Associated Builders and Contractors celebrated a Feb. 12 policy shift by the U.S. General Services Administration that will restore merit-based competition for infrastructure contracts to build land port of entry projects procured by the GSA.
“The GSA’s new policy eliminates former President Joe Biden’s controversial rule requiring anti-competitive, inflationary, union-favoring project labor agreements on federal construction projects of $35 million or more––but only for GSA solicitations to build critical land port of entry projects,” said Ben Brubeck, ABC vice president of regulatory, labor and state affairs.
“Requiring a PLA on LPOE projects would not advance the Federal Government’s interests in achieving economy and efficiency in Federal procurement because the need for LPOE modernizations is of an unusual and compelling urgency and requiring a PLA would be impracticable,” wrote GSA Senior Procurement Executive Chair Jeff Koses in the exception memo. “A current administration priority is to remedy the emergency on the United States borders.”
Koses is a member of the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council that issued a rule effective Jan. 22, 2024, implementing Biden’s Executive Order 14063 mandating PLAs on large-scale federal construction projects of $35 million or more.
The GSA’s abrupt policy change follows an announcement––celebrated by ABC––that the U.S. Department of Defense has halted PLA mandates on all military construction projects.
All other federal civilian agencies, including the remainder of GSA’s portfolio, are still subject to Biden’s harmful pro-PLA rule.
“ABC will continue to use successful litigation and advocacy strategies to restore merit-based fair and open competition in federal contracting so all Americans and all qualified construction firms can compete on a level playing field to build and rebuild America,” said Brubeck. “While we are pleased with the recent policy changes at the DOD and GSA, ABC will continue to urge adoption of pro-taxpayer policies governmentwide permanently.”
The Biden government-mandated PLA policy has been widely criticized by the construction industry, taxpayer watchdogs and lawmakers for needlessly inflating construction costs, delaying projects and effectively steering contracts to unionized firms and union labor at the expense of taxpayers and federal laws requiring fair and open competition.
“ABC has testified before Congress that, when mandated by government, PLAs increase construction costs by an estimated 12% to 20%, reduce competition from qualified contractors and their employees, steal money from the paychecks of token nonunion workers permitted on PLA projects and exacerbate the construction industry’s worker shortage,” said Brubeck. “Typical PLA mandates discourage competition from some of the best bidders and 9 out of 10 U.S. construction workers by forcing contractors to sign special union collective bargaining agreements, hire workers from union halls and apprenticeship programs and accept compulsory union representation on behalf of any members of their existing workforces. This exposes those workers to union wage theft of up to 34% of their compensation unless they join a union and vest in union benefits plans.”
On Jan. 9, ABC and 24 other construction and business groups in the Build America Local coalition sent a letter to President Donald Trump requesting an executive order that would eliminate the Biden PLA mandate and restore fair and open competition on federal and federally assisted construction projects, which would save taxpayers an estimated $10 billion annually.
ABC welcomed a Jan. 19 decision by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims that ruled in favor of experienced ABC members and other federal contractors that filed 12 bid protests against three federal agencies––including a successful protest against the GSA’s LPOE project in El Paso, Texas––that mandated PLAs in solicitations for construction services.
On March 28, 2024, ABC and its Florida First Coast chapter filed suit in federal court to block Biden’s PLA final rule. The case is fully briefed and plaintiffs are awaiting a decision on the overall case and a ruling on the motion for preliminary injunction filed in April.
Learn more at abc.org/bidenplafaqs and BuildAmericaLocal.com.
