Federal

AGC Federal Contractors Conference; May 9-11 in Washington, D.C.

The difference between AGC’s Federal Contractors Conference (FedCon) and other federal construction meetings is that, at FedCon, construction contractor attendees drive the agenda. As such, for this year’s conference—held May 9-11 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C.—AGC is currently seeking your questions for consideration in meetings with headquarters leaders of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Military Construction Program, Civil Works Program, Contracting, Safety and Small Business offices. To see our draft agendas for these various sessions, please click here.  To register, click here.

Includes 13 Percent Increase in Federal Construction Accounts

On Feb. 9, President Obama released his $4.1 trillion budget for fiscal year 2017, which proposes $1.215 trillion in discretionary defense and non-defense spending in FY 2017 and $2.565 trillion in mandatory spending.  The budget, which stays within the discretionary spending limits set last November in the Bipartisan Budget Act, has been declared dead on arrival by Republican Congressional leaders.  For the first time in 41 years, the House and Senate budget committees will not hold hearings with the president’s budget director.

Bill Addresses One-Step Design-Build and Reverse Auctions

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs this week unanimously passed AGC-supported legislation that would (1) require civilian federal agencies—non-Department of Defense agencies—to utilize the two-step design-build selection process for design-build projects greater than $750,000, thereby limiting one-step design-build procurements; and (2) prohibit reverse auctions for construction services. The bipartisan legislation introduced by Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), the Consensus Procurement Improvement Act of 2015, S. 1526, may now move to the Senate floor for consideration and passage. An AGC co-chaired coalition of 15 national construction organizations sent a letter in support of this measure and has long worked to advance it through the legislative process. AGC is working with members of the House to introduce the same bill there.

Includes Duplicative Debarment for Late Taxes and Crimes

AGC filed comments this week on a Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council proposed rule that would prohibit federal agencies from entering into a contract with any corporation that has a delinquent federal tax liability or a felony conviction under any federal law, unless (1) the agency has considered suspension and debarment of the corporation and (2) has made a determination that such action is unnecessary.