MWAA Significantly Scales Back PLA Mandate
Federal funding eligibility alone will no longer trigger MWAA’s PLA requirement.
Read the resolution here.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) voted September 16 to significantly narrow its Project Labor Agreement (PLA) mandate for large construction projects. MWAA describes the amendment as a clarification, but the change will dramatically limit the Authority’s PLA policy.
Under Resolution 22-35, adopted in November 2022, MWAA directed staff to require PLAs on construction contracts of $35 million or more eligible for discretionary federal funding. Under the revised policy, those projects require a PLA only if MWAA has already applied for or received an award of discretionary federal funding when MWAA issues the solicitation.
The amendment follows a union challenge to MWAA’s implementation of its existing policy. As we previously covered, the Baltimore-D.C. Metro Building and Construction Trades Council sued in January 2026, challenging in part MWAA’s determination that a PLA was not required on the Dulles Tier 2 (Center) project. The case was dismissed in March.
Federal funding was central to the Authority’s original rationale. The 2022 resolution cited Biden Administration executive orders, FAA grant criteria addressing PLA use, and MWAA’s anticipated applications for additional federal funding.
As Virginians for Fairness noted in its September 8 letter to MWAA, however, the Authority is under no obligation to mandate a PLA on any construction project. Thus, we urged MWAA to keep the Terminal 1 and South Area redevelopment at Reagan National Airport open to all qualified firms.
In the letter, we also raised concerns about Board member Samuel Epps IV’s participation in PLA matters. We identified his paid position as president of the Metro Washington Council, AFL-CIO, whose membership includes at least 14 construction unions that we identified as prospective signatories to an MWAA-mandated PLA. We urged the Authority to enforce its conflict-of-interest rules.
Epps, however, participated in the debate on the amendment and voted against it. Virginians for Fairness will continue monitoring MWAA’s handling of PLA matters and the ethics concern identified in our letter.