On Thursday, September 26, 2019, members of the American Subcontractors Association’s (ASA) Board of Directors, including the Executive Committee, walked the halls of Congress to meet with key congressional staff to promote the association’s legislative priorities in the 116th Congress. Our members also had the opportunity to meet with Rep. Veasey (D-TX), a prime sponsor of H.R. 2344, the Small Business Payment for Performance Act, which would require prompt payment to contractors for change orders, and Rep. Peters (D-CA), the sponsor of the soon to be reintroduced Stop Unfair Bid Shopping Act (SUBS Act), to ensure that companies honor their contract with the federal government by adding a means to eliminate the practice of bid shopping.

The September 26th fly-in also featured meetings with high level congressional staff. Our members met with Irene Rivera Goyco, House Small Business Majority Procurement Counsel, along with Vivian Ling, House Small Business Committee Minority Procurement Counsel, and staff members from Rep. Veasey (D-TX), Kelly (R-MS), Stauber (R-MN), and Peters (D-CA). In the Senate, our members met with staff members from Sens. Hirono (D-HI) and Portman (R-OH), to discuss their sponsored legislation, S. 1434, the Construction Consensus Procurement Act, which would prohibit the use of reverse auctions for design and construction services procurement. ASA members also met with staff from Sen. Wicker’s (R-MS) office. 

In addition to the legislation highlighted above, the ASA Executive Committee members also addressed several other legislative priorities during this fly-in, including H.R. 224, the Miller Act, to exempt certain contracts from periodic adjustments to an acquisition-related dollar threshold, our support of the reduction of the maximum retainage rate used by the federal government from 10 percent to five percent, and our support for a robust, well-funded, comprehensive infrastructure funding bill.

ASA’s presence on Capitol Hill is crucial to the advancement of the association’s legislative priorities. The members of the Executive Committee represented our association tremendously and set the groundwork for a successful association-wide fly-in at the end of this month!