<p>On May 25, the House Natural Resources Committee passed legislation that with sensible fiscal reforms—and no taxpayer dollars for a bailout—to address the financial crisis in Puerto Rico. The <a href="http://newsmanager.commpartners.com/agcleg/downloads/2016-05-23%20Puerto%20Rico%20Letter.pdf">AGC-backed</a> bill would create a debt-restructuring process, empower a federal oversight board to supervise the territory’s fiscal affairs and create a redevelopment authority that will help rebuild Puerto Rico’s infrastructure. As it stands, many Puerto Rican government entities are unable to pay contractors for work completed on government construction projects and the public and private construction markets there remain on life support.</p>

<p>On May 24, AGC objected to the Department of Defense’s <a href="https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-03-25/pdf/2016-06725.pdf"><u>proposed change</u> </a>to the Defense Federal Acquisition Supplement (DFARS) that would prohibit the use of any cost-plus system of contracting for military construction and military family housing projects governed under Title 10 of the U.S. Code. AGC noted that a blanket prohibition of the use of a cost-plus system will prevent federal construction owners from selecting the best contracting and project delivery methods to meet the demands of any given construction project.</p>

On May 25, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved an AGC-supported $5 billion Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), which authorizes new U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ civil works construction projects, including locks, dams, levees, harbor maintenance dredging and environmental restoration projects, among other construction projects. Specifically, the bill authorizes 28 new Army Corps projects, which you can find here.

<p>On May 23, the House unanimously approved <a href="http://newsmanager.commpartners.com/agcleg/downloads/2016-05-23%20Civilian%20BRAC%20House%20Floor%20Vote.pdf"><u>two AGC-supported bills</u></a> – The Public Buildings Reform and Savings Act, <a href="https://www.congress.gov/114/bills/hr4487/BILLS-114hr4487ih.pdf"><u>H.R. 4487</u></a>, and the Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act, <a href="https://www.congress.gov/114/bills/hr4465/BILLS-114hr4465ih.pdf"><u>H.R. 4465</u> </a>– that would encourage federal agencies to dispose of, consolidate, or redevelop at least $8 billion of excess or underutilized civilian federal real property. These bills will help grow private construction markets by encouraging redevelopment and a more efficient use of real property by the private or federal sectors. For example, GSA sold an abandoned heating plant in Washington, D.C., for $19.5 million that will be converted into high-end condominiums, requiring private construction work of more than $100 million. A Senate committee earlier passed its own federal real property reform legislation. AGC will continue to press the Senate to pass these bills.</p>

<p>On May 17, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee unanimously approved AGC-supported <a href="https://www.congress.gov/114/bills/hr5199/BILLS-114hr5199ih.pdf"><u>legislation</u> </a>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 $3 million, thereby limiting one-step design-build procurements; and (2) help prohibit reverse auctions for certain construction services. Introduced by Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), the bill—H.R. 5199—is nearly identical to the <a href="https://www.agc.org/news/2016/02/11/agc-backed-procurement-legislation-passes-senate-panel"><u>AGC-backed legislation</u></a> passed by a Senate Committee in February. AGC will continue to push for enactment of these procurement reforms.</p>

<p>On May 16, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council issued an AGC-supported <a href="https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-05-16/pdf/2016-11003.pdf"><u>final rule</u></a> that effectively limits the second-step (“short-list”) of the two-step design-build procurement process to no more than five teams. Through <a href="https://www.agc.org/news/2014/12/05/agc-advances-legislative-priorities-defense-bill"><u>AGC’s efforts</u></a>, this reform was passed by Congress in 2014. For AGC’s comments on that proposed rule, click <a href="http://newsmanager.commpartners.com/agcfed/downloads/AGC%20Comments%20on%20FAR%20Council%20Design%20Build%20Prop.%20Rule.pdf"><u>here</u></a>.</p>

<p>In what may be a 12-round bout, AGC has scored another victory on the path to expunging President Obama’s <u><a href="https://www.agc.org/news/2015/08/28/agc-submits-comments-opposing-blacklisting-executive-order">Blacklisting Executive Order</a>.</u> On May 19, the House of Representatives approved legislation that includes an AGC-backed provision to the National Defense Authorization Act—a bill that has been annually enacted into law for 54 consecutive years—that ensures the EO would not apply to Department of Defense and National Nuclear Security Administration contracts. AGC will work with Congress to limit the Executive Order.</p>

This week, the House and Senate both made progress in moving their respective transportation funding bill for fiscal year 2017. Both bills include a key, AGC-backed provision that sets restrictions on the use of a U.S. DOT pilot program that enables state or local grant recipients to utilize local or geographical, economic-based, and veterans hiring preferences on federal-aid highway and federal transit projects.

This week, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed a bipartisan bill reauthorizing the Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA) program through 2021 at $100 million per year. This bill is identical to a provision that legislators included in the recently passed Senate Energy Modernization Act. AGC and our coalition partners will continue to push for a DERA reauthorization prior to the expiration of the current program on Sept. 30, 2016. Further updates on DERA status and grant availability can be found here.

The House of Representatives today failed—on a vote of 209-216—to pass AGC-supported legislation that would block further implementation of President Obama’s 2009 executive order encouraging federal agencies to consider government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) on construction projects. AGC, along with other industry allies, urged members of the House to support this initiative and will continue to advocate against government-mandated PLAs.