White House Office of Management and Budget directs federal agencies to continue using project labor agreements on construction projects but broadens allowable exceptions.
A federal appeals court granted a preliminary injunction to keep the project labor agreement mandate in force after a lawsuit by North America's Building Trades Unions challenged suspension of those pacts.
The mandate requires executive department agencies to review and assess whether public works construction projects totaling more than $35 million are favorable for workers and the community.
Veterans' agency, which builds health care and other facilities, cited a Jan. 21 court ruling against the Biden-era agreement in a directive to remove it from construction contracts.
Despite new court ruling that the agency must cut use of PLAs in its construction, the U.S. General Services Administration will keep it as an option for other projects
The General Services Administration has made an exception to Biden-era rules that require project labor agreements on all large projects, exempting land port of entry projects from the rule, stating that doing so would be "impracticable."
The U.S. Dept. of Defense has instructed its agencies to remove language in contracts requiring labor agreements for projects over $35 million, changing a Biden-era rule.
Federal Court of Claims has nullified previous administration labor agreement mandate that required them for most federal projects of $35M or larger, finding that competitive bidding could not be upheld under the rule and the executive order that required it.