Prohibiting Reverse Auctions, Reforming Design-Build and Implementing Lower Tier Small Business Subcontractor Counting AGC will press for action on a host of direct-federal construction procurement initiatives in 2014, including: (1) prohibiting reverse auctions for construction services; (2) reasonably limiting single-step design-build procurements; (3) reasonably limiting second-step design-build finalists to three to five teams; and (4) reasonably implementing the allowance of prime contractors to count lower tier small business subcontractors towards their small business subcontracting goals. The first three initiatives are legislative and well-under way in Congress as a result of AGC advocacy efforts in 2013. The last initiative is regulatory and faces implementation through the U.S. Small Business Administration, after AGC successfully pressed for the small business reform before Congress in 2013.

WRDA Conference Committee Work Continues On Jan. 3, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) released a memorandum noting the House Leadership’s intent to hold a vote on a final bill Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) bill as soon as it is ready for consideration. Select members of the House and Senate—called conferees—have been working on resolving the discrepancies between the two chambers’ respective WRDA bills in a conference committee since late November. The short legislative schedule during the holiday season resulted in negotiations continuing into 2014. Please visit AGC’s Legislative Action Center and ask your members of Congress to support the construction industry’s priorities for the final WRDA bill. 

This week nearly 50 member company CFOs, CEOs and other senior accounting professionals are participating in the AGC Financial Issues Forum (FIF) Winter Meeting in Miami, Florida. FIF members are being brought up to speed on pertinent tax and accounting issues and engaging in colloquies with peers on the latest accounting proposals impacting the construction industry. On the first day of the forum attendees heard from speakers on a wide variety of topics including:

Saying "serious health issues have arisen in our family", Liz Cheney, the former national television commentator and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, officially dropped her Republican primary challenge to Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi.  

One Republican and two Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives recently announced that they will not seek re-election later this year.

As the majority of Congress spent the holidays back home, House and Senate Appropriations staff were working to finalize an omnibus spending bill for the remainder of fiscal year 2014.   In order to avoid another government shutdown on Jan. 15, the appropriators must agree to spending priorities at the funding levels established in the December budget agreement.  

AGC submitted supplemental comments to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) on its Sept. 6, 2012, proposal to make significant changes in the administration of its Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program. The original comment period closed in 2012, but because of the outpouring of negative criticism from the industry, DOT decided to hold a listening session in early December and extend the comment period.  Moreover, the agency has chosen to seek specific comments on the costs associated with the proposed changes.  Along with AGC of America, many chapters and individual members also submitted comments and participated in the listening session.

Recently, AGC sent a letter opposing the possible use of a project labor agreement (PLA) mandate posted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Wilmington District for the North Carolina/Virginia general construction multiple award task order contract.

In an interview this week with the Wall Street Journal, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) stated that he planned to try and succeed term-limited Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) for the Ways and Means gavel in 2015. Chairman Camp must decide whether to seek a waiver to retain his chairmanship; however, there is a slim chance the House Republican Steering Committee, which selects leadership and chairmen positions, will grant his request. While Chairman Ryan became the first lawmaker on the tax-writing committee to publicly state his intentions for the top position, there are two senior members that are in the running: Reps. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), a policy wonk who has chaired multiple subcommittees, and Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) a fundraising juggernaut. Chairman Ryan's status within the Republican Party as a fiscal policy leader, former vice presidential candidate and fundraiser with name recognition gives him advantages.

As news of Chairman Baucus’s nomination came as a surprise to those monitoring the Finance Committee’s policy moves, the chairman released a new staff discussion draft on energy-related tax incentives and stated that he has more tax drafts to release after Congress returns from the holiday break in January. Under the proposal, over 40 existing energy tax incentives – including incentives for residential energy efficiency, electric plug-in vehicles, as well as oil and gas tax industry credits – would be eliminated and replaced with two new expanded credits for electricity and transportation fuel.