these recommendations to the Director of Defense Mobilization, and the Director shall, when he deems it appropriate, forward such recommendations to the President, accompanied by a statement of his views as to the relationship thereof to the mobilization effort. The Committee shall establish such rules as may be necessary for the performance of its functions under this order. SEC. 4. All contracting agencies of the Government are authorized and directed to cooperate with the Committee and, to the extent permitted by law, to furnish the Committee such information and assistance as it may require in the performance of its functions under this order. The participating agencies shall defray such necessary expenses of the Committee as may be authorized by law, including section 214 of the act of May 3, 1945, 59 Stat. 134 (31 U.S.C. 691). HARRY S. TRUMAN THE WHITE HOUSE, December 3, 1951