On March 25, two committees in the House—the Small Business and Armed Services Committees—took action on AGC-supported construction procurement reform legislation. The House Small Business Committee unanimously approved a construction procurement reform bill and the House Armed Services Committee introduced a Department of Defense-specific procurement reform bill that would both:
Rep. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.) introduced AGC-supported legislation that would help prohibit reverse auctions for direct-federal construction services contracts. The Commonsense Contracting Act of 2015, H.R. 1444, would prohibit reverse auctions for all federal small business set-aside construction contracts, including for the performance of construction work for facility, infrastructure and environmental restoration projects as well as the delivery and supply of construction materials to construction sites. Please ask your representatives to co-sponsor H.R. 1444.
Representative Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.) recently introduced legislation that would help prevent individual surety fraud in the federal construction bonding marketplace. The Security in Bonding Act of 2015, H.R. 838, would require individual sureties to use real, liquid assets placed in escrow to back their bonds.
AGC noted its opposition to President Obama’s “Fair Pay and Safe Work Places” Executive Order (EO), commonly referred to as the “Blacklisting” EO in a letter to members of the House Education and Workforce Committee. The executive order would allow contracting officers to deny contractors the right to compete for work on an individual contract-by-contract basis based on a contracting officer’s review of contractor labor and safety violations of state and federal laws.
Contact Your Member of Congress and Ask Them to Sign House Letter
Representatives Charles Boustany (R-La.) and Janice Hahn (D-Calif.) are currently circulating an AGC-supported letter urging appropriators to utilize Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) revenues at the levels set by the Water Resources Reform & Development Act of 2014 (WRRDA). WRRDA authorizes Congress to spend up to $1.25 billion—69 percent of HMTF revenues—on harbor maintenance activities in fiscal year (FY) 2016. However, the House Appropriations Committee must agree to actually spend that level of funding in FY 2016 for the promise in WRRDA to be realized. As such, AGC urges you to take action and urge your representative to sign onto the Boustany/Hahn letter to the House Appropriations Committee asking appropriators to spend HMTF revenues at the FY 2016 WRRDA levels.
Urge Your Senators to Oppose the Use of Reverse Auctions
Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) this week introduced the AGC-backed Construction Consensus Procurement Improvement Act, and included the legislation as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act to prohibit federal agencies from procuring construction services through reverse auctions. Please urge your senators to co-sponsor the bill and support this amendment.
Thursday, June 4 @ 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET
Register to join construction law and regulation experts for a complimentary webinar on Thursday, June 4 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. eastern time for a discussion on the new and pending federal regulations impacting your business. AGC’s Director of the Federal and Heavy Construction Division Jimmy Christianson and the construction law firm Smith, Currie and Hancock’s Doug Tabeling and Stephen Kelleher will provide an overview on:
In January, NAVFAC Rear Admiral Kate Gregory sent AGC and all NAVFAC contractors a letter about her concerns for corporate construction safety given seven recent fatalities. Admiral Gregory requested AGC’s thoughts on means to improve safety on the jobsite.
Recently, AGC sent two letters opposing the possible use of a project labor agreement (PLA) mandate posted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. One letter addressed concerns about a possible PLA mandate for an intake diversion dam in Montana, while the other opposed consideration of PLAs within the Charleston District area of jurisdiction.