Author: clara.kinney@agc.org
This week members of the Ohio Contractors Association, an AGC chapter, came to Washington D.C. to meet with members of the Ohio Congressional delegation. They held a breakfast at the AGC Townhouse and talked with members of Congress about key issues impacting their businesses which include preserving the long-term solvency of the Highway Trust Fund, increasing investment in roads and bridges, and providing clarity around the Buy America requirements. Members of Congress stopped by for coffee and the opportunity to learn more about construction. Members of Congress that participated include: AGC chapters are welcome and encouraged to utilize the AGC…
In late April, President Trump signed an executive order directing Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, to “identify and begin carrying out additional administrative, regulatory, or enforcement actions to improve the working conditions of America’s truck drivers.” Secretary Duffy was given 60 days to comply, which means there should be an update sometime in late June. The order also reinforces the existing legal requirement that truck drivers must “read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, to respond to official inquiries, and to make entries…
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) recently published Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) No. 2025-1, FLSA Independent Contractor Misclassification Enforcement Guidance, which provides guidance to WHD field staff on the analysis to apply when determining employee or independent contractor status for purposes of enforcing the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). They also have published Opinion Letter FLSA2025-2, reinstating Opinion Letter FLSA2019-6, which addresses the virtual marketplace. WHD will no longer apply the Biden administration 2024 Rule’s analysis when determining employee versus independent contractor status in FLSA investigations. They will instead enforce the FLSA in accordance with a…
On Dec. 13, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2025. The NDAA is expected to pass the Senate next week, with the President signing into law shortly after. Like every year, AGC urged Congress to support provisions that will positively impact the construction industry and to block those that will be harmful. Among others, AGC successfully advocated for: Of note to some AGC members, Sec. 1709 of the NDAA seeks to restrict DJI Technologies and Autel Robotics from selling new drones. Unless a national agency determines within a year that these drones…
On Aug. 15, the Department of Defense (DoD) published a second proposed rule for the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program that places unified cybersecurity and information security requirements on DoD contractors and subcontractors. As AGC previously reported, the first proposed rule issued in December 2023 focused on the CMMC program and corresponding cybersecurity requirements for DoD prime and subcontractors. This latest proposed rule supplements the first proposes rule. Importantly, it contains DFARS revisions for contract clause requirements and additional guidance to federal contracting officers. Comments are due October 15, 2024. The DoD proposes to implement the CMMC requirements over four phases, starting with the inclusion of CMMC Level 1 and Level 2 Self-Assessment requirements in all applicable DoD solicitations. This will begin on the effective date…
On Dec. 26, the Department of Defense (DoD) proposed rule for the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program that places unified cybersecurity and information security requirements on DoD contractors and subcontractors. The proposed rule imposes comprehensive cybersecurity and information security requirements on DoD contractors and subcontractors. DoD is soliciting public comments on the proposed rule until Feb. 26, 2024. Among these changes in the new rule are: The DoD proposes to implement the CMMC requirements over four phases, starting with the inclusion of CMMC Level 1 and Level 2 Self-Assessment requirements in all applicable DoD solicitations. This will begin on the effective date of the final rule and will be a condition of contract award. CMMC Level 3 is expected roughly six months to a year after implementation of the final rule. The full rollout,…
The Department of Defense moved one step closer to a Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) final rule when it recently sent its draft rule to the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). OIRA will have 90 days to review before either sending the rule back or sending it to the Federal Register for public comments. However, DoD expects to see a final rule no earlier than Fall 2024. However, contractors have seen CMMC implementation drag out for several years and it is likely to take longer to see final implementation of the program. AGC has communicated the difficulty many contractors have had implementing these new cybersecurity requirements and…
After months of internal review, the Department of Defense announced it will make significant changes to the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program, now called CMMC 2.0. Among these changes are: reducing the number of companies that would require a 3rd party assessment, reducing the CMMC rating from 5 levels to 3 levels, suspending CMMC pilot programs until a final regulation, allow for annual self-assessments for certain levels, and brings back Plans of Action and Milestone (POAM). These changes were met with oppositions from some stakeholders who argue that these changes are counter to DoD policies and President Biden’s recent Executive Orders increasing cybersecurity reporting requirements for businesses. AGC has communicated the difficulty many contractors have had…
On November 8, the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (OSD) released part of Version 0.6 of the draft Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC). The newly released Version 0.6 includes CMMC Levels 1 – 3, but not Levels 4-5. According to OSD, “CMMC Levels 4-5 are not included in this release because public comments are still being addressed.” The updates to CMMC Levels 4 – 5 are expected to be provided in the next public release. According to OSD the CMMC model will continue to be improved with the finalization of Version 1.0 in January 2020. The Department of Defense (DOD) will begin including the final CMMC model as “go/no go” in all solicitations…
On September 25, AGC of America, along with a coalition of stakeholders, filed comments on Version 0.4 of the draft Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC). According to the Department of Defense (DOD), the CMMC model will continue to be improved over the next several months with the finalization of v1.0 in January 2020. DOD will begin including the final CMMC model as “go/no go” in all solicitations starting in Fall 2020. DOD envisions at least one additional round of public comments for the draft CMMC Model v0.6 in November 2019. AGC of America was disappointed to see that stakeholders were given just 21 days to review and comment on the v.0.4 CMMC Model. We urge…