Five Democratic candidates squared off Tuesday evening in their party’s first presidential debate. Among the issues discussed were the economy and environment, as well as college affordability, foreign policy, guns, income inequality, and race.

Today, Republican members of the House of Representatives met for a special party conference to select a candidate to replace Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) as the Speaker of the House, who announced his resignation last week, effective Oct. 29. Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was thought to have support from the majority of the party, but, unexpectedly, announced this morning that he was exiting the race. At a press conference, Leader McCarthy stated the party needed a “new face” and someone the conference could unite behind; the underlying message being he did not believe that all members of his party were committed to putting their personal agendas aside and uniting behind his leadership to achieve goals in their battles against the Obama administration.

This week, the president signed into law the Protecting Affordable Coverage for Employees (PACE) Act, which repeals a provision in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) forcing employers with 51 to 100 employees to change health care plans by requiring them to purchase insurance with additional mandates in 2016, ultimately leading to higher premiums. This change was making the insurance market more expensive and healthy employers were forced to consider pulling out of the marketplace and self-fund their insurance. More information can be found at the 50-100 Coalition, which AGC is a member of.

The House and Senate approved the conference report for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016, which includes several AGC-supported procurement reforms. Those reforms:

Positive Change Stemming from AGC Legislative Action The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) released a proposed rule that would allow prime contractors to count lower-tier, small business subcontracts towards their small business subcontracting goals. Currently, prime contractors can only take credit for their small business subcontracts at the first tier. This proposed rule will allow prime contractors to take credit for such subcontracts—above $650,000—at any tier to meet such goals.

AGC Legislative Success Begins Implementation Process The FAR Council released a proposed rule that would help limit the number of short-listed design-build teams to no more than five during a two-step design-build procurement through federal agencies. The proposed rule takes a two-pronged approach to implementing this policy. First, for contracts at or below $4 million, contracting officers will have to document their reasons for including more than five teams on the short-list. Second, for contracts above $4 million, contracting officers will not only have to provide such documentation to include more than five teams, but also have approval from the head of the contracting agency—i.e., Chief of Engineers at U.S. Army Corps of Engineers—to include more than five teams on the short-list.

Prohibits Reverse Auctions for Construction Services Contracts This week, Sens. David Vitter (R-Louisiana) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) introduced and passed legislation out of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee that would help prohibit federal agencies from conducting reverse auctions for construction services contracts. A reverse auction is a procurement process through which contractors bid down price—and can see others’ bids—for a good or service contract in real time. Many federal agencies use reverse auctions to procure non-variable commodities like pens and paper. However, several federal agencies also use reverse auctions to procure construction services, which are inherently variable based on the project, site location and construction professionals.

Meet with Reps. Next Week This week there were encouraging reports out of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee that they plan to finalize and move their long-term highway & transit bill before the end of October. Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) and Ranking Democrat Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) met today to continue negotiations with the goal of announcing a mark-up the week of Oct. 26. It is unclear what funding levels the House bill will provide, due in large part to the breakdown in negotiations last week between Ways & Means Chairman Paul Ryan and Senator Charles Schumer, who had been negotiating a bipartisan compromise on how U.S. corporations are taxed on their overseas assets and using that revenue to fund a transportation bill.

If You Haven’t Contacted Your Rep, There is Still Time! Throughout the month of August, AGC chapters and members have been visiting with their Congressmen, urging them to pass a long-term, fully funded transportation bill when they return to Washington in September. If you have not yet contacted your Congressman, now is the time to do so.

Decision Could Prove Very Problematic for Construction Firms The National Labor Relations Board issued a disappointing but anticipated decision on Thursday that relaxes the standard for determining when two companies constitute “joint employers” under the National Labor Relations Act. As reported here, AGC submitted a joint amicus brief with other employer groups in the case last year. The brief urged the NLRB to maintain the current standard, under which separate entities are considered joint employers only if they share direct control over, or co-determine, essential terms and conditions of employment. The brief also urged the Board to refrain from relaxing the standard to the point where indirect or potential control would be enough. Consistent with the current Board’s penchant for expanding employer liability, the NLRB changed the standard to require consideration of whether an employer has exercised indirect control over terms and conditions of employment through an intermediary, or reserved the right to do so.