America transports $180 billion worth of freight across 38 states on inland waterways. However, as 鶹Ƶhas long advocated, the nation’s inland waterway infrastructure system needs adequate investment to keep up with freight demand. USA Today underscored that point in an article this week . As the article notes, “inadequate investment led to nearly 80,000 hours of lock outages in fiscal 2010, four times more than in fiscal 2000.” To view the article, click here.
Last week, the House of Representatives approved the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2013 with a host of small business contracting reforms attached to the measure. The reforms 鶹Ƶsupported and advocated for include:
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday approved President Obama’s choice to be administrator of the White House Office of Federal Procurement Policy.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee yesterday approved legislation with bipartisan support to prohibit the collection of political contribution information from bidders for government contracts. The bill, S. 1100, Keeping Politics out of Federal Contracting, is cosponsored by 22 senators.
House Panel Approves Measure Expanding U.S. Contractor Preference for Overseas Military Construction
The House Appropriations Committee yesterday approved a provision expanding opportunities for U.S. contractors bidding on international military construction projects within the U.S. Central Command Area of Responsibility.
鶹Ƶand the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) met this week with House Leadership staff to discuss legislation that would severely restrict federal agency participation in conferences hosted by private organizations. Aside from ASAE, 鶹Ƶwas the only other organization there to fight for continued open discussion with federal agency representatives at private industry conferences and meetings.
The House Appropriations Committee yesterday passed a funding bill that would cut military construction and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) construction accounts. Military construction received $2.6 billion less than in the current fiscal year, largely due to already-planned reductions and pauses in construction. Meanwhile, the VA’s major projects construction account sees a $57 million decrease in FY2013 when compared to FY2012. However, on a more positive note, the bill increases the VA’s minor projects construction account by $125 million next fiscal year.
Today, Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) offered an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2013 (H.R.4310) that would prohibit the federal government from mandating the use of a project labor agreement (PLA) or favoring a contractor because of the signing of a project labor agreement (PLA). AGC sent a letter to the House today in support of the amendment. The vote passed (211-209) mostly along party lines with most republicans supporting it and all but one democrat opposing.
The U.S. Senate recently confirmed Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick as U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' 53rd commanding general. Previously, Lt. Gen. Bostick served as Deputy Chief of Staff, G-1, U.S. Army. In April 2011, the U.S. Defense Department announced his nomination to the rank of Lieutenant General as well as his assignment as Commanding General, Corps of Engineers and Chief Engineer of the U.S. Army.
The House Armed Services Committee today approved the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2013 with a host of small business contracting reforms attached to the measure. The reforms 鶹Ƶsupported and advocated for include: