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News

NECA Legislative Top Three 7/24/20: NECA-Championed Change Order Reform Highlights New NDAA

Jul 24, 2020

1. House and Senate Pass NDAA with NECA Wins 

 

On Tuesday, July 21, 2020, the House of Representatives voted for the 60th year in a row to pass the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2021. The Senate passed their version of NDAA on July 23, 2020. This is a wide-ranging piece of legislation that holds many key NECA-supported contracting policies, including change order reform. The legislation is used not only for the reauthorization of military programs but has proven to be the main vehicle for advancement in federal procurement and contracting. NDAA now must wait for a conference committee to be formed. This committee is made jointly of members from both sides of Congress who will come together to create a compromise piece of legislation. 

 

NECA’s Look Ahead: NECA is strongly encouraged by the steps taken by the House and Senate. Once the conference committee produces its report and passes it through Congress, the bill will be sent to the President, who in recent days has made comments threatening to veto the legislation over the bipartisan, bicameral calls to rename military bases named after Confederate figures. 

 

2. Phase IV Negotiations Begin  

 

This week, both the House and the Senate returned to Washington, D.C., to begin negotiations on the Phase IV COVID-19 relief bill. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is working with his leadership team on a set of proposals related to COVID-19 relief. It is believed that this next bill will be a series of bills combined into a package addressing at the very least: 

  • A second round of PPP funding and reauthorization 

  • Another round of direct payments 

  • Business liability protections  

 

NECA’s Look Ahead: It is still very early on in negations and discussion draft language has not been finalized. NECA will continue to advocate our priorities as Congressional leadership crafts the package over the next few weeks.  

 

3. NECA Requests Infrastructure Funding 

 

NECA, along with a large coalition of groups, sent a letter to Congressional Leadership requesting the infusion of funding for state departments of transportation (DOTs) in order for the continuation of infrastructure projects across the country. 

 

NECA’s Look Ahead: NECA will continue to advocate for the inclusion of infrastructure in future spending bills.