The Senate Commerce Committee held a confirmation January 11, 2017 for President-elect Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Transportation, Elaine Chao. Ms. Chao – who previously served as the Secretary of Labor under President George W. Bush and the Deputy Secretary of Transportation in President George H.W. Bush’s Administration – is expected to help shape an infrastructure plan that has been promised by President-elect Trump. Secretary-Nominee Chao offered no specifics of what a Trump infrastructure plan would include but she did acknowledge that the challenges with any plan lie in how it is paid for. During the hearing she expressed the belief that both direct federal spending and private financing will be a part of the incoming administration’s proposal. She went on the say that seeing a fix for the Highway Trust Fund – which will again be facing insolvency in 2020 – will be a “top priority” for the Department.

The federal highway Administration (FHWA) issued final rules on performance measures for congestion and freight movement that include requirements for states to measure and report CO2 (Greenhouse Gas- GHG) emissions from on-road vehicles for projects receiving federal funding. AGC and numerous other groups and Members of Congress advised FHWA in formal comments on the proposal that it lacked authority to expand into CO2 emissions but FHWA said it didn’t agree. In a separate action, the Department of Transportation (USDOT) released updated implementation procedures for states to use to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Not only did USDOT rush these procedures out for publication with limited (21 days) for comment, the document adds a new level of oversight to the environmental review process. This undermines efforts by Congress in the past three transportation authorization bills and previous administrations to streamline environmental review and shrink the time it takes for project approval.

Talking Points Can be Found at www.HardhatsforHighways.org While Members of Congress are back home for the remainder of the year, the AGC co-chaired Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) is urging our members to contact their Members of Congress – either in person or via email – and encourage them to permanently fix for the Highway Trust Fund. A new Congress and administration could provide the opportunity to fix the trust fund either through tax reform and/or an infrastructure package (as promised by President-Elect Trump).

Marcia Kellogg There are just some clients that your business cannot afford to have - you know who they are: the ones who are highly commodity-based and have limited experience, whose projects result in little or no profit, and who are a drain on your firm and its resources. Instead of trying to find projects that suit the firm, client-based firms identify clients with whom they can develop and nurture a partnership over time. It’s a philosophy that is primarily interested in owning the client, not the project. Most importantly, the focus of a client-based business is maintaining the relationship at all costs. Firms that align their cultures with the business goals and objectives of their clients realize a vast improvement in performance, because they have a true belief and purpose in the project and the client with whom they are working, and this spirit resonates throughout everything they do.

Julie Huval, Beck Technology The acronym “BIM” is showing up more and more in our industry. Owners are requiring it on projects, countries are setting standards for it, and firms are touting expertise in it. But what is Building Information Modeling (BIM) and, as marketers and business developers, why should we care?

AGC chapters have been successful in promoting state transportation funding initiatives over the past several years. Success at State Level – Since 2013 – includes a mix of revenue options:

If all stakeholders aren’t on board with Lean, can it work? How do you use Lean principles on construction projects where the GC is not an advocate of Lean? You can still improve your project outcomes even if all the stakeholders aren’t on board. In this webinar, learn how Ted Angelo, with Grunau has been effective using Lean by focusing his team on what they control.

The 78% increase in the Occupational Health and Safety Administration's penalty structure is now in effect, as are new reporting and record-keeping rules. OSHA is working hard to get the word out and offer employers guidance, but contractors should stay on top of OSHA's efforts.

Although the general level of safety for construction workers has improved over the years, this isn't true for catastrophic and fatal events. The resultant exposure of employers to penalties suggests that underlying assumptions for the industry's safety pyramid are due for a reassessment, write attorney Lawrence Dany and loss prevention specialist Ray Master.

AGC of America is proud to announce the launch of our 2017 project award competitions! The Alliant Build America Awards (including the Marvin M. Black Partnering Excellence category) and AGC in the Community competitions are now accepting applications. These programs recognize the nation's most impressive construction projects ranging across the building, highway and transportation, utility infrastructure, and federal and heavy divisions; those contractors excelling in their partnering and collaborative endeavors; and the charitable contractors and chapters giving back to their communities.