On February 6, President Obama issued an executive order revoking an earlier order issued by President George W. Bush that largely prohibited federal agencies from imposing a project labor agreement on federal and federally assisted construction projects. The new order encourages agencies to consider imposing a project labor agreement but falls short of requiring agencies to do so.The order establishes that "it is the policy of the Federal Government to encourage executive agencies to consider requiring the use of project labor agreements in connection with large-scale construction projects." A "large-scale construction project" is defined as one with a total cost to the federal government of $25 million or more.The order provides that, in awarding a contract for a large-scale construction project or obligating funds pursuant to such a contract, "executive agencies may, on a project-by-project basis, require the use of a project labor agreement." The order expressly states that it "does not require an executive agency to use a project labor agreement on any construction project."The order also (a) directs the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) Council to amend the FAR as needed and (b) directs the Office of Management and Budget, in consultation with the Secretary of Labor and other officials, to provide the President with recommendations about "whether broader use of project labor agreements, with respect to both construction projects undertaken under Federal contracts and construction projects receiving Federal financial assistance, would help to promote the economical, efficient, and timely completion of such projects."AGC opposes government-mandated labor agreements (GMLAs) and is concerned about the impact of the order. "[The] executive order has the unfortunate potential to limit contractors' ability to compete for projects at a time when the government is reporting that over one million construction workers have lost their jobs," said AGC CEO Stephen Sandherr. "Given that federal agencies have no demonstrated expertise in writing contracts that cover contractors and their employees, we strongly encourage officials to exercise the discretion this order provides and avoid government-mandated labor agreements."AGC will closely monitor developments, such as the FAR rulemaking process, and report to members as they occur.Click here to view President Obama's executive order. Click here to learn more about AGC's position on government-mandated labor agreements and related advocacy activities.

This week, Congressman Sullivan (R-Okla.) introduced legislation (H.R. 983) that seeks to ensure that federal contracts are awarded through open competition. The Government Neutrality in Contracting Act would prohibit the use of government mandated project labor agreements.This legislation mirrors the Senate bill, S.90, which was introduced by Senator Vitter (R-La.).AGC does not support government-mandated labor agreements (GMLAs) and believes they effectively compel both union and open shop contractors to alter their hiring practices, work rules, job assignments and benefits in order to compete or perform work on publicly funded projects. This not only constitutes inappropriate government interference with private labor relations, but it amounts to an unfair government preference that can significantly impact the cost of public works.AGC sent this letter to the House on Wednesday in support of Congressman Sullivan's bill. Please visit the AGC Legislative Action Center to send a letter in support of The Government Neutrality in Contracting Act.

Supporters of the (so-called) Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) are making a push to introduce this legislation in the House very soon and are continuing to push for original co-sponsors of the bill. AGC opposes the Employee Free Choice Act and urges AGC members to discourage cosponsorship.EFCA would take away a worker's right to a federally supervised private ballot election when deciding whether or not to select union representation. It also imposes unrealistically short deadlines for labor-management negotiations over a first contract before mandating third-party mediation and binding arbitration.AGC supports the status quo, which allows both card-check recognition and secret-ballot elections to establish union representation and remains the most fair and reliable way to determine the desire of employees to be represented by a union.Please reach out to your Members of Congress to urge them not to co-sponsor or support the bill. Just last week over 4,000 AGC members made their voice heard on this issue by using AGC's Legislative Action Center. Contact your congressional delegation today and urge them not to co-sponsor or support the (so-called) Employee Free Choice Act.

Registration for AGC's Federal Contractors Conference can now be accessed through the new meeting Web site.The Federal Contractors Conference is the only national event where AGC contractors and Federal agency personnel can meet and review procurement and contracting issues from around the United States. This year will include meetings with USACE, NAVFAC, USAF, GSA, OBO and the AGC Federal Owners Advisory Council, as well as a day of visits to Capitol Hill to discuss increased infrastructure investment and ensure fair federal contracting opportunities, among other issues.Sponsorships are still available and serve as a great way to increase your company's brand awareness, create positive public relations and gain recognition as a key player in federal contracting and procurement.

Supporters of the (so-called) Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) are making a push to introduce this legislation in the House very soon and are continuing to push for original co-sponsors of the bill. AGC opposes the Employee Free Choice Act and urges AGC members to discourage cosponsorship.

President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The plan includes significant infrastructure investment, as outlined in the AGC summary of infrastructure and public building investment provisions.

Immediately following the Senate vote on the stimulus bill, AGC issued a statement encouraging Congress to restore $24 billion in needed school and construction spending and save 340,000 jobs. While infrastructure investment as part of the stimulus plan will improve the outlook for construction workers nationwide, AGC continues to work with Congressional leaders to ensure proper funding. Read the statement here.

President Obama has issued an executive order revoking Pres. Bush's executive order that essentially prohibited government-mandated project labor agreements on federal and federally assisted projects.The new executive order establishes that "it is the policy of the Federal Government to encourage executive agencies to consider requiring the use of project labor agreements in connection with large-scale construction projects." However, the order specifically states, "This order does not require an executive agency to use a project labor agreement on any construction project." Rather, the order provides that, in awarding a contract for a large-scale construction project, or obligating funds pursuant to such a contract, "executive agencies may, on a project-by-project basis, require the use of a project labor agreement." (Emphasis added.) A "large-scale construction project" is defined as one with a total cost to the federal government of $25 million or more.The order also (a) directs the FAR Council to amend the FAR as needed and (b) directs the Office of Management and Budget, in consultation with the Secretary of Labor and other officials, to provide the President with recommendations about "whether broader use of project labor agreements, with respect to both construction projects undertaken under Federal contracts and construction projects receiving Federal financial assistance, would help to promote the economical, efficient, and timely completion of such projects."AGC has issued the following statement regarding the order: "Today's executive order has the unfortunate potential to limit contractors' ability to compete for projects at a time when the government is reporting that over one million construction workers have lost their jobs. Given that federal agencies have no demonstrated expertise in writing contracts that cover contractors and their employees, we strongly encourage officials to exercise the discretion this order provides and avoid government-mandated labor agreements."Click here for a copy of the order. AGC staff will continue to monitor and keep you informed of developments in this area.

By a 61-37 vote, the Senate today passed its $838 billion economic stimulus bill after adopting the compromise amendment offered by Sens. Susan Collins, (R-Maine) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb). Sens. Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania joined Collins as the only Republicans to vote for the bill. The bill will now go to a conference committee to work out the differences between the House and Senate versions. While the goal of the Democratic leadership is to have a final bill by the end of this week, the significant differences in the two measures will make that timeline difficult to meet.While there were numerous amendments in the Senate related to increasing highway, bridge, transit and other transportation funding, in the end, the amounts for these programs were left unchanged from the figures included by the Appropriations Committee. A comparison of the House and Senate passed versions of the bill is as follows:SenateFederal-aid Highway $27 BDiscretionary Grants $5.5 BTransit Formula Grants $8.4 BTRANSIT New Starts 0Airport Improvement $1.1 BHouseFederal-aid Highway $30 BDiscretionary Grants 0Transit Formula Grants $9.5 BTRANSIT New Starts $2.5 BAirport Improvement $ 3 BThe Federal-aid highway funds will be distributed according to SAFETEA-LU formulas but the bills use two different formulas. The Senate formula will result in approximately 55 percent of each states' apportionment going to the State DOT, 45 percent to metropolitan areas and 5 percent to the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement program (CMAQ). The House formula gives approximately 70 percent of each states' apportionment directly to the DOT, 25 percent to metropolitan areas and 5 percent will be used for enhancement projects.In addition to traditional highway and bridge projects, the Senate bill makes storm water runoff, passenger and freight rail, and port projects eligible for these formula funds. The Senate bill also establishes a new Discretionary Grant Program for surface transportation projects funded at $5.5 billion. States would have to apply for these grant funds which could be used for highway, transit, freight rail, passenger rail, port and intermodal connection projects valued between $20 million and $500 million. Priority would be given to projects that could be completed within 3 years. Grants would be awarded on a competitive basis based on criteria to be established by DOT.Both the House and Senate bills include "use or lose" requirements. In the House bill, states are required to obligate 50 percent of their apportionment within 90 days. States would lose funds not obligated in the first 90 days which would be redistributed to states that had obligated their funds (50 percent of their apportionment) within the 90 day window. States would be further required to obligate the second 50 percent of their apportionment by August 1, 2010. Funds not obligated by that date would be redistributed to states that had fully obligated their state apportionment. These redistributed funds would have to be obligated by September 30, 2010 or they would be lost.In the Senate, states would have to obligate fifty percent of their formula funds within 180 days, at which time unobligated funds would be redistributed to states that used their funds. The second 50 percent of the formula funds would have to be obligated one year after enactment. Funds not obligated within one year would go into the new Discretionary Grant Program, rather than be redistributed to other states as in the House bill. The discretionary grants would be available until September 30, 2011.

"Today's report on job losses underscores the urgency of implementing a job-boosting economic stimulus package focused on infrastructure," said Ken Simonson, chief economist for The Associated General Contractors of America. Simonson commented on the January employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics."It is tragic that 3,500,000 jobs have disappeared in the past 12 months and the unemployment rate has climbed to 8.5 percent before seasonal adjustment, or 7.6 percent, seasonally adjusted," Simonson stated. "Construction workers have suffered far more than their share of that pain, accounting for 747,000-or more than one-fifth-of the job cuts and an unemployment rate of 18.2 percent in January, not seasonally adjusted."Simonson pointed out that the job destruction is no longer confined to homebuilding. "In the past 12 months, nonresidential builders and specialty trade contractors, along with heavy and civil engineering construction firms, have had to lay off 309,000 workers, or nearly 7 percent of their workforce. Many of these workers would be re-employed within weeks if Congress passes a stimulus bill with at least $150 billion of construction spending."