WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama wants to stop the political ping-pong around project labor agreements (PLAs), by inserting a requirement for them for major construction contracts solely done with federal cash into rules that U.S. contracting officers must follow.

And he wants to go even farther, his PLA proposal shows, by extending the PLA requirement to cover projects that are only partially funded by the feds.

In the proposal, published last month, Obama’s agencies said PLAs would apply to projects costing at least $25 million each.  The General Services Administration, the Defense Department and NASA calculated there would be at least 300 such projects every year.

The deadline for comments on the proposed new rules were expected to be extended into mid-September . Predictably, nonunion contractor groups submitted letters against the proposal. Unions and union contractors expressed their support, and several unions pushed for removing the $25 million funding floor, in favor of applying PLAs to all federally funded construction.

Obama issued an executive order in January, just after taking office, re-instituting PLAs for projects fully funded with federal cash.  His order reversed an anti-PLA command in January 2001 by President George W. Bush – whose order in turn dumped a pro-PLA executive order by Democratic President Bill Clinton.

Commenting on Obama’s original executive order, The Association of Union Constructors CEO Steve Lindauer said the directive “restored the ability for agencies to utilize all of their available tools for purchasing flexibility. Project Labor Agreements have proven that they play a vital role both historically and currently on some of the largest projects in the construction industry. The reliance on this type of delivery system within the private sector of the industry has ensured that these projects are built on time and on budget using the highest skilled and safest workforce in the United States.”

He added: “If foreign companies like Toyota choose to use PLA’s to build their facilities even in the South, what does that say about efficiency and cost savings associated with these agreements?

Project labor agreements are contracts between contractors, usually general contractors, and unions that set working conditions for public or private projects.

In return for agreement to pay wages negotiated with the unions, the pacts set up work rules to ensure the projects run smoothly and as well as mechanisms to easily resolve on-the-job disputes.  Nonunion contractors and many conservative lawmakers hate PLAs, claiming they cost too much and reduce competition.

The Obama Administration, prodded by union support that helped get him into office, doesn’t agree.

“The Director of the Office of Management and Budget is working with the Secretary Labor and other officials to provide recommendations to the president on

whether to broaden the application of Project Labor Agreements on both construction projects awarded under federal contracts and construction projects receiving federal financial assistance, to promote the economical, efficient, and timely completion of such projects,” the Federal Register notice says.  “Project labor agreements are a tool agencies may use to promote economy and efficiency in federal procurement.”

The next step is for the comments to be reviewed, and changes made to the rules, if necessary. They did not say how long that process would take. (Press Associates contributed)