Federal, State & Local Public Construction and Procurement

Unfortunately, racial discrimination still occurs on construction sites throughout the country. Fortunately, leaders within the construction industry are taking steps to eliminate racism and other forms of discrimination within the industry. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) is stepping up enforcement efforts against the construction industry, as demonstrated, in part, by the EEOC’s recent $1.2 million settlement with The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company (“Whiting-Turner”) on a discrimination and retaliation claim. Construction attorney Bill Geisen takes a look at the discrimination issues in construction in this Stites & Harbison Client Alert.

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Stites & Harbison, PLLC welcomes attorney Caroline A. Augenstein to the firm’s Lexington, Ky., office. She joins the Construction Service Group.

Construction attorneys Steven Henderson and Ross Hutchison will be featured speakers at this NUCA of Middle Tennessee's breakfast and networking event.

In his recent State of the Union speech, President Biden highlighted an intention to increase enforcement of Buy America requirements for federally funded infrastructure projects. The next day, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a proposed rule and notice of proposed guidance aimed at standardizing the implementation of the Build America, Buy America provision of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA or Act) enacted in November 2021. This proposed guidance is intended to clarify and strengthen enforcement of the Buy America requirements. Contractors pursuing and working on infrastructure projects funded by the Act need to be aware of these requirements summarized below.