PLAs Under Review: USDOD Shifts Policy, Will Not Use PLAs in Contracts over $35M
WASHINGTON—Following a federal claims court judge ruling in January that the policy of collective bargaining agreements with labor organizations violated the “Competition in Contracting Act” comes word that the Department of Defense has rolled back an Executive Order by former President Biden that required Project Labor Agreements on federal contracts of $35 million or more.
The Department of Defense directive states, “Effective immediately, contracting officers shall not use project labor agreements for large-scale construction projects Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 22.5 and 36.104(c),” according to a Feb. 7 DoD memorandum. “Contracting officers shall amend solicitations to remove project labor agreement requirements, including any solicitation provisions and contract clauses prescribed at FAR 22.505.” The report was cited in Woodworking News.
The directive only covers the Department of Defense but there are fears other federal contracting agencies will follow suit.
On Jan. 19, Judge Ryan T. Holte of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruled in favor of federal contractors who challenged a requirement to enter into a collective bargaining agreement with labor organizations for all large-scale construction projects. However, despite his adverse ruling, Judge Holte did not issue an injunction barring PLAs on federal contracts.
Associated General Contractors of America’s CEO Jeffrey Shoaf said in a statement released on Feb. 11 that the U.S. Department of Defense announced it was issuing a class deviation dropping Project Labor Agreement requirements for its military construction solicitations and vowed to remove the same mandate on 12 projects that were the subject of a bid protest approach crafted at the behest of the association.