AGC of America comments on CMGC proposal

The MAP-21 transportation bill allows states to use the Construction Manager/General Contractor (CMGC, also known as GCCM) contracting method for Federal-aid highway projects. The Federal Highway Administration has now proposed the regulations that will govern how this contracting method can be used.

The regulations set minimum standards for state contracting procedures, establish the review process that FHWA will use in approving a state’s specific procurement procedures and funding request, as well as spells out how this procurement process will work with the NEPA environmental-review process.

AGC of America submitted comments on the proposed rules pointing out support for allowing public owners to select the delivery system that best fit their particular needs and the best outcome for the project.

Some of the points AGC’s comments made include:

• Support of FHWA’s intent in these rules to give states maximum flexibility in administering their federal-aid contracts. AGC said it was important to ensure that this contracting method is used in a way that will benefit project delivery and at the same time provide open competition and fair risk allocation is of primary importance.

• Recommendation that states should clarify what is the expectation in the construction services portion of the solicitation to counter a recent trend of assigning professional services requirements on the CMGC.

• Support for the use of one-on- one interviews as part of the evaluation process and that the solicitation detail how the interview will be weighted in the selection process.

• FHWA approval of final price can be a major drag in the approval and the process to be used should be better clarified.