At the AGC Annual Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, the Highway and Transportation Division by acclamation elected Jeff Firth as Chairman for 2023-2024. Jeff is the Vice President of Hamilton Construction, in charge of company operations and contract management. With over 27 years of estimating, engineering, and project management experience on complex, heavy civil bridge and highway projects in Oregon and Washington, Jeff provides critical executive oversight on Hamilton’s most complex and demanding projects, as well as insight on elements of open-book accounting, value-engineering, preconstruction technical approach and management.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) waiver on “construction materials” under the Build America, Buy America Act (BABAA) quickly approaches the November 10, 2022 expiration date and, as a result, DOT has recently published two proposed waivers with far smaller scopes. The newly published waivers clarify that the general “construction materials” waiver expiring this Thursday will not be extended and instead propose to waive the domestic preference requirements for specific situations.
Covered Employers Required by Law to Display Poster at Work Site
93 Percent of Construction firms have reported that they are experiencing material shortages and/or allocations.
During the week of July 25, the House and Senate passed AGC-backed legislation—the CHIPS Act of 2022—that will provide $39 billion for the building, improvement, and expansion of semiconductor manufacturing plants across the nation.
On July 26, top OSHA officials—including OSHA head Douglas Parker—met with AGC in conjunction with the association’s Construction Safety, Health & Environmental Conference in Washington, D.C. George Palko, AGC’s Highway and Transportation Division Chair, represented the group at this meeting. Robust conversations were held on the regulatory landscape facing construction contractors, including a future OSHA rulemaking on establishing a national heat standard. AGC contractors had the opportunity to impart real-world impacts of OSHA’s National Emphasis Program on Outdoor and Indoor Heat-Related Hazards, including the 80 degree trigger, reduced work days to allow acclimatization for new workers and those returning from vacation, and body temperature and heart rate monitoring.
On July 27, the Department of Transportation (USDOT) published a Request for Information on the Build America, Buy America Act (BABA) requirements included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that specified a new category of construction materials used for projects be produced in the United States. Specifically, they are asking:
On April 28, the Department of Transportation (DOT) published a request for comment on proposing to issue a transitional waiver to comply with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s new Buy America requirements. Here’s what to know:
The $1.2 trillion bipartisan Infrastructure and Jobs Act (IIJA) included the “Build America, Buy America Act” which applies a domestic preference to all taxpayer-funded infrastructure projects. The Office of Management and Budget released new guidance on these rules on April 18th, 2022. The new guidelines are meant to assist federal agencies in the application of “Buy America” requirements and the waiver processes for all federally funded infrastructure projects and not just those funded by the IIJA. The requirements are currently set to be in effect starting May 14th.
Joins the Growing Chorus of Bipartisan Opposition to the Memo