Court rules Biden’s Project Labor Agreement Policy is illegal
By Dakota Smith | Originally posted on woodworkingnetwork.com
WASHINGTON — Associated Builders and Contractors have reported on a decision from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims that rules in favor of ABC members that challenged former President Joe Biden’s controversial policy requiring project labor agreements on federal construction projects of $35 million or more.
Judge Ryan T. Holte’s Jan. 19 ruling responds to twelve bid protests filed by experienced ABC member federal contractors against three federal agencies that mandated PLAs in solicitations for construction services as a result of a Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council rule effective Jan. 22, 2024, implementing Biden’s Executive Order 14063.
The Biden policy has been widely criticized by the construction industry, taxpayers, and lawmakers for inflating construction costs and steering contracts to unionized firms and union labor at the expense of taxpayers and federal laws requiring fair and open competition.
“ABC and its federal contractor members are ecstatic that the judicial system has delivered justice for American taxpayers and the 90% of the U.S. construction industry workforce that is nonunion,” said ABC Vice President of Regulatory, Labor and State Affairs Ben Brubeck. “ABC members were harmed by former President Biden’s costly executive overreach, which violates federal laws and rewards special interests at the expense of fair and open competition.”
Department of Defense (DoD), General Services Administration (GSA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) received comments on the proposed rule from 8,334 respondents.
The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (the Councils) reviewed the public comments in the development of the final rule. A discussion of the comments and the changes made to the rule as a result of those comments can be found here.
“ABC will continue to advocate for inclusive solutions that result in cost savings, more jobs, and more opportunities for all qualified small, minority, and women-owned businesses and all American workers in the construction industry,” said Brubeck. “This lawsuit did not address additional Biden policies pushing PLAs on federally assisted infrastructure projects procured by local and state governments and private developers, so the fight will go on.”
On Jan. 9, ABC and twenty-four other construction and business groups in the Build America Local coalition sent a letter to President Donald Trump requesting an executive order that would restore fair and open competition on federal and federally assisted construction projects that would save taxpayers an estimated $10 billion annually.
