In September, the III FFC attended the 19th annual National Alliance for Fair Contracting (“NAFC”) conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Each year, the NAFC conference is attended by hundreds of participants from across the nation, including representatives from labor organizations, contractors, fair contracting organizations, as well as researchers, academics, attorneys and officials from federal, state and local governments. This year’s event saw one of the largest turnout of participants in NAFC’s 19-year history, and all the attendees reported benefiting greatly from the numerous panels and informative breakout sessions.
Several members of our III FFC staff proudly took an active part in the conference and served as moderators, presenters, and participants during NAFC workshops. III FFC Executive Director, Marc Poulos facilitated a regional breakout session where reports were given from fair contracting and labor organizations from Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio. It was a very informative session as collectively we all learned of the circumstances influencing the labor industry, both good and bad, in other states and were made aware of some of the regional dynamics affecting our industry.
III FFC Policy Director, Josh Weger presented and led a discussion on the construction industry in right-to-work states and in states with no prevailing wage laws. III FFC Regional Director, Michael Lingl and Construction Analysts assisted in the facilitation of a breakout session on preparing and presenting bid protests. In addition, the III FFC staff also attended a legislative panel that included Indiana State Senator Ed Soliday (R), and Ohio State Senator Sean O’Brien (D), which produced a very interactive discussion from the audience on political factors facing the local construction industry.
III FFC Executive Director, Marc Poulos also served as a moderator for a panel discussing the many dynamics of public-private partnerships (“P3s”) in the construction industry and the importance of understanding those dynamics, and timing could not have been more important for attendees. President Donald Trump has indicated that he may now be hesitant in his support for using private spending on public infrastructure projects on what was anticipated to be a $1 trillion infrastructure spending plan.
The NAFC attendees also benefited from the content of the other work sessions that included topics concerning health and safety, social media, fair contracting strategies, academics and economists dialogue, and legislative updates, to name a few. The NAFC conference was by far an enjoyable experience and those who attended gained valuable insight on matters affecting our industry.
Pictured left to right (front row) John Freitag, III FFC Regional Director; Doug House, III FFC Construction Analyst; Jill Manzo, Midwest Economic Policy Institute Researcher; Marc Poulos, III FFC Executive Director; Allison Taylor, ILEPI Comptroller; Mary Craighead, ILEPI Transportation Policy Analyst; Kara Principe, III FFC Counsel; Jodi Frailey, III FFC Construction Analyst; and Tom Frailey, III FFC Regional Director. Pictured left to right (back row) Joshua Schipp, III FFC Construction Analyst; Myron Sutton, III FFC Construction Analyst; Joseph Sweeney, III FFC Counsel; Michael Lingl, III FFC Regional Director; and Frank Manzo IV, ILEPI Policy Director