Federal Contracting | The Truth About PLAs

House Defends Principles of Fair and Open Competition with Passage of Amendment Restricting Government-Mandated PLAs on NDAA Authorized Projects

May 21, 2012 – 12:23 pm

It was a historic week for the merit shop contracting community in the U.S. House of Representatives. Thursday, by a bipartisan vote of 211 to 209, the House passed an amendment offered by Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) and cosponsored by Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2013 [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged AGC, American Council of Engineering Companies, Business Coalition for Fair Competition (BCFC), Construction Industry Round Table, Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, House PLA Votes, Independent Electrical Contractors, Merit Elevator Contractors Association of America, National Association of Women in Construction, National Black Chamber of Commerce, National Federation of Independent Business, National Right to Work, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, Rep. Flake, Rep. Gingrey, Rep. Guinta, Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, Rep. Tim Walberg, Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, Sullivan, The Politics of PLAs, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Union-only PLAs harm local workers, Women Construction Owners and Executives | Comments (0)

U.S. House Appropriations Committee Passes Amendment Restoring Fair and Open Competition on MilCon/VA Construction Contracts

May 16, 2012 – 6:36 pm

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations on May 16 passed an amendment via voice vote to the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs (MilCon/VA) Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2013 that prevents federal agencies from requiring contractors to sign anti-competitive and costly project labor agreements (PLAs) as a condition of winning federal construction contracts. [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged AGC, American Council of Engineering Companies, Business Coalition for Fair Competition (BCFC), Construction Industry Round Table, Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, House PLA Votes, Independent Electrical Contractors, Merit Elevator Contractors Association of America, National Association of Women in Construction, National Black Chamber of Commerce, National Federation of Independent Business, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, Rep. Flake, Rep. LaTourette, Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Women Construction Owners and Executives | Comments (0)

Oklahoma Becomes 13th State to Ban PLA Mandates; State Leaders Continue to Stand Up for Free Enterprise

May 7, 2012 – 1:53 pm

On April 25, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin signed H.B. 3043, which bans wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreement (PLA) mandates on taxpayer-funded construction in the state. Oklahoma is the ninth state to ban these Big Labor handouts since January 2011, and the 13th state to do so overall. While Oklahoma does not have [...]

By Andy Conlin | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Executive Order 13502, Federal Contracting, Oklahoma, PLA Ban, PLAs Cut Competition, President Obama, Rep. Mary Fallin, State Legislation, Sullivan, YouCut | Comments (0)

GSA Wasted Millions on Union Handout: Where’s the Outrage?

April 10, 2012 – 1:30 pm

Eight senior U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) officials have been disciplined, fired or forced to resign since last Monday’s release of a scathing report by GSA Inspector General (IG) Brian Miller, whose staff spent a year reviewing waste, fraud and abuse related to $823,000 in spending to entertain 300 GSA employees at a regional conference held at [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1800 F Street, Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, GSA, Lafayette Building, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, Susan Brita | Comments (8)

Union Favor on Federal Construction Project in New Hampshire Draws Criticism

February 9, 2012 – 12:54 pm

This week, U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) grabbed headlines with her public opposition to President Obama’s discriminatory policy, Executive Order 13502, favoring union contractors and union members competing for federal construction contracts. In a press release and letter to the White House issued Monday, Sen. Ayotte asked President Obama to repeal his pro-union Executive Order 13502 and [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, Manchester, New Hampshire, New Hampshire Union Leader, PLAs, PLAs Cut Competition, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, protest, Rep. Bass, Rep. Guinta, Sen. Ayotte, Union-only PLAs harm local workers | Comments (0)

Construction Union Membership Near Historic Low

January 27, 2012 – 11:38 am

A new report released today by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicates that from 2010 to 2011, 874,000 workers in the private construction industry belonged to a union, the second lowest number of construction union members since BLS started tracking this information in 1973. According to BLS data, the construction industry [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, Union Membership Report | Comments (0)

President’s SOTU Remarks About Construction Industry Raise Questions

January 25, 2012 – 11:17 am

In last night’s State of the Union address, President Obama made some remarks about the construction industry: “Building this new energy future should be just one part of a broader agenda to repair America’s infrastructure. So much of America needs to be rebuilt. We’ve got crumbling roads and bridges. A power grid that wastes too [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, Section 7 | Comments (0)

Federal PLA on Navy Project in Washington Will Harm Local Construction Workforce and Procurement Efficiency

January 12, 2012 – 4:04 pm

Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Northwest has mandated a project labor agreement (PLA) on the construction of a $450 million to $550 million explosives handling wharf #2 (Solicitation No. N4425511R9004) at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in Washington. The PLA mandate harms Washington’s experienced and skilled nonunion construction workforce and will discourage competition from qualified contractors that have [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Corruption, Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, Kitsap Sun, Kitsap-Bangor, NAVFAC, Navy, PLA survey, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, Washington State | Comments (3)

Labor Department to Mandate Controversial Project Labor Agreement on Manchester Job Corps Center

December 29, 2011 – 4:56 am

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a pre-solicitation on Dec. 22, 2011, for a $20 million to $50 million DOL Job Corps Center in Manchester, New Hampshire, indicating the project will be subject to an anti-competitive and costly project labor agreement (PLA) mandated by the DOL. Bidding is open only to certified small business [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, GAO, H.R. 735, Legal Challenge, local, local hire, Manchester, New Hampshire, New Hampshire Union Leader, PLAs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, Rep. Bass, Rep. Guinta, S. 119, Sen. Ayotte, Take Action, Union-only PLAs harm local workers | Comments (0)

Navy and Army Corps of Engineers Request Feedback on Use of Project Labor Agreements for Federal Projects

December 16, 2011 – 12:16 pm

The Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) issued three surveys requesting information from the construction industry on the potential use of project labor agreements (PLAs) on projects in the San Diego region, where just last week San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) internal documents revealed how a new SDUSD PLA mandate policy is reducing competition and [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC California, California, Camp Pendleton, Cannon AFB, Clovis, Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, NAVFAC, Navy, New Mexico, PLA survey, PLAs, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, San Diego, US Army Corps of Engineers | Comments (0)