Good News for Direct Federal Contractors in FY 2018 Funding Bill

The FY 2018 federal government funding bill provides good news for direct federal contractors. Specifically, Army, Navy and Air Force military construction accounts would each see increases under the proposal compared to the previous fiscal year. The funding bill provides a total of $10.1 billion – an increase of $2.4 billion or roughly a 31 percent – for military construction over FY 2017 levels. The bill also provides $1.4 billion to fund construction and maintenance for military family housing.

Turning to the Army Corps’ Civil Works Program, the funding bill would provide $6.83 billion, an increase of $789 million from FY 2017 appropriated funding, and a 36 percent increase above the president’s FY 2018 budget request. The Construction account is allocated $2.085 billion, more than a doubling the president’s budget request. Additionally, the bill would allot $1.4 billion in funding from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund and full use of estimated annual revenues from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund, with at least $399 million for use on navigation projects in FY 2018.

Overall, construction funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) remain flat, slightly below FY 2017 levels. The VA’s major and minor construction accounts would receive $855 million--$512 million for major construction and $343 million for minor construction. General Services Administration receives roughly $700 million for the agency’s construction accounts.

For more information, contact Jordan Howard at Jordan.Howard@agc.org.