THE LATEST: The Biden administration has issue a new regulation mandating that every general contractor and subcontractor engage in negotiation or agree to project labor agreements (PLAs) on federal construction projects valued at $35 million or more with limited exceptions.

WHY IT MATTERS: Government-mandated PLAs hurt union contractors, open-shop contractors, and fail to promote economy and efficiency in federal procurement.

Tell Congress to pass the Fair and Open Competition Act to prevent federal agencies and recipients of federal assistance from mandating that contractors sign a PLA as a condition of winning a federal or federally assisted, taxpayer-funded construction contract.

OUR POSITION: AGC of America neither supports nor opposes contractors’ voluntary use of PLAs on government projects or elsewhere but strongly opposes any government mandate for their use. The association is committed to free and open competition for publicly funded work and has long maintained that the federal government should not mandate PLAs.

MORE INFO: AGC, through its Construction Advocacy Fund, have filed a lawsuit in federal court to block the Administration’s unlawful effort to mandate PLAs. AGC's 2022 survey showed that nearly three-quarters of federal contractors would stop bidding on federal projects if the Administration followed through on its plans to impose government-mandated PLAs. Moreover, an AGC analysis of data obtained via a Construction Advocacy Fund-financed lawsuit found that the Department of Defense’s federal construction agencies rejected PLA mandates 99.4% of the time even when encouraged to do so under the Obama administration. The data AGC obtained disprove and undermine the reasoning set forth by the Biden administration that government-mandated PLAs promote economy and efficiency for federal construction projects.

WHAT TO DO: Urge your members of Congress to cosponsor and support the Fair and Open Competition Act (H.R. 1209 / S. 537) and stop government-mandated PLAs.