Save $75 on Registration Fee; Held May 10-11 in DC
Register before January 31 for the 2016 ѻý Federal Contractors Conference (FEDCON) and save $75 off the registration fee. FEDCON—held May 10-11 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C.—is the premier conference for federal construction contractors to discuss 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.
Passage Expected Before Christmas
On Wednesday, Congressional leaders released a $1.1 trillion omnibus appropriations bill that will fund federal agencies and programs for the remainder of fiscal year (FY) 2016. Overall, the bill includes mostly good news for construction accounts, as many see increases compared to FY 2015 levels and others receive significantly smaller cuts than Congress initially wanted. The omnibus bill provides nearly $121 billion for federal construction accounts as tracked by ѻý. This is an increase of approximately $8 billion from fiscal year 2015 and $15 billion less than the administration’s fiscal year 2016 budget request. To give time for passage of this final spending package, Congress passed another short-term funding bill—called a continuing resolution—that will fund the government through Dec. 22. The House is expected to pass the omnibus bill on Friday, with a vote in the Senate to follow shortly thereafter.
Contact Your Senators & Ask Them to Support the FAST Act
This afternoon by a vote of 359-65 passed the conference report to HR. 22, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, which is the first long-term transportation bill in more than a decade. The Senate is now expected to take up the FAST Act and, if they are successful in clearing potential procedural votes, they will vote on final passage later this evening. Please visit Hardhats for Highways and urge them to support the FAST Act when it comes to the Senate floor for a vote. Please also take a moment to thank your Representative for their support of the bill. If the Senate is able to pass the bill this evening, it appears the president will sign it prior to the expiration of the current extension tomorrow.
Prior to Thanksgiving, the president signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act of FY 2016 (NDAA Bill), which includes several ѻý-backed federal procurement reform provisions that will help prevent individual surety fraud, allow joint ventures to submit individual businesses’ relevant past performance evaluations as part of their proposals—not merely the relevant past performance of the joint venture itself—and fix a recent court decision that would have required small business construction contractors to purchase all their materials and supplies from other small businesses.
Congress Drafting an End-of-Year Funding Bill
Last week, ѻý sent a letter to congressional leaders and members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees detailing the construction industry’s priorities for the fiscal year 2016 funding bill. In the letter, ѻý urges appropriators to prioritize infrastructure investment and pro-infrastructure policies, which include prohibiting implementation of a number of regulations like the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ “Waters of the U.S.” rule, the Federal Acquisition Regulation Council and Department of Labor’s Blacklisting proposed rule, and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s local hiring initiatives for federal-aid highway and transit projects.
Contact your Congressmen and Tell Them to Support a Long-Term Bill
This week, select members of the House and Senate –called conferees – began negotiations on resolving the differences between the two chambers’ long-term highway & transit bills. However, with funding levels and duration yet to be agreed upon, negotiations are off to a slow start, which could result in yet another short-term extension if Congress does not reach a deal by November 20. ѻý – along with our members and chapters – has been a leader in the reauthorization process and advocated for the construction industry’s priorities in a letter to all conferees, detailing which provisions and policies should be included in a final transportation bill. Please visit Hardhats for Highways and send a letter to your members of Congress, urging them to support a long-term highway & transit bill.
As previously reported by ѻý, the Bipartisan Budget Act was a two-year budget agreement that Present Obama signed into law on Nov. 2. The bill included a provision that repeals the prohibition against adjusting the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) civil penalties for inflation. Unlike other similar federal civil penalties – which are covered by the Federal Civil Penalties Adjustment Act of 1990 – the OSHA civil penalties have been explicitly exempted from inflation since 1990. This means that OSHA penalties will now increase for the first time in 25 years.
ѻý Federal Procurement Priorities to Become Law
Both the House (last week) and Senate (this week) overwhelmingly passed the National Defense Authorization Act of FY 2016 (NDAA Bill), a bill the president vetoed just two weeks ago. The president is expected to sign the bill into law as a result of the bipartisan budget agreement reached two weeks ago. Compared to the vetoed version of the bill, this NDAA bill has slightly lower levels of spending for Department of Defense programs.
ѻý was instrumental in advancing the debate for a private activity bond (PAB) provision during the debate on the surface transportation reauthorization and funding measure last week in the House. The Performance Based Building Coalition is promoting the creation for a new category of Exempt Facility Bonds for public buildings (e.g. courthouses and universities) that would utilize public-private partnerships (P3s) to advance public projects and unlock the doors for private investment in our nation’s public building infrastructure.
Extension Through Nov. 20
This week saw significant progress in moving a multi-year highway & transit bill. Following passage of the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2015 (STRRA) in the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee last week, the full House is expected to consider the bill next week.