76-15-B4
- Main Page \ Reagan Radio Commentaries \ 1977
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Force Account Work[edit]
Transcript[edit]Single family housing is in the middle of a boom right now, as you may have found out yourself if you've been shopping for a new home lately. The National Association of Home Builders forecasts that 1.4 million new single family houses will be built this year -- an all-time record, and nearly 21 per cent ahead of last year. There is a combination of reasons -- more new family formations, plenty of mortgage money available, and a desire by man to invest in real estate as a hedge against further inflation. All this adds up to sunnier skies for the construction business -- which went through several hard years but there's a new problem looming which may hurt construction jobs in the future. It's called "force account" or "day labor" work. That is, work done by government agencies using their own employees, instead of putting the jobs out to bid by private contractors. In most cases, government agencies have limits within which jobs don't require public bidding. These limits usually range from $2,500 to $10,000. But, there is reason to believe that, as government at every level grows, the legal limits for non-bid construction work are often being ignored. Most of the examples I've learned about are in California, but chances are the problem is about the same in your state, too. One case that came to light recently involved a large school district in Sacramento County. It was building a 3,000 square foot building using its own employees as the construction crew, although the law required bidding on the $45,000 job. It took a threat of court action by a group of contractors to get the school district to stop this "force account" work. Government agencies argue that using their own work force is actually more economic than putting some jobs out to bid. They say that since they must hire people for seasonal and emergency work that this "force account" work keeps them busy during the slack times. They use the same argument about government owned equipment. Contractor groups, on the other hand, argue that the law is the law and government agencies aren't above the law. And, a California coalition of construction trade associations formed to fight "force account" work estimates that some $500 million in construction contracts is lost by private contractors and construction workers each year in California alone because of "force account" work performed by public employees of cities, counties, special districts, school districts and state agencies. They claim that there would be 17,000 more private construction jobs in their state if public agencies weren't engaging in this kind of work. If so, public agencies that skirt around the legal bidding limits on their construction jobs are also aggravating the unemployment problem. This, in turn costs the taxpayers additional money in the form of unemployment and welfare support for some of those construction workers who can't find jobs. Maybe this practice isn't a problem in your community yet, but next time you read about a new public construction job in the newspaper, it wouldn't hurt to ask your elected representatives if their government unit is using "force account" work. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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