USACE Project Labor Agreement Survey for Beach Repairs in Cape May County, New Jersey, Due Nov. 12

0 November 6, 2013  Federal Construction

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Philadelphia District is soliciting comments from the construction community about the potential use of a government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) on a federal construction contract to repair beaches impacted by Hurricane Sandy from Great Egg Harbor Inlet to Townsends Inlet in Cape May County, New Jersey.

NAP USACETo review the survey and see how to respond to it, click here.

Please provide your survey response via email to USACE Contract Specialist Emily Giardino ([email protected]) no later than 4:00 P.M. (EST) on Tuesday, November 12, 2013.

For more information or assistance responding to the PLA survey, contact TheTruthAboutPLAs.com here.

USACE and other federal agencies have issued more than 175 similar surveys requesting information about the potential use of PLAs on specific construction projects across the country as a result of regulations and federal agency policies stemming from President Obama’s pro-government-mandated PLA Executive Order 13502, which encourages federal agencies to mandate PLAs on a case-by-case basis for federal construction projects exceeding $25 million in total cost.

TheTruthAboutPLAs.com has taken the opportunity to respond to all PLA surveys as they are issued and encourages the merit shop contracting community to do the same. Responding with accurate and timely information is critical to creating more work for qualified merit shop contractors and their skilled employees.

A PLA mandate on this project could needlessly cause delays and increase costs.

In October 2010, the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development released its FY 2008 report measuring the impact of PLA mandates on New Jersey school construction projects. It found:

  • “PLA projects tended to have a longer duration than non-PLA projects.” For FY 2008, the average duration of PLA projects was 100 weeks compared with 78 weeks for non-PLA projects.
  • “School projects that used a PLA tended to have higher building costs, as measured on a per-square footage and per-student basis, than those that do not use a PLA.” In fact, they are 30.5 percent higher than for all non-PLA projects.

The findings of former Gov. Jon Corzine’s Labor Department echoed the data from Gov. Christie’s administration, finding PLAs hiked up school construction costs by as much as 34 percent.

While this project is obviously different than school construction, data specific to New Jersey—where nearly three out of four construction workers do not belong to a union—makes a strong case against a government-mandated PLA on this project.

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