During the week of June 10, NASBP attended two events hosted by our Construction Industry Procurement Coalition (CIPC) partners. On June 11 and 12, NASBP attended the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) Federal Contractor’s Conference. FEDCON is a premier event for the construction industry, connecting construction industry leaders with key federal agency policy officials. Among those federal agencies in attendance that presented were the General Services Administration (GSA), the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC), the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Topics addressed by the federal agencies included: an update on federally funded projects through the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (IIJA), the final regulation addressing Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) for federal construction projects at or above $35 million, as well as an update on requested funding for construction projects for FY2025.
On June 12, the American Subcontractors Association (ASA) hosted their legislative fly-in, where NASBP accompanied ASA members on several U.S. Senate and House visits to discuss top legislative priorities for both associations in 2024. You may recall NASBP and ASA entered an agreement in January to strengthen the alliance between the two associations, amplifying each organization's capabilities on surety and risk management initiatives and on advancing legislative and regulatory policies beneficial to subcontractor interests, including their access to bonding.
Pictured, from left, at an earlier event in May 2024, are ASA Director of Government Relations Mike Oscar; Construction Procurement Caucus Co-Chair and U.S. Representative Pete Stauber (R-MN-8); and NASBP Director of Government Relations Larry LeClair.
NASBP accompanied ASA members to a number of offices, including U.S. Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ), U.S. Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI), U.S. House of Representative Mike Bost (R-IL), as well as U.S. House and Senate Small Business Committee offices. Issues raised included H.R. 1740 (Bost-IL)/S.2928 (Kelly-AZ), legislation to require payment/performance security for loans/grants for the Water Infrastructure Finance Innovation Act (WIFIA), and H.R. 2726 (Stauber-MN), the Small Business Payment for Performance Act of 2023, which requires prompt payment to contractors for change orders. ASA Fly-in attendees asked for support for these legislative priorities in the nearly 50 congressional offices they visited.
Pictured are ASA fly-in attendees with U.S. Representative Pete Stauber (R-MN-8), seated far left.