USDOT expands local hire and workforce development pilot programs

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) will manage expanded construction hiring and workforce development pilot programs, announced Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg May 19 at the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge in Washington, D.C.

“As we invest in world-class infrastructure for Americans, we want to make sure that our investments create jobs for people in the communities where the projects are located,” said Sec. Buttigieg. “We’re proud to launch the department’s local hiring initiative, with an additional focus on workforce development so that good jobs can become meaningful careers.”

Both FHWA’s and FTA’s programs will give contracting agencies expanded flexibility to use hiring preferences to enhance workforce development opportunities for those in economically or socially disadvantaged communities. A similar U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) pilot program was in effect from 2015 to 2017.

FHWA’s Enhancing Workforce Development Opportunities Contracting Initiative will help to rebuild the skilled workforce needed to improve the nation’s transportation infrastructure. The four-year pilot program will enable state transportation agencies and contractors to better recruit qualified construction workers, which can be challenging in many parts of the country. For some, construction projects represent an employment opportunity for residents and, perhaps, the first step toward a construction career.

“The transportation construction industry needs more trained workers, from a wide array of backgrounds,” said Acting Federal Highway Administrator Stephanie Pollack. “This program will give new career opportunities to the next generation of highway construction workers.”

FTA’s construction hiring and workforce development initiative, the Equitable Economic Recovery and Workforce Development Through Construction Hiring Pilot Program, is a four-year pilot program that will allow transit agencies to use geographic, economic or other hiring preferences on FTA-funded construction projects.

“This FTA pilot program will provide flexibility to transit agencies to promote equitable jobs and workforce development, particularly for economically or socially disadvantaged workers,” said Deputy Federal Transit Administrator Nuria Fernandez.

Both FHWA’s and FTA’s local hire initiatives will improve participation in existing training and apprenticeship programs, such as FHWA’s On-the-Job Training programs and FTA’s innovative public transportation Workforce Development Program. The organization selected to run the center will help transit agencies implement best practices to hire new employees to support advanced technology initiatives, including electric buses and high-speed rail.

The local-hire initiative pilot programs will appear in the Federal Register later this week and are open to recipients and sub-recipients of FHWA and FTA federal funds. FHWA’s pilot program is being administered under Sec. 199B of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, and its Special Experimental Project No. 14 (SEP-14) program to promote innovative contracting approaches.