On April 22, 2009, AGC CEO Steve Sandherr and AGC General Counsel Mike Kennedy met with senior acquisition officials at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to discuss AGC concerns with the Obama Administration’s Executive Order 13502, “Relating to the Use of Project Labor Agreements for Federal Construction Projects,” which rescinded the Bush Administrations’ prohibition on Project Labor Agreements. 

In a letter sent to EPA on March 3, 2009, AGC noted that the order does not mandate PLAs, rather it merely encourages agencies to consider project labor agreements on a case-by-case basis for projects exceeding $25 million in total cost to the federal government.  AGC has outlined numerous concerns with any government mandates that would serve as the functional equivalent of “union only” policies.

In the meeting, EPA acknowledged that it does not directly contract a substantial amount of construction and is not currently exploring the use of PLAs either for its directly procured federal programs such as the Superfund hazardous waste remediation program or in federally-assisted construction programs, such as the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund programs. EPA officials also indicated that they are waiting for further guidance from the Office of Management and Budget on FAR guidance that will accompany the Executive Order before they make any additional determinations.

AGC will discuss this topic further at the 2009 Federal Contractors Conference during the Federal Owners Advisory Council roundtable discussion.  This event features discussions on federal contracting topics with AGC leaders and representatives from 18 federal agencies. In addition to the April 22 meeting with the EPA, AGC has requested one on one meetings with all federal agencies that fund construction activities.

The U.S. Department of the Interior has published its complete project list which represents $750 million in Stimulus funds.  Projects include but are not limited to new buildings, to  HVAC upgrades, energy efficiency projects, wastewater systems, hiking trails, fencing, photovoltaic systems, pipeline replacement, paving  and roadwork.

Agencies under the jurisdiction of Interior include the Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Park Service.

For a complete listing of projects by State please visit http://recovery.doi.gov/docs/nps/nps_state_projects.pdf.

For additional information on Interior’s Recovery agenda please visit http://recovery.doi.gov/nps/

On April 16, 2009 the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) announced the recipients of its 2009 State Damage Prevention Grant Awards. The purpose of these grants is to establish comprehensive State programs designed to prevent damage to underground pipelines in States that do not have such programs and to improve damage prevention programs in States.

AGC of America participated in the grant review process with the National Association of Pipeline Safety Representatives (NAPSR), the National Utility Contractors Association (NUCA), representatives of State One Call centers, the American Gas Association (AGA), the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA), the Association of Oil Pipe Lines (AOPL) and PHMSA.

The review team evaluated applications based on the five (5) criteria listed below. The criteria were weighted in the following order: criterion 1 was most heavily weighted, criterion 2 was second most heavily weighted, criteria 3 and 4 were weighted equally and were third most heavily weighted, and criterion 5 was fourth most heavily weighted.

(1) Quality of the Damage Prevention Program. The team evaluated the quality of State damage prevention programs against the 9 elements as listed above and in Section 2 of the PIPES Act of 2006.

(2) Jurisdiction of Civil Penalty. The team evaluated whether State damage prevention programs have the authority under State law to assess civil penalties for violations of the State’s One Call laws and a demonstrated ability to exercise such authority; or alternatively, a commitment to seek action from the State legislature to obtain civil enforcement authority.

(3) Outreach and Participation. The team evaluated whether State damage prevention programs demonstrate a commitment to being inclusive of all stakeholders.

(4) Education. The team evaluated whether State damage prevention programs have programs to educate the public and other parties who can benefit from, or who are essential to, the success of the Statewide damage prevention program, including use of the 811 system.

(5) Program Performance. The team evaluated whether State damage prevention programs have a means to measure the effectiveness of their programs and disseminate this information to the appropriate stakeholders.

Recipients of the 2009 grants include the Arizona Corporation Commission, Utility Notification Center of Colorado, Georgia Public Service Commission, Indiana 811, Kansas Corporation Commission, Minnesota Department of Public Safety, New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission, New Mexico Pipeline Safety Bureau, Dig Safely New York, Inc., Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Tennessee Regulatory Authority, Railroad Commission of Texas.

For more information on PHMSA and what the 2009 recipients plan to do with their grant awards please click here.

For additional information contact Perry L. Fowler at fowlerp@agc.org

National Safe Digging Month is here and there is still time to maximize exposure and generate awareness of the 811 message. With spring projects underway, it’s more important than ever to get the safe digging message out!

Click here to view the latest CGA Newsletter with information about how you can participate in National Safe Digging Month and read about how Texas Excavation Safety Systems conveyed the importance of using 811 to locate underground utilities in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike in Galveston, Texas.

In a move that stands to create and sustain thousands of jobs while improving aging water infrastructure, protecting the environment and promoting public health, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded the first round of its $6 billion in Stimulus funds for water infrastructure which were included in the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009.

To date over $2 billion has been released to the following states’ State Revolving Funds and Tribal Governments to finance Clean Water and Drinking Water Infrastructure projects. 

Please click on the state name below to view the EPA press release. Click on the dollar total to relevant view state programs including projects lists where available.

Clean Water State Revolving Funds:

Florida                  $132.286 million               

Kentucky             $49.878 million

Michigan              $168.509 million

Nebraska             $20.045 million

New York            $430 million

North Carolina   $70.729 million

West Virginia     $48.8 million

Drinking Water State Revolving Funds:

Idaho                    $19.5 million

Kansas                  $19.5 million

Kentucky             $20.45 million

Michigan              $67.454 million

Nebraska             $19.5 million

Maine                   $19.5 million

North Carolina   $65.625 million

Oregon                 $28.515 million

Vermont              $19.5 million

Washington        $41.8 million

Tribal Government Assistance

EPA Region 6      $565 million

(Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas)

EPA Region 10   $297 million

(Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington)

For additional information on these programs and other infrastructure programs receiving funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment act please visit AGC’s website.

According to the notice, (during the crafting of stimulus language) "States and utilities increasingly reported that action on eligible projects that State SRFs wished to support and for which there was available funding under the base SRF program were being deferred, in the hope of obtaining more advantageous financing terms from the ARRA appropriation. In part because this deferral of financing and construction for genuinely ''shovel ready" projects was in direct conflict with the most fundamental economic recovery purposes of ARRA, Congress adopted this refinancing provision to enable eligible projects which began creating jobs after October 1, 2008, to receive ARRA funding to recognize and support those projects'."

EPA further states in the notice that many of the water projects that are candidates for refinancing may have contracted for non-U.S. steel or other components under the original financing before the Recovery Act was enacted Feb. 17. As a result, EPA has issued the waiver of the Buy American provision to avoid interfering with the refinancing provisions concluding that delaying "shovel ready" projects "would be inconsistent with the public interest."

EPA is still working on developing its final guidance for State recipients of SRF funds in order to comply with updated guidance from OMB which was released by on April 3, 2009 containing further details on "Buy American" and other significant issues with respect to adherance with international trade agreements, reporting job creation and other important infrastructure components of the stimulus.  

For a complete copy of the EPA waiver notice click here.

For a complete copy of OMB Guidance released on April 3, 2009 click here.

For additional information contact Perry L. Fowler at fowlerp@agc.org.