Federal construction projects are funded through a two-step process: authorization and appropriation. Whereas authorizations provide the authority and parameters for federal spending, no construction projects break ground without spending first being made available to federal agencies through the annual appropriations process.
Following this year's government shutdown, Congress approved funding for those federal agencies previously operating under a continuing resolution—including the Department of Transportation, General Services Administration and Environmental Protection Agency, among others. This legislation, coupled with previously passed fiscal year (FY) 2019 spending bills, provides annual funding to all agencies of the federal government through September 30, 2019. Overall, federal construction accounts saw about a two percent increase—or $4.5 billion—in funding in comparison to FY 2018 funding levels. A full AGC analysis of federal construction accounts for FY 2019 can be found here.