On March 6, Vice President Kamala Karris and U.S. Department of Labor Acting Secretary Julie Su announced in Madison, Wisconsin, President Joe Biden’s new Executive Order on Scaling and Expanding the Use of Registered Apprenticeships in Industries and the Federal Government and Promoting Labor-Management Forums with the stated goal of expanding the usage of government-registered apprenticeship programs by the federal government.

The order directs federal agencies to identify where they can implement new requirements or incentives for federal contractors and recipients of federal financial assistance to employ workers who are active participants or graduates of a GRAP.

While specific details on how these new requirements will be implemented are not yet available until a rulemaking is completed, in a March 6 statement ABC expressed concerns that any new mandates or incentives on federal contracts and grants will reduce competition from contractors that choose not to participate in the GRAP system or lack access to these programs.

Additionally, given that 69% of all GRAP participants are in union-affiliated programs, ABC is concerned that this is another method for the Biden administration to unfairly steer taxpayer-funded contracts to unionized contractors and labor, rather than allowing fair and open competition by all contractors.

ABC supports GRAPS and offers more than 450 such education programs through ABC chapters across the country as part of its all-of-the-above approach to meet the workforce needs of the construction industry. However, ABC’s analysis of DOL data confirmed that GRAPs are unable to meet construction industry workforce needs on their own.

The EO also increases concerns regarding a Jan. 17, 2024, U.S. Department of Labor proposed rule that would make significant and controversial revisions to the National Apprenticeship System. Results from ABC’s February 2024 survey of contractors and ABC chapter GRAP providers confirmed that the proposed rule would strongly discourage GRAP participation, with 96% of respondents stating new recordkeeping and reporting requirements will make them less likely to participate in or start their own GRAP.  ABC recently launched an action alert via ABC’s Action Center and app that stakeholders can use to oppose this costly new rule by the DOL’s March 18 comment deadline.