Federal Contractor Report

 

Register today for the 2021 AGC Federal Contractors Conference taking place November 8-9, 2021 in-person in Washington, D.C. The Federal Contractors Conference is the premier conference for federal construction contractors to discuss the latest projects, policies and contracting issues facing the industry with federal agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Naval Facility Engineering Command, General Services Administration, and Small Business Administration.

In addition to substantive discussions and presentations with federal agencies, attendees will hear from experts about the latest federal regulations that will impact their businesses and may have the opportunity to continue a dialogue with federal agencies after the conference. And, when the conference concludes, AGC member attendees will have the opportunity to participate in ongoing dialogue and meetings with agency headquarters later in the year.

 

Urge President Biden and your members of Congress to pass the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Simply complete the AGC Action Alert to send the pre-written message and/or tweet to your elected leaders or modify it with personal information on how this issue impacts you and your business.

 

After years of politicians in Washington, D.C. talking about rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure, this bipartisan bill currently being considered in the Senate represents a prime opportunity for talk to turn into action. This measure would invest more than $1.2 trillion to build and rebuild key components of our nation’s physical infrastructure. In addition to making a step towards returning our infrastructure system to world-class, this historic investment will create a significant number of new construction career opportunities that pay well above jobs in other industries.

Read AGC’s full analysis of the bill for more information. Additionally, below is a linked summary of what’s in the bill for each construction market:

• Highway Contractors
• Utility Contractors
• Direct Federal Contractors
• Other Markets (Transit, Rail, Waterways, Airports)

 

AGC has weighed in on a few of the amendments that have been offered during the Senate’s debate of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, or the bipartisan infrastructure bill, and is monitoring to see if they will get a vote:

 

In early August, AGC released the latest AGC Construction Inflation Alert. Every week brings new reports of materials costs hitting record highs, while lead times lengthen or become ever more uncertain. This downloadable PDF helps chapters and members explain to owners, government officials, and others, what is happening and what all parties can do to minimize the damage.

To address some of the material price escalation and substitutions issues contractors are facing, AGC is hosting a townhall-style webinar on Tuesday, Aug. 10 from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. EDT. Join Ken Simonson, AGC Chief Economist, as he moderates a roundtable discussion among CM/GC, an owner, and a steel and dry wall specialty contractor. During this townhall discussion each participant will share how they are grabbling with the surging prices of materials, managing owners and GC expectations, and keeping jobs on time and schedule.

Topics to be addressed during townhall include:

• Lead times for procurement and locking in pricing
• Managing expectation of clients
• Lack of continuity from suppliers
• The concept of construction halting entirely and when is that coming

 

Increasingly, federal contractors are facing visits by fraud investigators and demands for information related to a particular contract. The government has added sureties, brokers, and bond producers to its ever-growing list of targets of False Claims Act (FCA) fraud investigations. Read the informative posting on AGC’s Reports & Hot Topic Papers page – Federal Fraud Investigations Update: Some Construction and Surety Industry Hotspots, by Timothy Heffernan and Nicole Gregory at Watt, Tieder, Hoffar & Fitzgerald, L.L.P. and William Boeck at Lockton Companies (June 2021) – to learn of compliance issues and potential for fraud, including the policy and other concerns raised by pending cases involving fraud claims, the recommended steps to take to avoid fraud investigations, and a discussion of how insurance policies respond to FCA claims.

Investigations of labor charging and progress payment applications remain a top priority for government auditors. Also under the spotlight is fraud in connection with the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) set-aside programs, preferences afforded to qualifying disadvantaged contractors, as well as SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program loans and self-certifications. The message to the construction and surety industries is clear -- be prepared and stay vigilant. To see AGC’s entire collection of hot topic (substantive research) papers on top business challenges facing today’s construction firms, as presented by leading experts at recent AGC Surety Bonding and Construction Risk Management meetings, visit AGC’s risk management website.

 

The construction industry has experienced some very significant and sudden changes during the past few months that have led to dramatic changes in demand for work and the need for new workers. We need to understand exactly how those changes are impacting the industry’s current workforce needs to be better able to advocate for measures to help the industry’s labor needs in both the short- and long-term. That is why we are asking you to take a few minutes to complete the following workforce survey that we and our partners at Autodesk have prepared. The more people understand the scope, and consequences, of current labor market conditions, the more likely they are to enact measures to help meet the industry’s needs. The more members who take the survey, the better able we all will be to describe labor market conditions where you operate.

 

Construction officials outlined a series of steps public officials and the construction industry should take to address the impacts of the built environment on climate change. The new initiative from the AGC of America is designed to lessen the carbon footprint of the built environment while also making the process of building projects even more efficient.

 

 

Need surety bonds for your next construction job or contract? AGC recently collaborated with the National Association of Surety Bond Producers (NASBP) to assemble various materials on surety bonding that contractors will find useful and informational, many created just for contractors. You can access this information – including downloadable documents, articles, videos, and podcasts – from AGC’s Risk Management website at agc.org/risk.