The General Services Administration admitted it made a mistake when it placed a non-competitive, cost-raising, union-pleasing Project Labor Agreement (PLA) on a federal construction project in Washington before the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council issued its final ruling on President Obama’s executive order, which encourages the use of PLAs on all federal construction projects worth more than $25 million.
The $100 million Lafayette Building Modernization project is currently the only active federal government-mandated PLA.
Here’s a link to the project (See Section H, 12.02 and Section 16 page 24 on Section H for the PLA language): https://www.fbo.gov/spg/GSA/PBS/WPC/GS11P10MKC0009/listing.html
After jumping the gun, GSA is now requiring contractors to submit two proposals – one subject to a PLA requirement and one that is not. The Associated Builders and Contractors criticized this highly unusual two-bid process, saying it puts even more obstacles before the 86 percent of local D.C. contractors, many minority owned, who are non-unionized.
