Independent Electrical Contractors

News and Media

January 12, 2026

Despite Pre-Christmas Legal Victory Against Federal PLA Mandates, Biden Pro-PLA Policy Remains 

by IEC

On December 18, 2025, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (U.S. COFC) ruled in favor of a federal contractor’s lawsuit challenging a project labor agreement mandate on a solicitation for a federal construction projects as a result of former President Biden’s Executive Order 14063 and a related FAR regulation requiring federal construction contracts of $35 million or more to be subjected to costly and anti-competitive PLAs. 

Previously, U.S. COFC Judge Ryan T. Holte’s Jan. 19, 2025, ruling in the related MVL case held that federal agency PLA mandates were illegal and violated the federal Competition in Contracting Act. However, Judge Holte limited the scope of the ruling to only projects contained in 12 bid protests filed by federal contractors against three federal agencies that mandated PLAs in solicitations for construction services. 

On May 6, 2025, Judge Holte denied a subsequent federal contractor plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction against the entire Biden PLA rule. The court recognized the harm caused by Biden’s PLA mandate policy but refused to strike the rule because of questions about jurisdictional ability of the U.S. COFC to strike down a federal regulation. Judge Holte encouraged federal contractors harmed by new federal PLA mandates to continue to file bid protests with the U.S. COFC. 

Since that ruling, the Trump administration continued the controversial Biden administration pro-PLA policy via its June 12, 2025, OMB memo. It has mandated PLAs on dozens of federal contracts inappropriately, which has increased costs, reduced competition, and resulted in project delays and cancellations, as predicted. IEC praised Senators Katie Britt (R-AL) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA), and Representative Clay Higgins (R-LA) for spearheading July House and Senate letters to President Trump signed by almost 120  U.S. House and Senate lawmakers in opposition to the continuation of Biden’s pro-PLA policies. In September, IEC signed a coalition letter to the White House urging repeal of the Trump OMB policy. 

In the latest case before the U.S. COFC, a total of 16 bid protests against federal agency PLA mandate projects were consolidated into one case where Brasfield & Gorrie (B&G) serves as the prime contractor in the designated lead case for this tranche of bid protests. 

An opening brief in the B&G case was filed on September 8, 2025, and the court heard five hours of oral arguments in a hearing closed to the public on November 20, 2025.  

As was the case in the favorable MVL decision in January 2025, the court found that the federal agency record in the latest tranche of PLA bid protests again shows that the government ignored its own market research and findings that PLA mandates would likely raise costs and reduce competition and violate CICA. 

Unfortunately, the latest U.S. COFC decision does not block the Biden PLA policy (and Trump OMB memo) but removes the PLA mandate from the challenged project solicitation.  

Because the U.S. COFC judge chose not to issue a broad injunction striking down the rule, the Biden executive order implementing FAR rule and the Trump OMB memo remain in effect.  

As of December 19, 2025, two PLA mandates had been removed via amendment from the remaining 17 solicitations. The U.S. Department of Justice communicated to the court that the PLA mandates on the other 15 projects subjected to bid protests in this litigation tranche will be remedied by January 21. Likely most or all of the solicitations will be similarly remedied by removing the PLA mandate and continuing the delayed bidding process. However, as was the case in the first round of litigation and bid protests with the U.S. COFC––and with some protests this round––the government could choose to cancel some solicitations outright. 

Going forward, federal prime contractors are encouraged to file U.S. COFC bid protests and expect a similar, although delayed and costly, result. If you would like more information about the bid protest process, please contact IEC’s Ben Brubeck. 

For more information, see ABC’s press release on the U.S. COFC decision. 

“While the U.S. Court of Federal Claims’ latest ruling again affirms that federal PLA mandates violate federal laws, delay projects, and harm merit shop contractors and workers, the court was unwilling to strike down the entire Biden/Trump policy mandating PLAs due to jurisdictional issues,” said IEC’s federal lobbyist Ben Brubeck, principal and CEO of Government Affairs Solutions. “The fate of the Biden/Trump PLA policy on federal contracts will depend on the outcome of litigation in the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals that has been maturing simultaneously.” 

In this case, an Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) legal challenge to the entire Biden PLA Executive Order and FAR Council regulation is currently awaiting a decision in the 11^th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on a nationwide preliminary injunction request by ABC.  

Oral arguments were held September 12, 2025, in Associated Builders and Contractors Florida First Coast Chapter, et al., Appellants v. General Services Administration, et al. This case has been fully briefed since the middle of October 2025 and a ruling can be issued any day. 

ABC appealed a March 28, 2025, decision by Judge Irene Berger from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Jacksonville denying a preliminary injunction motion filed by ABC on April 26, 2024, following the filing of ABC’s lawsuit against the Biden PLA rule March 28, 2024. Judge Berger’s decision, issued almost a year after the lawsuit was originally filed by ABC, stated that ABC would likely prevail on the merits of the case, but it did not meet standards needed for the court to issue broad relief through a nationwide injunction. 

As expected and requested by ABC and the U.S. DOJ, Judge Berger’s PLA case has been stayed in the U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida Jacksonville Division pending resolution of the appeal in the 11^th Circuit.  

In short, Judge Berger won’t rule on the merits of the case until after the 11^th Circuit rules on the preliminary injunction appeal. 

Now that the U.S. COFC bid protest case has been decided, there is hope the 11^th Circuit may take action sooner rather than later. In oral arguments, the 11^th Circuit’s three panel judge questioned whether the U.S. COFC was the more appropriate venue to decide a nationwide preliminary injunction. However, Judge Holte’s recent ruling made it clear that the 11th Circuit has jurisdiction to issue a preliminary injunction and the U.S. COFC is not the appropriate venue. 

As litigation continues to mature addressing White House policies toward PLA requirements on direct federal construction contracts, the Trump administration has published a number of infrastructure grant Notice Of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) that contain pro-PLA language. In most cases, it appears to be directly copied and pasted from Biden-era NOFOs.  

However, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s FY 2026 BUILD Grants NOFO, issued December 15, 2025, remains the only NOFO where the Trump DOT clearly wrote and inserted pro-PLA language. See page 32, which controversially states that applications will be evaluated to see if it “includes union participation or project labor agreements which promote cost-effectiveness and open competition.” 

“This false assertion flies in the face of evidence presented in the 11^th Circuit Court, a ruling in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, and the Biden and now Trump administration’s failed record of PLA mandates on federal construction contracts,” Brubeck said. “It also fails to acknowledge academic research, congressional testimony, newspaper editorials, and the historical record to the contrary demonstrating that PLA mandates are bad policy.” 

Of note, some Trump administration NOFOs were published in April and May of 2025.  

President Trump issued a March 2025 EO revoking Biden’s push for PLAs on federally assisted projects, so these pro-PLA Trump administration NOFOs came after that IEC-supported EO, but before the IEC-opposed June 12 OMB memo specific to PLAs on direct federal contracts.  

IEC and the Build America Local coalition plans to continue pushing back on pro-PLA language in these NOFOs in Congress and with the Trump administration. 

IEC members should expect additional grassroots action campaigns addressing the Trump administration’s posture on federal and federally assisted construction projects. 

For more information on pro-PLA language in recent Trump administration NOFOs, keyword search “project labor agreements” in the following NOFOs of interest: 