Engineering Inc. - May/June 2006 - 11

Congressman Hunter lousy public policy and contrary to the established
legal principle introduces new Buy America Bill that you are innocent
until proven guilty, said David Greenwood, In the wake of the failed Dubai
ports agreement, Representative chairman of ACEC's Federal Agencies and
Procurement Advocacy Duncan Hunter R-Calif. , chairman of the House Armed
Ser- Committee. Any group or individual with a political agenda vices
Committee, has introduced legislation that could severely could make an
allegation against a firm, which would effectively impede the ability of
American firms to partner with foreign prevent the firm from competing for
government contracts. businesses on infrastructure projects. The Council
has once again joined with a number of business H.R. 4881, the National
Defense Critical Infrastructure Protec- organizations to fight the Dorgan
bill, which may be offered in tion Act of 2006, would require the
Secretary of Defense to approve whole or in part as an amendment to future
appropriations bills. at least half of the members of a company's board of
directors and all ACEC Urges More outside independent board members of any
company that owns, manages Contracting at Bureau of Reclamation or operates
any asset deemed critical infrastructure. The measure defines critical
infrastructure as any system or ACEC recently submitted testimony at a
House hearing examin- asset, whether physical or virtual, that is so vital
to the United ing the use of the private sector and other management issues
at States that its incapacity or destruction would have a debili- the
Bureau of Reclamation. tating effect on national security, national
economic security, The testimony before the House Subcommittee on Water
and national public health or safety. The Secretary of Defense would Power
expressed support for an independent study released by the create and
maintain the list of such National Research Council in January, which
urged the agency to assets, both military and non-military. make greater
use of private firms for engineering and other con- alex WonG/Getty iMaGes
for Meet If enacted, this legislation could struction-related activities.
have serious consequences on existing Titled Managing Construction and
Infrastructure in the and future public-private partnerships 21st Century
Bureau of Reclamation, the report makes several involving transportation,
water and recommendations for improving the Bureau's operations. The other
infrastructure projects. recommendations include the adoption of consistent
acquisition the Press ACEC and its member firms are and contracting
policies for its regional and district offices, with reviewing the Hunter
bill, and a larger an emphasis on adhering to the Federal Acquisition
Regulations Rep. Duncan Hunter industry coalition has formed to FAR . The
report also urges the agency to consider structural R-Calif. oppose it.
Hunter may include all or a changes that will enable it to contract out
much of the engineer- part of his legislation as part of the F.Y. 2007
National Defense ing and laboratory testing work. Authorization Bill.
ACEC's testimony supported these recommendations, citing two major
projects as examples of the Bureau's failure to make effi- Anti-Contractor
Legislation Re-introduced cient use of the private sector. One project was
in Montana, and Once again legislation has been introduced in the Senate
that required state government intervention because the Bureau failed
would make it harder for federal agencies to contract with engi- to
conduct a proper feasibility study on a major water project. neering
firms, and once again ACEC is poised to defeat it. The Council's testimony
emphasized the National Park Service Senator Byron Dorgan D-N.D. has
introduced the Honest as an example, which restructured its acquisition
processes a few Leadership and Accountability in Contracting Act of 2006
S. years ago and now contracts out 90 percent of its engineering 2361 ,
which seeks to renew support for so-called blacklisting design and all
construction management functions. rules. Under the legislation,
contractors could be barred from Problems with the Bureau are not new.
ACEC pursued federal federal work based on an allegation that legislation
a few years ago to address the Bureau's tendency to keep the firm violated
federal tax, labor and engineering work in-house. The F.Y. 2003 Omnibus
Appropriations employment, environmental, antitrust Act directed the
Bureau to adopt gradual percentage increases in the and consumer
protection laws. use of the private sector for planning, engineering and
design work. The Dorgan bill also includes new The National Research
Council, which issued the pro- restrictions on how federal agencies
outsourcing report cited above, is an arm of the National may contract
with private firms, includ- Academy of Sciences. ing restrictions on
hiring firms to assist federal agencies with contract adminis- Fo R MoRE
nEWS David Greenwood tration oversight and other functions. Federal
Agencies and For weekly legislative news, ACEC and its industry allies
suc- Procurement Advocacy visit ACEC's Last Word online cessfully fought
previous attempts to Committee at www.acec.org. impose the blacklisting
rule. This is 11 MaY / JUNE 2006 ENGINEERING INC.
http://www.acec.org
Engineering Inc. - May/June 2006

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