The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced that it has extended the pilot program allowing state and local governments to use geographic hiring preferences on their federal-aid highway contracts for five years. The announcement also applies to Federal Transit Administration (FTA) assisted contracts. AGC does not support the pilot program and was successful in keeping language out of the FAST Act that would have permanently removed a prohibition against local hire mandates for FHWA- and FTA- assisted contracts.
AGC was also successful in adding language to the FY 2016 Omnibus appropriations requiring states, in order to receive permission to use a local hire preference, to certify that there is a ready pool of unemployed individuals with the necessary skills to complete the project who reside in the jurisdiction, that the contractor would not be forced to lay off any current employees to meet the mandate, and that the cost of the construction would not increase. FHWA has kept this requirement in place in this latest extension of the pilot program.
For more information, contact Brian Deery at [email protected] or (703) 837-5319.