AGC Federal & Heavy Construction Division members launched an all out offensive on the legislative front during last week’s Federal Contractors Conference in Washington, DC. As part of a series of organized Capitol Hill visits, AGC members provided their federal elected officials information on a range of issues, including small business contracting reform, the prevention of government-mandated Project Labor Agreements, a civilian BRAC for federal office buildings, legislation supporting the dedicated use of harbor maintenance tax revenues for harbor maintenance, legislation to stop the NLRB’s attempt at backdoor card check and passage of a transportation reauthorization bill, among others.

Don’t Miss Out – Register Today!  The 2012 AGC Federal Contractors Conference will be held April 16-19, 2012, at The Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. This meeting is the only national event where contractors and federal agency personnel can meet in a collaborative forum to review federal construction contracting issues and trends from around the United States. These insightful and highly productive exchanges have solidified the need for both federal construction contractors and the federal construction agencies to share information on a wide variety of issues, foster better communication, and create real solutions.

Today, the Senate approved  legislation in the form of an amendment to the chamber’s version of the transportation bill. The amendment will ensure 80 percent of the Clean Water Act penalties the federal government collects as a result of the BP oil spill are distributed in the best interest of the communities along the Gulf Coast. The legislation was sponsored by Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and was supported by all Senators from the region in a bi-partisan manner.

Today, the House Small Business Committee, chaired by Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), held a full committee markup of six small business contracting bills recently introduced. AGC recently testified before the committee to discuss its priorities.

Military Construction Overall funding for the Department of Defense (DOD) Military Construction account is $9 billion, which is $4 billion less than the budget for FY 2012, or down about 31 percent.  This large reduction in funding is mostly due to the end of the DOD’s six-year Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) 2005 program. Below is a breakdown of the funding for each branch of the military:

On Feb. 9, 2012, the House Small Business Subcommittee on Subcontracting and Workforce held a hearing on the barriers small businesses face in federal contracting.  AGC’s FAR Committee Chair Dirk Haire testified on behalf of AGC, along with witnesses from the National Association of Surety Bond Producers, Women Construction Owners and Executives, and Yerba Buena Engineering & Construction.  The Small Business Administration, Army Corps of Engineers and General Services Administration also testified on a second panel during the hearing.

More than 40 PLA requirements removed or prevented AGC is again attacking agency efforts to impose Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) on federal construction projects.  This week, AGC sent letters to the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) expressing strong concerns against their decisions to impose a PLA on three separate projects.

The week of Jan. 30 the House Small Business Committee will begin to roll out several major pieces of legislation to reform and modernize small business contracting.  AGC had the opportunity to provide input on many of the proposals that will be released over the next several weeks.

April 16-19, 2012 | The Mayflower Hotel | Washington, DC The 2012 AGC Federal Contractors Conference will be held April 16-19, 2012, at The Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. This meeting is the only national event where contractors and federal agency personnel can meet in a collaborative forum to review federal construction contracting issues and trends from around the United States. These insightful and highly productive exchanges have solidified the need for both federal construction contractors and the federal construction agencies to share information on a wide variety of issues, foster better communication, and create real solutions.

Two major pieces of legislation, the Defense Authorization and Omnibus Appropriations bill for FY 2012, contain prohibitions on requiring the disclosure of political contributions by contractors bidding on federal work. The efforts, led by Congressional Republicans in the House and Senate, were included in response to continuing threats by Congressional Democrats to put forth an AGC-opposed draft Executive Order (EO) by the Obama administration.