Federal Contractor Report

 

Register today for the 2019 AGC Federal Contractors Conference taking place June 10-12, 2019, in Washington, D.C. This discount offer ends March 1 and space is limited. The Federal Contractors Conference discusses the latest projects, policies and contracting issues facing the industry with federal agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Naval Facility Engineering Command, Air Force Civil Engineer Center, General Services Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of State, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Bureau of Reclamation.

 

On Jan. 30, AGC urged members of the government funding bipartisan conference committee to reach a broad compromise and avert another government shutdown on Feb. 15. AGC recommended that a final deal should include funding and policies addressing the nation’s border security, immigration system and infrastructure needs. Specifically, components of such a deal should include an earned legal pathway toward legal status or citizenship for the 120,000 construction workers with Temporary Protected Status or in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, while also addressing border security. In addition, such a compromise should include 2018 disaster-aid infrastructure funding to help communities recover and rebuild as well as an additional $10 billion over FY 2017 levels for federal infrastructure programs as Congress promised in 2018.

For more information, contact Jimmy Christianson at christiansonj@agc.org or (703) 837-5325.

 

On February 18, the next Congressional district work week begins. During this time, AGC encourages you to meet with your Representatives and Senators to build stronger relationships and inform them about issues facing the construction industry. Meetings can include meetings in the member’s office, inviting them to a board meeting or having them tour a construction site to give them a hands-on learning experience. 

 

On Dec. 17, 2018, the Small Business Runway Extension Act (H.R. 6330), which modifies the method for assigning size standards for small businesses, was signed into law. The law modifies Small Business Administration (SBA) reporting requirements to allow businesses to report average earnings over the last five years, rather than three. As AGC has previously reported, the law will need to go through the usual public notice and comment process before small businesses will receive the full benefits of the expanded lookback period. The SBA has acknowledged that there has been some confusion as to whether the five year look back period is effective immediately. SBA recently issued an Information Notice to all of the agency’s Government Contracting and Business Development employees stating: “The change made by the Runway Extension Act is not presently effective and is therefore not applicable to present contracts, offers, or bids until implemented through the standard rulemaking process”… “Until SBA changes its regulations, businesses still must report their receipts based on a three-year average.”

 

As of Feb. 7, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires all contractors to evaluate crane operators under the new final rule regulating crane operator qualification and evaluation. AGC of America has spent nearly 16 years working with OSHA under three different presidential administrations to make this rule less burdensome and provide the greatest positive safety impact possible. Our mission to help AGC members does not stop when the ink dries on regulations impacting your construction company. We also want to help ensure you have the information necessary to comply. That is why we created valuable AGC educational resources.

 

On Feb. 6, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized its 2019 penalty rule that increased the maximum civil penalties per violation of an environmental statute or agency regulation. These annual adjustments are required by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Improvements Act of 2015.  Below are the new 2019 penalty maximum levels to account for inflations. In practice, fines tend to track the perceived or actual economic benefit derived from the violation(s) – consistent with applicable EPA penalty policies.