Inside AGC — November/December 2006

President's Message — AGC Is the Federal Owners' Advantage

AGC continues to push Congress to invest in construction

By AGC President Harry Mashburn

For nearly a century, AGC members have focused on providing owners with top-quality products and services. AGC's hard work in the federal construction arena has created safer work sites and strengthened our nation's infrastructure.

AGC has been an advocate for improving housing for military personnel. We have met with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Naval Facilities Engineering Command and the U.S. Air Force as the agencies develop a construction strategy for new and improved housing facilities for fiscal years 2007-2011. The goals of these discussions have focused on ways the construction industry can deliver cost-effective, top-quality housing for our nation's military. They turn to us to deliver quality-of-life improvements to our servicemen and women and their families.

AGC believes it is important to maintain fair competition among contractors, large and small, and will continue its dialogue with the military construction agencies to ensure that companies continue to have opportunities to work on U.S. military installations.

AGC members deliver quality day in and day out. We witnessed their commitment to our country and our industry last year when Hurricane Katrina drew a great amount of attention to the state of our nation's waterways infrastructure. Thousands of people lost homes and businesses as a result of the massive flooding, emphasizing the need to adequately fund and upkeep the levees, locks and dams.

The impact of Hurricane Katrina amplified the need for adequate funding for major navigation, flood control and environmental restoration projects throughout the United States.

It is essential that we fully fund these projects, and AGC has long supported funding levels of $9 billion annually. However for FY 2007, the Bush administration submitted a budget containing only $4.7 billion in funding for civil works, nowhere close to the amount needed to reinforce, operate and maintain this aging system.

The cost of investing in flood and storm damage prevention pales in comparison to the costs of cleanup and restoration after the fact. It is estimated that flood-damage reduction projects have prevented an estimated $706 billion in damages. These programs have multiple benefits, including a $14.10 return for every dollar invested in operations and maintenance.

As the construction industry's leading trade association, we know how to take our members' concerns to Capitol Hill. AGC has been advancing the fight to reauthorize the Water Resources Development Act and increase funding for the nation's civil works program. The funds authorized in WRDA will yield a similar return ratio and provide infrastructure investment. WRDA reauthorization has been an AGC priority because it provides a long-term waterways infrastructure strategy and affirms the government's pledge to authorize, modify and improve projects, programs and policies, protecting the nation from floods and keeping the waterways open to navigation.

One of AGC's best assets is our ability to reach out to others in the industry to forge alliances, lead activities and build a strong, unified front for the industry. We deliver the owners' tangible advantages. This is what makes us a strong association and a leading choice among owners.

AGC Members with Commander and Chief of Engineers LTG Carl Strock, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, at the 2006 Federal Contractors Conference. From left: AGC Corps of Engineers Committee Chairman Dan Fordice, Fordice Construction; Dirk Haire, Holland and Knight LLP; Federal and Heavy Division Vice Chairman Roland Ferrera, AMEC Americas; LTG Carl Strock; AGC Vice President Douglas Barnhart, Douglas E. Barnhart Inc.; Federal and Heavy Division Chairman Eddie Stewart, Caddell Construction.