A Word From AGCVA Chair, Don Sproul

This year, like every other, AGCVA members and staff spend a tremendous amount of time in the months of January and February focused on one of our three pillars: advocacy. Brandon and the lobbying team at Williams Mullen have been on the ground meeting with legislators daily since December.

They do this with the council of the Legislative Committee. This committee is comprised of a diverse group of contractors and trade partners from across the state who provide needed perspective on the bills presented each year. AGCVA is tracking over 50 bills in 2024. 

A major focus this year is finding reasonable reform to the procurement statute.

AGCVA led a broad coalition of stakeholders that included ABC-VA, higher education, localities, architects, engineers, along with a growing list of others. Please click here for a comparison and details about the bills that we support and those that we oppose. This coalition’s recommendations most closely align with the DGS public procurement workgroup that met over the summer. These recommendations reflect months of consensus building and compromise to find reasonable reform that would increase transparency in determining the project delivery method, maintain market fairness, and create an even playing field between DBB and CM/DB delivery methods. Additionally, it places a focus on project complexity to the required annual DGS reports, posting on eVa the procurement documents, subcontracting opportunities, and scoring criteria.

We also continue to support bills that increase funding for Career and Technical Education (CTE) and reduce regulatory burdens on contractors. 

We oppose bills that increase the regulatory burden on contractors and bills that tie things to public procurement that do not have to do with the contractor’s ability to construct a building.

AGCVA’s voice was strengthened this year with 50 members from across the state attending Construction Day on the Hill. This was one of the most highly attended in recent history and included CTE advisors, instructors, and students. This event provided us a chance to meet with legislators and share information and perspective on issues facing the construction industry. These conversations with legislators reinforced the advocacy efforts being led by Brandon and Williams Mullen. I thank everyone that attended; the day got off to an early start with meetings starting at 7:30 a.m. 

A highlight of the day was hearing a keynote address from the governor over lunch during which he expressed his fervent support for small business and workforce development.

Members that attended were encouraged to stay connected with their legislators throughout the year. I would encourage all members to contact your legislators and attend upcoming AGCVA legislative events.

You can stay informed on the latest by viewing Brandon’s weekly video updates found in the Five on Friday newsletter. Additionally, we will provide an in-depth report on the latest status of bills and AGCVA’s advocacy efforts during AGCVA’s convention in February.

Another opportunity to support AGCVA’s voice are through action alerts. These are a great tool. When an issue arises, AGCVA will email you with information and the opportunity to send a pre-written message directly to your legislators. If you are already signed up, please act quickly when you receive them. If you have not yet signed up, please do so now. Legislators track responses asking for their support of or opposition to bills. As both a constituent and an industry expert, your input makes a significant impact. Click here to take action on our latest alert addressing reasonable procurement reform.

As always, I encourage you to support the AGCVA PAC. With over 40% of the General Assembly members being newly elected, your support is critical.

Will you be joining us at the 2024 AGCVA Convention? Registration remains open until February 12, 2024. As this video explains, we moved the convention to February this year to allow our focus to remain on our advocacy efforts. Connecting with members across the state is something that I enjoy the most each year as well as getting to meet new members and young leaders. We have some exceptional subject-matter experts leading session that address some of the top issues impacting our industry. Please review the list of generous sponsors and take a minute to thank them.

If you should still need some inspiration to register please check out our latest video.

This time of year, advocacy receives a great deal of focus. However, AGCVA is working for you in a multitude of ways all year long. I encourage you to engage and leverage the full value of your AGCVA membership.

I look forward to seeing you soon.