ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ

Yesterday, the House passed H.R. 3547, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014, by a vote of 359 - 67.  This evening the Senate passed the bill by a vote of 72-26.  The bill comes after Congress failed to pass any of the 12 appropriations bills for fiscal year (FY) 2014.  ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ advocated for the passage of the bill to ensure predictability for FY 2014 federal construction programs. The legislation – which ends four years of Congress funding government agencies through a series of stopgap spending bills and funding extensions – sets  overall discretionary spending levels of $1.1 trillion as agreed to in the budget conference agreement.  These levels are $45 billion over levels that had been scheduled under automatic sequester spending cuts.

As of Dec. 26, 2013, a new clause will be added to all new direct-federal solicitations requiring prime contractors to make accelerated payments to small business subcontractors upon receiving an accelerated payment from the federal government. Prime contractors are required to flow down flow down the clause in subcontracts with other small businesses.

Only Dredging and Land Subdivision NAICS Codes Change As part of its ongoing comprehensive size standards review, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) published a final rule on construction industry size standards for small businesses on Dec. 23 of last year. The final rule increases only two of the 32 size standards for Construction North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes:

Prohibiting Reverse Auctions, Reforming Design-Build and Implementing Lower Tier Small Business Subcontractor Counting ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ will press for action on a host of direct-federal construction procurement initiatives in 2014, including: (1) prohibiting reverse auctions for construction services; (2) reasonably limiting single-step design-build procurements; (3) reasonably limiting second-step design-build finalists to three to five teams; and (4) reasonably implementing the allowance of prime contractors to count lower tier small business subcontractors towards their small business subcontracting goals. The first three initiatives are legislative and well-under way in Congress as a result of ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ advocacy efforts in 2013. The last initiative is regulatory and faces implementation through the U.S. Small Business Administration, after ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ successfully pressed for the small business reform before Congress in 2013.

WRDA Conference Committee Work Continues On Jan. 3, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) released a memorandum noting the House Leadership’s intent to hold a vote on a final bill Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) bill as soon as it is ready for consideration. Select members of the House and Senate—called conferees—have been working on resolving the discrepancies between the two chambers’ respective WRDA bills in a conference committee since late November. The short legislative schedule during the holiday season resulted in negotiations continuing into 2014. Please visit ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ’s Legislative Action Center and ask your members of Congress to support the construction industry’s priorities for the final WRDA bill. 

Recently, ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ sent a letter opposing the possible use of a project labor agreement (PLA) mandate posted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Wilmington District for the North Carolina/Virginia general construction multiple award task order contract.

President to Sign Law Allowing Prime Contractors to Count Lower-Tier Small Businesses On December 19, the Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act of 2014 (NDAA), which includes a critical ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ-supported small business reform.  The ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ-supported reform will allow prime contractors to count lower-tier small business contractors towards the prime contractor’s small business subcontracting goals. The current law only allows prime contractors to count first-tier small business subcontractors towards these goals.

President to Sign Law Allowing Prime Contractors to Count Lower-Tier Small Businesses On December 19, the Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act of 2014 (NDAA), which includes a critical ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ-supported small business reform.  The ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ-supported reform will allow prime contractors to count lower-tier small business contractors towards the prime contractor’s small business subcontracting goals. The current law only allows prime contractors to count first-tier small business subcontractors towards these goals.

Complementary Webinar: Dec. 19, 2013 l 2:00 - 3:30 p.m., EST Register now for this complimentary webinar that could help you expand your federal construction market opportunities. Congress recently expanded the federal Small Business Administration Mentor-Protégé program to all federal agencies and requires such programs to include all small businesses as protégés. In short this means more opportunities for more small businesses and non-small businesses to joint venture on federal small business-set aside work. The webinar will cover what your construction contracting company—whether a small business or large—should do to prepare for and take advantage of this program.

Yesterday, the House passed a compromise National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2014 by a vote of 350-69.  The NDAA includes an ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ-supported small business provision, known as the Lower Tiers measure, which will benefit all construction contractors.