TechBrief

 

AGC and Procore announced during September's Annual Convention the launch of a new scholarship program to assist African-American and minority students studying construction fields at historically black colleges and universities, or HBCUs. The new scholarship is being made possible thanks to a $250,000 challenge gift from Procore that the association will now fundraise to meet and, hopefully, exceed. The scholarship program will be administered by the AGC Education & Research Foundation and is part of a broader effort by AGC to make the industry more diverse and inclusive.

 

Visit here to learn more about the scholarships and make your contribution today.

 

On October 14, AGC held a webinar—free for AGC members—with the prominent federal procurement law firm Crowell & Moring to run through the ins and outs of the federal contractor vaccine mandate from a construction contractor perspective. A recording of the webinar and its slides will be made available shortly. The General Services Administration also held its own webinar on October 13, the slides from which can be found HERE and a recording will be made available by the agency soon. For more information on how other federal agencies are addressing this mandate, click HERE. AGC is maintaining ongoing dialogue with many of the major federal construction agencies and will meet with them at the association’s Federal Contractors Conference November 8-9 in Washington, D.C. As with the OSHA ETS COVID-19 testing mandate, AGC similarly retained outside legal counsel weeks ago to evaluate legal options to challenge this requirement and has received a legal memorandum to guide the association’s actions.

 

The association and its members have encouraged voluntary COVID-19 vaccination for their employees since the vaccines became available. The construction industry has proven throughout the pandemic that it can work in a safe and essential manner. OSHA has previously deemed many construction activities as low exposure risks.

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

 

On October 12, the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) sent its draft emergency temporary standard (ETS) to the White House for review, a signal that a final ETS could be issued within a matter of days or weeks. The OSHA ETS will require all employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workforce is either fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or mandate that any workers who remain unvaccinated produce a negative test result on at least a weekly basis. AGC plans to meet with the White House to share a host of concerns about the ETS. It should be noted, however, that AGC engaged outside legal counsel weeks ago to provide a legal memorandum that identifies the standards that OSHA must meet to justify using the ETS process instead of the normal administrative procedures that are typically employed. After AGC reviews the final, published ETS, the association will measure it against its legal memorandum to determine whether a court challenge is warranted and evaluate our chances for success.

 

AGC and its members have encouraged voluntary COVID-19 vaccination for their employees since the vaccines became available. The construction industry has proven throughout the pandemic that it can work in a safe and essential manner. OSHA has previously deemed many construction activities as low exposure risks.

 

For more information, contact Kevin Cannon at kevin.cannon@agc.org or Nazia Shah at Nazia.shah@agc.org.

October 26 – December 7, 2021
8-Part Webinar Series: Hottest Tech Topics of 2021
2 – 4 p.m.

November 2, 2021
WebEd: Take Control of Projects Costs with Collaborative, Real-Time Cost Management
Sponsored by: Procore
2 – 3 p.m.

 

November 3-5, 2021
AGC/CFMA Construction Financial Management Conference
Las Vegas, Nevada

 

2 – 3 p.m.

 

November 8-9, 2021
Federal Contractors Conference
District of Columbia