A sign for a Washington, US, port of entry. (Image: Adobe Stock)

Ultimately, the GSA鈥檚 class exception memorandum grants the Senior Procurement Executive (SPE) of the Public Buildings Service to grant exceptions to a Biden-era ruling on PLAs, which essentially required a PLA (and typically union-level wages) on federal construction projects for ports of entry, or border control infrastructure.

Referring specifically to land ports, potential projects affected by the exception would relate to crossing infrastructure at the Canada and Mexico borders.

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Jeffrey Koses, SPE of the Office of Acquisition Policy, authored the memo, which said, 鈥淏ased on recent historical projects and anticipated expedited timelines, I have determined that this class exception for GSA LPOE projects meets the requirement of FAR [Federal Acquisition Regulation] 22.504(d) as follows: 鈥渁. The agency鈥檚 need for the project is of such an unusual and compelling urgency that a project labor agreement would be impracticable (FAR 22.504(d)(1)(i)(D)).

鈥淩equiring a PLA on LPOE projects would not advance the Federal Government鈥檚 interests in achieving economy and efficiency in Federal procurement because the need for LPOE modernisations is of an unusual and compelling urgency and requiring a PLA would be impracticable.鈥�

Biden-era PLAs requirements mandated government projects valued more than US$35 million pay workers a 鈥減revailing wage鈥�. Critics of the Biden rule said it steered federal work away from non-unionised shops and companies.

The move by the GSA is nearly identical to a recent memorandum issued by the US Department of Defense.

Associated Builders and Contractors, a US-based construction trade association, applauded the GSA decision, saying, 鈥淭he Biden government-mandated PLA policy has been widely criticized by the construction industry, taxpayer watchdogs and lawmakers for needlessly inflating construction costs, delaying projects and effectively steering contracts to unionised firms and union labour at the expense of taxpayers and federal laws requiring fair and open competition.鈥�

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