Aiming to head off projected craft and management shortages and push contractors to boost workforce quality to compete for work, owners are launching a long-gestating rating tool that they want to become a key differentiator in contractor selection. The Contractor Workforce Development Assessment, which would grade firms based on 23 training components, will be deployed widely next year by the Construction Users Round Table.
At the group's convention in Orlando, Fla., last month, CURT officials said they want the new tool—in development since 2006, with input from contractor groups, unions and training entities—to be as important as safety ratings on owners' lists of "non-negotiable" contract selection criteria.