Federal Contractor Report

 

Hundreds of federal construction contractors descended on Washington, D.C., June 20-22 to meet with major federal construction agencies and members of Congress at the AGC Federal Contactors Conference.

 

On June 22, President Biden called for a three-month suspension of the federal gas tax. AGC responded calling it a “desperate” proposal that won’t address root causes of higher fuel prices but will instead blow a huge hole in the Highway Trust Fund and undermine efforts to fix infrastructure.

Check out these political snippets on primary results, congressional and gubernatorial races from across the country.

 

On May 25, the Department of Defense (DOD) issued Guidance on Inflation and Economic Price Adjustments (EPAs) on existing and future DOD contracts due to the ongoing inflation. Disappointingly, the DOD specifically excludes EPAs on firm fixed price contracts, representing virtually every military construction and civil works contract for DOD.

 

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has announced a notice of proposed revision to the “WD-10 Davis Bacon Wage Survey Report of Construction Contractor’s Wage Rates” form. WHD is proposing changes to the WD-10 in effort to improve the overall efficiency of the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts (DBRA) survey process. The proposed changes intend to streamline the collection of data required for the survey and make the collection less burdensome for respondents. The proposed revision rearranges questions and data requests to enable respondents to more quickly gather and report information.

 

On June 8, AGC sought clarification from OSHA on its enforcement of heat-related hazards under its National Emphasis Program (NEP). Due to the absence of specific guidance clarifying how compliance safety and health officers (CSHOs) will evaluate a contractor’s implementation of protocols to address heat exposure, fair and consistent enforcement will be significantly impacted across all regions. In addition, the NEP’s ambiguities may ultimately put workers at further risk of injury or illness.

 

On June 17, AGC weighed in with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding an expansive proposed rule that would compel publicly-traded companies to disclose, annually, their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate related risks.

 

On June 22, AGC helped lead an effort with 41 other national organizations calling on the Administration to extend the 180-day Build America, Buy America Act (BABAA) waiver to ensure that, in the meantime, projects are not needlessly delayed. AGC previously reported on the Administration’s decision to impose a 180-day delay of the new BABAA requirements for construction materials included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

 

Registration is now open to sign up to participate in AGC of America’s 2nd Annual National Construction Industry Workforce Summit. The summit will take place in Phoenix, Arizona on November 3 and 4. AGC is hoping to encourage contractors and chapter staff who are involved in workforce development to attend, as well as anyone involved in educating and preparing future construction workers. Attendees will share their workforce success stories and help craft new workforce solutions. They will attend brief, pitch-style, presentations from some of the nation’s most successful workforce development programs. And they will hear from inspirational keynote presenters. Learn more about the Workforce Summit and the agenda here. Register for the summit here.

 

 

Register today for the Construction Safety, Health and Environmental Conference at the Capital Hilton, Washington, D.C., from July 26-28 to access the following content and much more.

 

 

Sixty-four percent of highway contractors report that motor vehicles had crashed into their construction work zones during the past year, putting motorists and workers at risk, according to the results of a new highway work zone study conducted by AGC of America and HCSS. In response, officials urged drivers to slow down and remain alert while passing through work zones during the summer driving season.

Struggling to find enough workers? On this episode, three young construction professionals share their insights about how they made a decision on a full-time position and why their selected firms stood out.  Guests include Trent Fair, recent graduate of Pittsburg State University, who landed a Superintendent role with Simpson Construction Services, Jack McGavran, also graduated from Pittsburg State who will be joining McCarthy Building Services as an Engineer, and Collette LeManske of Kansas State University, who will be taking on a Project Engineer role with Brinkmann Constructors. These three new additions to the industry provide some great information about what they were looking for in their internships and permanent roles.