The Associated General Contractors of New York State is the leading voice of the building and heavy highway construction industry, representing contractors and related companies dedicated to the ideals of skill, integrity and responsibility. Membership in the AGC NYS provides you with the opportunities to participate in addressing and learning from all the issues and problems created by the complexity of New York State’s current and future current political, legal and regulatory environment.
For 90 years, AGC NYS has delivered a variety of services and programs effectively organized to truly protect the interests of our members. Governed by a Board of Directors and supported by a complement of committees and task forces, our association is able to quickly adapt to meet the challenges confronting the entire membership and New York’s Construction Industry.
For over 30 years the AGC NYS has been holding the premier educational and networking construction industry event in the New York State. The AGC NYS Construction Industry Conference brings together AGC members with several State agencies, Authorites and Public Partners including the DOT, Thruway Authority, Dormitory Authority, NYS Office of General Services, State University Construction Fund, the Department of Labor, and the OSC, Office of State Comptroller. Held in Saratoga Springs, NY over one thousand people attend the three-day event focusing on the business, technical and safety aspects of construction. Over fifty construction related vendors pack the Trade Show to display their products and services to industry leaders. Seminars cover topics such as: Structures, Surety and Insurance Issues, Technical Services, Contract Administration, Environmental Conservation, Safety, Orders-on-Contracts, and a variety of training opportunities. Many of these courses qualify for PDH.
AGC NYS staff routinely communicates with key personnel from the Dormitory Authority, Office of General Services, DOT, the Thruway Authority, Office of the State Comptroller (OSC), the State University Construction Fund, Department of Environmental Conservation, and the Department of Labor. We use our contacts in these government agencies to resolve items of concern, such as late payments, lack of award, specification interpretation, and job site issues. The AGC NYS Specifications Committee and its dozen Subcommittees deal exclusively with DOT and Thruway regulations that affect your business on a daily basis. The broader, more complex issues are negotiated through Executive Level Partnering – comprised of AGC NYS Board Members and the top departmental heads of our Public Partners. By meeting at least three times a year, the Executive Level Partnering Committee has been able to reach agreements on major issues like steel price adjustment, design-build, metric reversal, utility involvement, work zone safety, and emerging technologies. In the building sector we provide the same advocacy to major state building agencies like DASNY, SUCF, OGS and others.
One of AGC NYS’ principle purpose is to improve business and market opportunities for all members and secure increased funding for capital construction projects at the local, state and federal level and improve the business climate for New York’s Economic Development and the economic prosperity and job growth that comes with it. Quite simply, the more investment infrastructure the more opportunities for your business to grow.
The Association employs a variety of advocacy methods to accomplish this goal. We use traditional lobbying and political activities, solicit public support at the grassroots level and through the internet and sometimes engage in media advertising opportunities.
Building on the success of 2014-2015 Rebuild NY Now campaign, which raised and spent $1.4 million in the effort to secure $3.49 billion in infrastructure investment, the 2015-2016 campaign was conceptualized and enacted after Governor Cuomo promised the MTA and additional $8 billion in funding for their multi-year capital plan. By promising the MTA, an authority with the capabilities of raising the necessary capital through user fees, such a large amount of funds, Governor Cuomo opened the door to discuss the NYSDOT capital plan and the necessary investment needed to maintain and improve New York’s road and bridge conditions. For more information please visit Rebuildnow.com.
Throughout the year, the AGC NYS offers education and training classes to assist members in furthering their industry skills and knowledge. Courses ranging from Blueprint Reading to Estimating, Project Management to Construction Leadership and specific industry training on Building Information Modeling and Building to LEED are just a few examples. Both classroom and web-based training have become standards in the industry, and the AGC NYS prides itself on staying ahead of the curve on industry training. Visit the calendar to view a list of upcoming classes.
The AGC NYS offers a number of scholarships ranging from the AGC NYS. scholarship to the Paul B. Richards Memorial Scholarship and the AGC of America’s Foundation scholarship. All of the awards are to help students pursuing degrees in Civil Engineering, Construction Management, Construction Technology and Diesel Technology. Visit the scholarship page for more information.
Members of the Labor Relations Division (LRD) negotiate construction labor agreements with the carpenters, operating engineers, laborers and teamsters in the highway sector of the industry upstate. AGC NYS represents LRD members in settling disputes arising out of the collective bargaining agreements, including assistance in the preparation and presentation of the member’s case if a dispute leads to a formal grievance or arbitration proceeding. Each year AGC NYS successfully negotiates several labor agreements. AGC NYS also provides its members with the latest information on the interpretation of labor agreements, contract changes, wage rate schedules, negotiation status reports, and other labor-related issues affecting their operations.
AGC NYS employs an in-house government affairs professional to monitor more than 300 construction-related bills per year. These bills address such issues as: prevailing wage and other labor law matters; bidding, State contracting and other matters covered by the State Finance Law; changes to the Transportation and Vehicle and Traffic Law; environmental issues; and non-budget funding issues.
While most of our resources are utilized to stop anti-business legislation from becoming law, AGC NYS also works pro-actively to push for changes that will benefit our industry. For example, this session we pursued changes to the State Finance Law to prevent contracts for capital projects from being delayed due to the lack of a state budget. We also tried to amend this statute to provide for the payment of on-going contracts when the budget is late. AGC NYS has secured passage of several pieces of legislation over the years, including the Work Zone Safety Act of 2005 and a law to eliminate the double withholding of contractor payments on NYC School Construction Authority Contracts.
Political Action and support to elected officials and candidates are also a vital component of our legislative program.
AGC NYS members are provided with the most current and complete information on project letting schedules from the DOT and NYS Thruway Authority. We also advertise projects for NYS DEC. We supply the list of scheduled projects with item numbers and quantities, related plan holders, results on letting days and unit pricing for all projects as soon as they become public information. With our direct telephone connection to DOT, our members can receive the results as the bids are opened at DOT. We package all of this data in easy-to-read spreadsheets, including regional break-downs, and make it available on our website.
AGC NYS provides ample opportunities for our members to interact with potential customers, market their products and services, and exchange information and ideas with their industry partners. We conduct a variety of membership meetings and networking opportunies.
Our Winter Meeting is held in late January every year at a beautiful location in the Caribbean. This event routinely attracts over 200 people and has a balance of recreational, business and social functions.
The annual AGC NYS Scholarship Golf Classic is held the last week of June and raises over $50,000 for college students studying to enter the construction industry.
Our Summer Meeting is held each July over three days in the Adirondack Region of NY and offers members the opportunity to interact with your fellow members and to be educated on the latest topics that affect your business.
The Construction Industry Conference hosted each year in December draws over 900 people on a regular basis. This event offers you the opportunity to not only connect with other Members but also personnel from the people you do business with at NYSDOT, NYSTA, DASNY, OGS, SUCF and many others.
AGC NYS PAC and AGC NYS Federal PAC are nonpartisan political action committees sponsored by AGC NYS. Contributions are used to support candidates running for elective office who, regardless of party affiliation, understand the construction industry and the specific needs, interests, and concerns of AGC NYS member companies and their employees.
The AGC America PAC is registered with the U.S. Federal Election Commission and its’ ongoing tenacity and resolve in the political arena have made it one of the most recognized and well-respected PACs in Washington, DC, ranking among the top 75 trade association PACs in the nation.
Staff Contact: Walter Pacholczak
The AGC NYS Cornerstone is a quarterly magazine publication that carries highly informative, thought-provoking and authoritative articles covering such subjects as safety; legal and tax issues; new technology and materials; as well as updates on association and members’ activities. Many issues profile a different member, giving the reader a true feel for what that firm does.
AGC NYS staff routinely communicates with key personnel from the Dormitory Authority, Office of General Services, DOT, the Thruway Authority, the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC), the State University Construction Fund, Department of Environmental Conservation, and the Department of Labor. We use our contacts in these government agencies to resolve items of concern, such as late payments, lack of award, specification interpretation, and job site issues. The AGC NYS Specifications Committee and its dozen Subcommittees deal exclusively with DOT and Thruway regulations that affect your business on a daily basis. The broader, more complex issues are negotiated through Executive Level Partnering – comprised of AGC NYS Board Members and the top departmental heads of our Public Partners. By meeting at least three times a year, the Executive Level Partnering Committee has been able to reach agreements on major issues like steel price adjustment, design-build, metric reversal, utility involvement, work zone safety, and emerging technologies.
AGC NYS continuously works to provide its members with the latest information on new technologies, changing specifications, and preventative measures they can implement to better protect their workforce. Through bi-monthly Safety Committee meetings, safety workshops and training sessions conducted during the Construction Industry Conference, on-site safety training and more, AGC NYS works cooperatively with several government agencies and public partners to enhance workplace safety. AGC NYS has signed an Alliance with the Albany, Buffalo and Syracuse area offices of OSHA to provide better communication and guidance to our members’ employees about maintaining a safe workplace environment. As part of our on-going efforts to reduce accidents in our highway work zones, each spring AGC NYS joins with DOT and the New York State Police to alert the traveling public through statewide press conferences and radio ads to slow down and use caution in construction areas.
A hallmark of AGC NYS service to its’ Members and the industry for over 40 years has been its’ “spec review” service. Hundreds of such reviews are conducted in any given year calculated to ensure conformity to widely accepted standards of equity, industry practice and law. Our aim is to help maximize competition while minimizing the potential for dispute, lien and defect. In that way all sectors of the industry are well served.
While our hope is that these reviews are accepted in the constructive spirit intended, it is not always so. Over the years we have occasionally (41 times) found it necessary to take the matter before a judge. We have lost only a couple on technical grounds and have set a number of significant precedents relative to the competitive bidding laws of New York State. A scan of case law surrounding Article 5-A of General Municipal Law will reveal a numerous cases entitled GBC v.