Registration is now open for the 2013 Highway and Utilities Contractors Issues Conference. This year’s conference is scheduled for November 7-9, 2013 at the Arizona Biltmore hotel in Phoenix, Ariz. This conference addresses the top issues impacting contractors involved in highway, bridge, transportation and utility construction, including funding, regulations, technology, risk allocation, legislative developments and others. 

This week, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a notice seeking comments regarding the continued need for the general waivers from Buy America requirements for manufactured products and other items. The waivers on manufactured products have been in effect since 1983. The notice also asks for comments on the continuing need for a minimal use threshold currently established at $2,500 or 1/10 of 1 percent of the total contract value - whichever is greater. The Buy America requirements have been in effect in the Federal-aid highway program since 1983.

Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV), ranking member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, joined Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WS) to introduce a bill this week that would provide $5.5 billion for state transportation departments to address the 150,000 or so structurally deficient bridges across the nation.

This week, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) passed their funding bill for FY 2014.  The bill funds the federal highway and transit programs at the MAP-21 levels. In total, the bill provides over $40 billion for the highway program and $10 billion for the transit program.  AGC members who participated in April’s Federal Contractors Conference and this month’s Transportation Construction Coalition Fly-In lobbied their members on the hill to ensure the THUD bill included MAP-21 funding levels.

New truck driving limits go into effect on July 1, 2013.

This week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 31-16 to approve H.R. 2218, the “Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act of 2013,” which was sponsored by Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.) and a bipartisan group of representatives. The legislation would prevent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating coal ash (including fly-ash) as a “hazardous” substance. The legislation would give states broad powers to regulate the disposal of waste from coal combustion as long as they follow minimum federal standards. Earlier this week, AGC sent a letter to the committee urging that the legislation be adopted.

Earlier this week, nearly 400 contractors, suppliers and other construction industry partners participated in the 2013 Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) Fly-In to deliver the message to Congress that MAP-21 needs to be reauthorized on time and the Highway Trust Fund needs to be fixed. TCC members were armed with charts and issue papers which illustrated how – without new revenue on or before Sept. 30, 2014 – highway and transit funding for new projects would plummet in FY 2015 by 92 percent and, in subsequent years, would be significantly reduced. Fly-in participants thanked Congress for passing MAP-21 and including significant reforms in program administration but also pointed out that the job is not done until the Highway Trust Fund solvency is resolved.

You are urged to join your industry allies in Washington, D.C., on June 4-5, 2013, at the Hyatt Regency Washington for the Transportation Construction Coalition’s 2013 Legislative Fly-In and deliver the message to Congress that timely reauthorization of MAP-21 must be a priority.  Remember that lack of action by Congress to address Highway Trust Fund solvency before September 30, 2014 could lead to significantly reduced highway and transit funding in future fiscal years. Many members of the House and Senate are not convinced that this is a problem. They seem to think that states will make up whatever decline there is in Federal funding. They need to be educated and this is the perfect opportunity.

A task force of AGC’s Highway and Transportation Division met this week with U.S. DOT Under Secretary Polly Trottenberg, FHWA Administrator Victor Mendez, FHWA Associate Administrator for Civil Rights Warren Whitlock and other DOT officials to discuss the DBE program and steps that could be taken to improve it.  Some of the issues addressed included certification and prequalification of DBEs, assistance from primes to DBEs, mentor-protégé relationships, clarification of good faith efforts and training programs. Several of the issues pointed out in the Inspector General’s report were also discussed. DOT has expressed an interest in improving the program and asked AGC for recommendations.

This week, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a report highly critical of DOT’s administration of its Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program. OIG found that the department does not provide effective program management for the DBE program. Specifically, DOT has not issued comprehensive, standardized DBE guidance; provided sufficient training to the recipients responsible for implementing the program; or have a single line of accountability for the program.