GSA Bleeds Public Funds through Labor Agreements

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Leave it to the feds to lose out in their own bidding war.  In an open letter to Martha Johnson, head of the General Services Administration (GSA), 19 congressmen have demanded an investigation of the GSA’s alleged misuse of Project Labor Agreements (PLA) which resulted in wasted federal tax dollars.

As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the GSA was given $6.1 billion for the construction and improvement of federal buildings. Typically, the contracts for these initiatives are given to the firms with the lowest bid and highest quality of work.  Per a memo from last April by the GSA’s Public Building Service (PBS), however, this cost-saving practice has been thrown aside to favor union interests.  PBS Procurement Instructional Bulletin 10-04 “encourages” that contracts of over $25 million be coupled with a Project Labor Agreement, a collective bargaining requirement for contractors to employ only union members for that particular venture.  As a PLA can raise the cost of such projects by 18%, this move effectively undercuts any meaningful contract bidding by giving preference to the minority of expensive union-controlled firms.

This policy has already incurred needless costs.  The general contractor for the Lafayette Building and Modernization Project in Washington, DC was handed $3.3 million in additional ARRA funds to insure the expense of implementing a PLA.  There is no reason to believe waste like this will stop anytime soon.  In their letter to Administrator Johnson, the group of representatives—which includes Ron Paul, Joe Wilson, and Jason Chaffetz—noted the need for thrift in the current economy: “At a time when spending tax dollars efficiently and wisely must be a priority for all government agencies, this excess use of funds causes us concern.”

As well it should.  That GSA bureaucrats should go out of their way to throw money at the unionized 15% percent of the workforce, to the detriment of taxpayers, is scandalous but predictable.  The current administration’s stance toward the labor unions, which now represent more government workers than private citizens, has been less like a watchdog and more like that of a butler.  Hopefully a new congress will ensure that preference for future contracts is given to the best workers rather than the most expensive. 

Tags: COLLBARG, PRIVAT, REGREF, BIGSTORY, Federal