As we noted last month, the General Services Administration (GSA) surprised the construction industry and the building trades unions by issuing unexpected new guidance establishing new procedures for evaluating project labor agreements (PLAs) under the SWACCA-championed, Biden-era Executive Order 14063 on large-scale federal construction projects valued at $35 million or more. The revised process was outlined in a new Acquisition Letter and accompanying “PLA Playbook.”
Yesterday, GSA held an invitation-only webinar on this new “paired-proposal” process. The webinar clarified that the new process requires offerors to submit a PLA proposal on large-scale construction projects covered by the PLA executive order and allows them to also submit a non-PLA proposal. GSA also clarified that the non-PLA proposal can be submitted before a contractor finalizes or signs a PLA. GSA will evaluate the PLA proposal by reducing its offered price by the lesser of 10% or $15 million and then comparing that evaluated price to the offeror’s non-PLA price. If the evaluated PLA price is less than or equal to the non-PLA price, GSA will deem the “PLA premium reasonable” and allow that bid to proceed through the process. If the evaluated PLA price is higher, the contracting officer has the discretion to determine the PLA premium is excessive and use the non-PLA price instead. GSA further explained that offerors should submit only one set of technical specifications even if they submit a PLA and a non-PLA proposal.
GSA said that the new paired-proposal process is intended to satisfy documentation requirements under President Biden’s Executive Order 14063, Use of Project Labor Agreements for Federal Construction Projects, and OMB Memorandum M-25-29, while also responding to Court of Federal Claims decisions ABC recently won holding that mandatory PLA requirements can violate the Competition in Contracting Act when agencies fail to consider potential impacts on cost and competition. The new procedures are effective immediately for new solicitations.
During the webinar, GSA named four major construction projects on which the new paired-proposal process will be used. GSA announced that it amended the solicitation for the construction of the Armed Forces Retirement Home Sheridan Building in Washington, D.C. (RFP #47PB5226R0001). GSA also announced it will use the paired-proposal process on three imminent projects: (1) construction of the Secret Service James J. Rowley Specialized Mission Training Center in Laurel, Maryland (solicitation release expected July 8, 2026); (2) construction of the new General Services Administration Headquarters in Washington, D.C. (solicitation release expected July 17, 2026); and (3) the elevator modernization project at the Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse in New York City (solicitation release expected August 3, 2026).