AGC's Federal and Heavy Report

Federal and Heavy Division to Spotlight Agency Relations During 2005 Midyear Meeting

Division members will start the day with the semi-annual Division Session, which will at 10:30 AM in the Bryce Room. In addition to regular Division business, the featured program of the session will be a special program entitled "HUB Zones: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Them-But Were Afraid to Ask." The program includes two guest speakers well versed in this subject matter. Michael P. McHale, Assistant Administrator of the HUB Zone Program at the U.S. Small Business Administration will lead the session and cover a wide range of topics introducing all the various aspects of this vigorous and dynamic program while Thomas J. Kelleher, Jr.; Senior Partner and Managing Partner of Smith, Currie & Hancock LLP of Atlanta, GA will cover the various legalities contractors should be aware of when participating in the program.

The second session will be a special Joint Meeting of the AGC Governmental Affairs Committee and the Project Deliver Committee, which will be held at 1:00 PM in Columbia C. Cutting across member interests in the Federal and Heavy Division and the Building Division, this session will feature a meeting with top officials from the U.S. General Services Administration, led by Acting Chief Architect les Shepard. Topics expected to be up for discussion include: A Organizational Update from GSA Leadership Team and discussion on several issues of critical importance to GSA contractors, including, reliance on Best and Final Offers; Past Performance Evaluations; Contractor Certification; and a report on the Joint AGC/GSA CM At-Risk Contracting Initiative.

The Division will wrap the day with a meeting of the International Construction Committee. Newly reporting to the Federal and Heavy Division, the Committee will be at 4:00 PM in the Lexington Room with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Transatlantic Programs Center. Topics for discussion include a full report of USACE-TAC activities, including: an overview of the Corps mission in Middle East; doing business with the Corps overseas; Iraq Reconstruction; the Afghanistan Construction Program; and, a discussion of how AGC and USACE/TAC can work together.

For more information on all Federal and Heavy Construction Division activities, please contact Marco Giamberardino, Senior Director, Federal and Heavy Construction Division at (703) 837-5325 or by e-mail at giamberm@agc.org.