ż submitted comments to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) on its fourth solicitation for the Every Day Counts (EDC) initiative. ż supported the Administration’s proposal to include construction partnering in the initiative, demonstrating past success through partnering and emphasizing the need for renewed focus as partnering with certain state DOTs has become too routine and has lost its effectiveness.
Yesterday, Transportation & Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) introduced the Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization (AIRR) Act of 2016. The bill would authorize programs run by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) through fiscal year 2022. The FAA has been operating under a number of short-term extensions with the current one expiring on March 31. The bill includes provisions closely tracked by ż including airport infrastructure funding and financing, and the regulation of the commercial use of drones.
ż’s 97th Annual Convention will be held March 9-11, 2016 in San Antonio, Texas. Please visit meetings.agc.org/convention for registration information. Below is a preview of the Utility Infrastructure, Federal & Heavy Construction, and Highway & Transportation Division meetings.
Save $75 on Registration Fee; Held May 9-11 in DC
Register on or before February 12 for the 2016 ż 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.
Rules Impact Direct-Federal Contractors
Snow can close the federal government, but it does not stop the federal regulatory machine. The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council and U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently issued final and proposed rules, respectively, that impact direct-federal construction contractors.
In its first analysis of the Highway Trust Fund, following passage of the long-term highway & transit bill known as the FAST Act, the Congressional Budget Office reports that in fiscal year 2021 (the last year of the act’s authorization) the trust fund balance will be zero and that the government will need $113 billion in additional revenue to maintain funding for the ensuing six years. This analysis vividly demonstrates the challenges facing federal surface transportation programs in the future.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its Clean Watersheds Needs Survey, a collaboration between EPA, states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and other U.S. territories to compile the monetary needs of treatment, transportation, and management of the nation’s wastewater and stormwater. The survey identifies $271 billion over the next five years needed to maintain and improve this critical segment of infrastructure and is likely to be a conservative estimate.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) sent a letter on Jan. 8 to its state field offices directing them to comply with a provision (section 192) in the fiscal year 2016 Omnibus Appropriations Act –signed into law in December 2015 – requiring states to certify that three conditions have been satisfied on each federally assisted highway project before it can allow the use of contract provisions that specify a “geographic, economic, or any other hiring preference.” The three conditions states must certify are present before using a local hire preference include:
Congress’s repeated failure to increase the federal gas tax has resulted in eighteen states enacting laws to increase or reform their taxes to provide additional funding for transportation infrastructure since 2013. The recently signed-into-law transportation bill, the FAST Act, does provide five years of slightly increased funding for federal-aid highway and transit programs but fails to address the long-term solvency of the Highway Trust Fund – continuing to place the burden on states to find additional funding for transportation infrastructure.
The fiscal year (FY) 2016 omnibus appropriations bill, passed by Congress at the end of December, includes a provision allowing states to use federal-aid highway funding that was previously earmarked for specific projects to be used for other projects located nearby. Specifically, the provision allows states to transfer funding authority from projects that had funds earmarked 10 or more years ago but have used less than 10 percent of their dedicated funds, to other projects within a 50 mile radius. The Federal Highway Administration reports that Congress has allocated funding for more than 6,700 projects that was never used. Of that number, approximately 1,300 projects meet the 10 year/10 percent requirement with approximately $2.1 billion in funding still available. According to the Eno Transportation Weekly publication, the $2.1 billion of budget authority for highway projects will result in $500 million in new outlays in fiscal year 2016 and another $1.4 billion over the following seven years. States have up to three years to reprogram the earmarked funds or they are lost forever.