Philadelphia Construction Law Blog

The fact that contractors working in the City of Philadelphia have routinely used work-arounds to get work classified as minority-owned, woman-owned, or disabled-owned is among the construction world’s worst kept secrets. One of the strategies – hiring businesses that qualify for DBE contracts and using them as a pass-through – recently came under serious scrutiny by the City. In an effort to crack down on what City officials argue is an abuse of the system, the Office of Inspector General has started to investigate more claims. It also recently identified and cited a number of prime contractors for violating the DBE rules. One contractor, William H. Betz, Inc., was the center of recent attention.

Following the carnage left by Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey, the state legislature passed a bill allowing for the expansion of project labor agreements on construction projects using public money in the state. While they were already permissible by law, the new statute was seen as an attempt by labor unions to grab more of the market share and, as a result, the effort to rebuild New Jersey after the storm. In a veto message this week, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie hinted that he saw it the same way.

The construction industry job market continues to struggle, but fresh unemployment numbers did decrease slightly from earlier this year. According to the March 8 employment report by the U.S. Department of Labor, he construction industry jobless rate declined from 16.1% in January to 15.7% in February. The rate in February 2012 was 17.1%

Engineering News-Record is reporting that the large New Jersey design firm Birdsall Services Group is embroiled in a pay-to-play scandal that could cause significant additional damage to the company. Birdsall recently filed for bankruptcy and is working through the process of reorganization.

The United States Supreme Court has announced its docket for next session. Several cases that will impact the construction industry in Pennsylvania in some way appear on the list. Because the Supreme Court is not required to accept a case from the lower courts, its decision to do so likely means the issue is an important one that could have far reaching consequences.

Work on the Allentown Hockey Arena, the future home of the Phantoms of the American Hockey League and the anchor to larger development plans in Allentown, has broken another log jam. The Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone Development Authority has closed on funding for completion of the arena complex construction.

After the economy went south in 2008 and 2009, many parts of the construction industry suffered along with the economy at large. The housing sector – which reports now suggest may be in the process of a slight rebound – was hardest hit at the time. Because of the lack of work, many construction companies shifted their focus to public and institutional work. This sector seemed less impacted, perhaps largely due to money made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

PennDOT District 5, out of Allentown, has started construction on improvements on I-176 between US 422 and Pa 724. The work is to include full depth reconstruction of the existing travel lanes, adding a collector/distributor lane for ramp traffic between the US 422 and PA 724 interchanges, and 3 new bridges among other things. Crews have started staging equipment and doing other preparatory work for the start of construction in earnest. The work is set to start on August 24th.

The U.S. Green Building Council has elected to delay implementation of its LEED 2012 rating system due to the high volume of comments it received to the proposed new standards. Both the name and the date to vote on the proposed changes have been changed. The new standards will now be called LEED v4 and it will be voted on in 2013.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released its unemployment numbers for June. While the overall picture remains uninspiring, there was a slight bump in construction employment. This increase was driven mostly by an increase in hiring for specialty contractors in the multi-family residential sector.