'Doesn't Sound Like A Very Good Deal For The Taxpayers': James Comer Hammers Biden's New PLA Rule

2 months ago

During a House Oversight Committee hearing prior to the Congressional recess, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) questioned witnesses about private businesses' rights under the Biden Administration's new project labor agreement (PLA) rules.

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Transcript

00:00Mr. Dreher, your testimony states that your firm, which is employee-owned, and I might

00:05add that's my favorite kind of ownership of any private business, just wants a fair opportunity

00:12to compete and win federal awards.

00:15But you say the administration's PLA mandate denies you and your employees that fair opportunity,

00:21and you're right.

00:22Even the Boston Globe editorial board last month wrote that, quote, although they don't

00:27say so explicitly, PLAs in effect limit public work only to firms whose workers belong to

00:32trade union, end quote.

00:34If your firm wants to continue to perform federal awards, you need to convince a union

00:38to which your employees do not belong to agree with you to work with you.

00:42Your testimony says this gives the union maximum leverage to dictate the terms to you.

00:47Is it accurate to say the PLA rule makes your firm hostage to outside labor unions since

00:53you can't perform federal projects unless you agree to cater to their terms?

00:58Absolutely.

01:00What sort of provisions harmful to nonunion contractors and their workforce might a PLA

01:06include?

01:07So just taking a step back, looking at the whole picture here, right, I think we can

01:12all agree that the industry's short over a half a million workers right now.

01:16And from 2009 to 2023, 12 out of 3,210 contracts had a PLA.

01:25We're not against PLAs.

01:26We don't want PLAs mandated.

01:29This industry needs fair and open competition.

01:32We have a lot of work to do, rebuilding our bridges, our highways, our naval infrastructure.

01:37And adding another roadblock in like this, mandating these requirements, it doesn't make

01:42sense.

01:43It doesn't help this country achieve its mission to improve our infrastructure.

01:47I agree completely.

01:49Mr. Brubeck, federal contracting professionals seem to think the project labor agreement

01:53mandates unwise since they choose to use them only on only 12 out of more than 3,000 construction

02:00solicitations since 2009, even when encouraged to use them by President Obama.

02:05So do you think these contracting officers will try to obtain case-by-case waivers from

02:11the PLA rule?

02:13Yes, they're going to try to do that.

02:14But the waiver process that's been constructed by the rule is actually a bad faith waiver

02:19process.

02:20I was talking to an Army Corps of Engineers executive procurement officer.

02:24They have to get a waiver by going all the way up to the senior procurement officer of

02:28the Army Corps of Engineers.

02:30This is a gentleman who oversees all procurement of missiles, weapons, tanks, all that stuff.

02:35It's not even the head of the construction side of the Army Corps of Engineers.

02:38By the time that goes all the way up the chain of command and back down, that project

02:42solicitation is going to be delayed immensely.

02:45It's designed to make sure there are no exceptions.

02:47We have not heard of any exceptions to this policy, despite the contracting officers

02:51asking for those or asking us to see if our litigation would be able to provide exception

02:55to this.

02:57Mr. Dreher testified that his firm, which has won many federal construction awards,

03:02won't be able to bid on many projects due to the PLA mandate.

03:05If an agency can show a solicitation, we'll get a lot fewer bids due to a PLA mandate.

03:11Does that qualify them for a waiver?

03:17Apparently the OMB memo says that if they get three or fewer bids, then they could qualify

03:23for a PLA exemption.

03:25But they have to go up to the senior contracting officer, procurement officer and ask for that.

03:29And then they have to justify that in a written report.

03:32The senior procurement officer's decision is going to be published on a public website

03:36for further scrutiny and perhaps intimidation.

03:39Have any waivers been issued since January?

03:41I'm not aware of it.

03:42I'm aware of about 50 solicitations in the pre-solicitation or solicitation phase that

03:46have PLA language.

03:47I'm not aware of one waiver being offered so far.

03:52Mr. Lude, your testimony states that the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority received

03:56only a single bid on the first Federal contract issued under the PLA rule.

04:02How many bids do you typically receive on projects?

04:05Yes, that's correct.

04:07We received a single bid on the West Shore project that had the PLA.

04:11We typically receive anywhere from four to five to even ten bids on large infrastructure

04:16projects.

04:17That doesn't sound like a very good deal for the taxpayers.

04:19That's right.

04:22Would you have to re-bid the project?

04:27At this time, we do not believe that the Corps will re-bid the project, no.

04:30So will the fact that you just got one bid, will that delay the timeline?

04:39Right now, we're working through that process with the Corps, so there's uncertainty as

04:42to how it will move forward.

04:44They're trying to award that project, but as soon as we get more information—

04:47Well, the Corps worked so quickly, I didn't know if—

04:50Yeah.

04:51Okay.

04:52Yeah.

04:53Well, hopefully, Madam Chair, I appreciate you holding this hearing.

04:56This is a serious issue, and hopefully we can figure a better way out.

05:03So with that, my time's expired.

'Doesn't Sound Like A Very Good Deal For The Taxpayers': James Comer Hammers Biden's New PLA Rule

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