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Associated Builders and Contractors has submitted more than 40 pages of comments to the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council calling on the Biden administration to withdraw a controversial proposed rule that would require anti-competitive and inflationary project labor agreements on federal construction contracts of $35 million or more.
ABC’s opposition is joined by more than 50 members of the U.S. Senate and House, and a urging the administration to withdraw President Biden’s Feb. 4 , the and additional policies promoting PLA mandates on federal and federally assisted construction projects. Government-mandated PLA schemes needlessly increase costs and exacerbate the construction industry’s skilled labor shortage of 650,000 because they exclude almost nine out of 10 of America’s construction workforce from participating in critical infrastructure projects.
“ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓcalls for the immediate withdrawal of this illegal proposed rule and its imposition of anti-competitive and inflationary government-mandated PLAs on federal contracts,” said Ben Brubeck, ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓvice president of regulatory, labor and state affairs. “PLA mandates undermine economy and efficiency in federal contracting, increase construction costs by 12% to 20%, create project delivery delays and discriminate against nonunion contractors and workers, who comprise 87.4% of the construction workforce.
“The Biden administration’s rule will only exacerbate significant headwinds the U.S. construction industry faces: severe supply chain disruptions, unprecedented materials cost inflation of 40.5% since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, declining investment and a widespread skilled workforce shortage,” said Brubeck. “ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓstrongly urges the FAR Council to immediately withdraw the proposed rule to efficiently provide taxpayers with the best possible construction product at the best possible price and provide all construction industry stakeholders with a fair opportunity to compete for taxpayer-funded construction projects.”
ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓidentified numerous problems with the proposed rule:
If finalized, this proposal will replace President Obama’s 2009 , which encourages, but does not require, federal agencies to mandate PLAs on large-scale federal construction projects exceeding $25 million in total value on a case-by-case basis, and permits states and localities to mandate PLAs on federally assisted projects. The Biden administration expects its proposed rule to affect about 120 federal contracts valued at $10 to $14 billion per year.
At least 2,500 ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓmember contractors across the country submitted comments opposed to this proposed rule during the 60-day comment period. According to a September 2022 survey of ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓcontractor members, 98% oppose this proposed rule. Additionally, 97% said a construction contract that required a PLA would be more expensive compared to a contract procured via fair and open competition, 99% said they were less likely to bid on a taxpayer-funded construction contract if the bid specifications required the winning firm to sign a PLA with labor unions and 97% of respondents said that government-mandated PLAs decrease economy and efficiency in government contracting.
ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓstrongly supports (S. 403/H.R. 1284), introduced by , R-Ind., and R-N.C, which prohibits government-mandated PLAs on federal and federally assisted projects and helps taxpayers get the best possible product at the best possible price.
Members of the U.S. and supportive of this legislation have written to the White House in opposition to anti-competitive pro-PLA policies championed by the Biden administration.
Currently, 24 states restrict government-mandated PLAs on state, state-assisted and local construction projects to some degree. Governors and, in April, on federally assisted construction projects through infrastructure .
To learn more about how corrupt government-mandated PLAs rig the competitive bidding process, hurt taxpayers and endanger plans to rebuild America’s infrastructure, visit .