Updated: AGC’s Response to New Drone Use Rules

Source: AGC of America

FAA Finalizes New Federal Rules on the Commercial Use of Drones; AGC Schedules Follow-Up Programs Specifically for Construction Contractors

On June 21, 2016, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) finalized a new and comprehensive set of rules for the commercial use of small drones in all industries, including construction.   This action completes a rulemaking process that the FAA began in February of 2015 – in an effort to meet Congressional demands and to stem a rapidly rising tide of applications for individual exemptions from longstanding rules that make no distinction between manned and unmanned aircraft.   Through January 20 of this year, the FAA had granted 3,136 of these exemptions for the commercial use of drones, and significantly, 48% of that total were for uses in the construction and engineering.

AGC Success

AGC submitted detailed comments on the proposed rules and continues to assess the FAA’s response.  At the outset of its letter to the agency, AGC encouraged the FAA “to create a straightforward and streamlined process for companies to request exemptions from the agency’s [proposed] requirements and restrictions” where alternative approaches to “specific aircraft operations” would be “equally effective” in addressing the agency’s concerns.

Perhaps the best news is that the FAA has taken that advice, adding “waiver authority to the regulatory text in order to accommodate . . . unique operational circumstances.”  The agency has created a new “certificate-of-waiver process” specifically to give the agency the flexibility “to assess case-specific information concerning a small UAS operation that takes place in a unique operating environment,” such as a construction jobsite.

Follow-Up Programs

AGC continues to study the final rules. It is also scheduling a series of educational programs on the specific questions drones operations will require construction contractors to address. The dates and times for the individual programs included in this WebEd series, and the topics that each will address, are the following:

Date Time Topic
September 28 2:00 p.m. Eastern How Construction Contractors Are Already Using Drones
October 5 2:00 p.m. Eastern The New Federal “Rules of the Road”
October 12 2:00 p.m. Eastern Privacy, Nuisance and Other Legal Doctrines Restricting Drone Operations
October 19 2:00 p.m. Eastern Insurance and Outsourcing Strategies for Drone Operations
October 26 2:00 p.m. Eastern How to Manage the Additional Data that Drones Generate

For more information, including links to the FAA’s summary of its new rules, to its Fact Sheet on the new rules and to the full text of the rules themselves, simply click here.

Visit AGC’s WebEd Drone Series site to register for the entire series.

AGC Advocates for Contractors in Paid Leave Mandate

AGC of America submitted extensive comments on the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division’s proposed rule implementing Executive Order 13706, Establishing Paid Sick Leave for Federal Contractors, on April 12. The Executive Order and proposed rule require contractors with direct federal contracts and their subcontractors under such contracts to provide employees working on or in connection with such contracts up to seven days of paid leave annually for sickness and other covered purposes. A final rule is expected by September 30. AGC will continue to monitor the rulemaking and initiatives to curtail it, and will report on significant developments. Learn more here.

AGC to document federal change order challenges

Change orders are a way of life on any construction projects. However, that is no excuse for federal agencies taking many months or even years to process and pay change orders.  Please complete this brief survey to help AGC gauge how bad the change order process is on your federal construction projects. All survey responses are anonymous and allow AGC to better articulate the problems you face when working for federal construction agencies. Participate in the survey here.