President to Sign Law Allowing Prime Contractors to Count Lower-Tier Small Businesses On December 19, the Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act of 2014 (NDAA), which includes a critical AGC-supported small business reform.  The AGC-supported reform will allow prime contractors to count lower-tier small business contractors towards the prime contractor’s small business subcontracting goals. The current law only allows prime contractors to count first-tier small business subcontractors towards these goals.

Complementary Webinar: Dec. 19, 2013 l 2:00 - 3:30 p.m., EST Register now for this complimentary webinar that could help you expand your federal construction market opportunities. Congress recently expanded the federal Small Business Administration Mentor-Protégé program to all federal agencies and requires such programs to include all small businesses as protégés. In short this means more opportunities for more small businesses and non-small businesses to joint venture on federal small business-set aside work. The webinar will cover what your construction contracting company—whether a small business or large—should do to prepare for and take advantage of this program.

Yesterday, the House passed a compromise National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2014 by a vote of 350-69.  The NDAA includes an AGC-supported small business provision, known as the Lower Tiers measure, which will benefit all construction contractors.

AGC Federal and Heavy Construction Division Vice Chair Nigel Cary of Cox Construction, San Diego, Calif., testified in opposition to reverse auctions before a joint hearing of the House Veterans Affairs and Small Business Committees on December 11.

AGC sent two letters opposing the possible use of a project labor agreement (PLA) mandate: (1) one posted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Fort Worth District for Fort Hood VOLAR Barracks and Central Energy Plant Renovation project at Fort Hood, Texas; and (2) one posted by the Naval Engineering Facilities Command Washington for the construction of mechanical and electrical improvements for naval support activity in Bethesda, Maryland.

AGC Continues to Advocate for the Construction Industry’s Priorities On Nov. 20, select members of the House and Senate—called conferees—gathered to begin work on resolving the discrepancies between the two chambers respective Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) bills in a conference committee. AGC has been active throughout the WRDA legislative process and advocated for the construction industry’s WRDA priorities in a letter to all conferees, detailing which provisions and policies in both bills should be included in a final WRDA bill.

TAKE ACTION: Urge Your Senators to Support Counting Lower-Tier Small Businesses Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) recently introduced an AGC-supported small business reform amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2014, S. 1197.  The Senate could vote on the amendment as early as next week, so please take action now and urge your U.S. Senators to support the Coons/Wicker Amendment #2286 to S. 1197.

On Dec. 3, AGC Naval Engineering Facility Command Committee Chair Randall Gibson—president of a federal small business, Whitesell-Green, Inc., in Pensacola, Fla.—testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on the federal government’s use of design-build contracting. In his testimony for the association, Mr. Gibson addressed the need for federal agencies to: (1) reasonably limit one-step design-build procurements; and (2) reasonably limit the second step of the two-step design-build process to three to five finalists.

AGC recently sent a letter opposing the possible use of a project labor agreement (PLA) mandate posted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District for large scale construction projects (greater than $25 million) within the Baltimore-Washington corridor.

On Dec. 3, AGC Naval Engineering Facility Command Committee Chair Randall Gibson—president of a federal small business, Whitesell-Green, Inc., in Pensacola, Fla.—testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on the federal government’s use of design-build contracting. In his testimony for the association, Mr. Gibson addressed the need for federal agencies to: (1) reasonably limit one-step design-build procurements; and (2) reasonably limit the second step of the two-step design-build process to three to five finalists.