Labor Agreement Rule Made Construction Bid Futile, Court Says

The US Army Corps of Engineers is barred from including a project labor agreement requirement in a Louisiana pump station procurement worth up to $500 million because it excluded bidders without justification, the US Court of Federal Claims said.

Brasfield & Gorrie LLC showed that the agency impermissibly denied companies without PLAs a meaningful opportunity to submit proposals, due to a requirement unrelated to the agency’s needs, Judge Ryan T. Holte said in an opinion made public Thursday. The court announced its decision in a Dec. 17 judgment.

A PLA is a collective bargaining agreement with a labor organization ...