On November 8, federal construction contractors descended on Washington, D.C., to meet with major federal construction agencies and members of Congress at the AGC Federal Contactors Conference. Representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, General Services Administration, and Small Business Administration, participated, with several agencies making significant announcements about their respective programs. Among the discussions included the new federal contractor vaccine mandates, challenges surrounding construction material price inflations, the recently passed bipartisan infrastructure bill, and ways the industry and federal agencies can work together to meet the challenges and deliver projects in a safe and efficient manner. Presentations and other information from the conference were made available to attendees. For more information, please contact Jordan Howard at Jordan.Howard@agc.org or (703) 837-5368.

 

After months of internal review, the Department of Defense announced it will make significant changes to the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program, now called CMMC 2.0. Among these changes are: reducing the number of companies that would require a 3rd party assessment, reducing the CMMC rating from 5 levels to 3 levels, suspending CMMC pilot programs until a final regulation, allowing for annual self-assessments for certain levels, and bringing back Plans of Action and Milestone (POAM). These changes were met with opposition from some stakeholders who argue that these changes are counter to DoD policies and President Biden’s recent Executive Orders increasing cybersecurity reporting requirements for businesses. AGC has communicated the difficulty many contractors have had implementing these new cybersecurity requirements and the challenges the CMMC model brings. DOD acknowledges the challenge of being 100% compliant with CMMC, but suggest a firm’s “policies, plans, processes, and procedures” may offset the need for full compliance. AGC will continue to follow this issue and will update members as development grows. For more information, contact jordan.howard@agc.org or (703) 837-5368.

 

On November 5, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) officially published its long anticipated COVID-19 vaccination and testing emergency temporary standard (ETS). AGC and other construction industry allies are preparing to see OSHA in court to defend the industry’s interests. In the meantime, to help AGC members digest this 490-page ETS, the association compiled a construction industry-oriented summary found HERE. In addition, AGC held a webinar series covering the practical, contractual, and outside solutions AGC members may want to consider. For more information, please contact Kevin Cannon at kevin.cannon@agc.org or Nazia Shah at nazia.shah@agc.org.