On July 12, the House Agriculture Committee approved a farm bill that would authorize $85 million a year through FY 2017 for the Small Watershed Rehabilitation (SWR) program, the nation’s only dam rehabilitation program. This program assists local communities with improving aging flood control dams, thereby helping to address public health and safety needs before a tragic dam failure occurs.  

Prior to the July 4 recess, the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee passed legislation – H.R. 4631, “The GSA Act of 2012” – redressing the proposal that would severely restrict federal agency participation in conferences hosted by private organizations. Working with the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), AGC was the only other organization in the room to meet with House Oversight & Government Reform Committee and House leadership concerning this issue.

The General Services Administration  (GSA) recently announced that it is moving the implementation date of the System for Award Management (SAM)—the federal government’s new registration system-- from May 29, 2012, to the end of July 2012. According to GSA, the additional time “will allow federal agencies to continue preparing their staff, give agencies and commercial system providers even more time to test their data transfer connections, and will ensure SAM contains the critical, documented capabilities users need from the system.”

On June 21, the Senate passed a farm bill that would authorize $425 million—$85 million per year for five years—for the nation’s only dam rehabilitation program. The Small Watershed Rehabilitation program assists local communities with improving aging flood control dams, thereby helping to address public health and safety needs before a tragic dam failure occurs.

The General Services Administration (GSA) will issue a recommendation in the fall on whether the federal government should: (1) continue using a third-party certification system as the primary federal standard for energy-saving green buildings; and (2) determine if other certification systems, besides LEED, should be accepted.

Administration officials significantly underestimated the cost to construction employers of proposed new hiring quotas for federal contractors according to a new analysis released today by the Associated General Contractors of America. According to the analysis, a proposed new hiring quota for the disabled would cost employers 30 times more than officials predict while a new hiring quota for veterans would cost employers 20 times more than originally estimated.

On June 20, the House Appropriations Committee approved a funding measure that would provide $50 million for the General Services Administration’s (GSA) construction account—the same as FY 2012 levels, but $6 million below the president’s budget request. This account funds the project cost of design, construction and management of new federal GSA facilities. 

On June 19, House Republicans took aim at the pace of the Obama administration’s effort to sell underutilized federal government properties. Holding a field hearing at a General Services Administration (GSA) owned heating plant in Washington, D.C.’s historic Georgetown, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) and Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) said the agency was not moving quickly enough to dispose of unused properties in its portfolio.

Today, the U.S. Senate delayed consideration of a farm bill that would authorize $150 million for the nation’s only dam rehabilitation program. The stalemate came as a result of lawmakers’ inability to reach agreement on the number of amendments to be offered on the legislation.

Yesterday, the House approved the FY 2013 Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies appropriations bill totaling $32.1 billion – a cut of $965 million below the President’s budget request. The legislation provides the annual funding for the various agencies and programs under the Department of Energy (DOE) and other agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and its civil works program.