Read the Latest Federal Updates

Alaska roundup itemizes military construction at three installations

OCTOBER 13, 2026   ·   SOURCE

A release issued for the President’s Alaska visit itemizes military construction by installation.

• Fort Wainwright. Under the fiscal year 2026 appropriations act, $208 million for new barracks and $7.7 million to begin planning and design for an Army dining facility. Under the fiscal year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, $80 million for upgraded Army barracks and $8 million for design of an Army dining facility.
• Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Under the appropriations act, $46 million for a base supply complex, $152 million for the next phase of the Joint Integrated Test and Training Center and $45 million to complete the Air Force runway extension. Under the Authorization Act, a further $82 million for that center, a $46 million Army Reserve base supply complex and a $46 million Army Reserve maintenance facility.
• Eielson Air Force Base. Under the appropriations act, $6.7 million to finish planning and design of a permanent party dormitory. Under the Authorization Act, $15 million for an Air National Guard pavements and grounds facility, $13.2 million for design of a consolidated munitions complex and $1.75 million for design of a coal thaw shed addition.

The release separately describes a recapitalization at Elmendorf-Richardson that it calls Fighter Town USA, at $7 billion across 26 facilities, and characterizes it as multi-year and as creating up to 4,000 private-sector jobs. It states that the fiscal year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, which carries that work and $2.6 billion for Alaska, has passed the House. On energy construction it cites $54 billion to construct a natural gas pipeline as part of a $200 billion South Korean energy investment package. It also names a new Department of Veterans Affairs walk-in clinic in Anchorage, along with infrastructure upgrades at the Alaska VA Healthcare System, neither carrying an Alaska-specific dollar figure.

Montana roundup carries a Malmstrom entrance facility and Sentinel site preparation

OCTOBER 14, 2026   ·   SOURCE

A companion release for the President’s Montana visit describes a $26 million commercial entrance facility at Malmstrom Air Force Base that broke ground in May 2026, and says the facility clears the way for nearly $1 billion in Sentinel construction work. Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile work at Malmstrom is described as surveying and site preparation across central Montana’s missile fields, with no dollar figure attached. On industrial building the release cites an $800 million Janicki Industries advanced manufacturing campus in Great Falls, which it says will create more than 1,000 jobs within five years and more than 2,000 at completion. It also cites an expansion of the United States Antimony Corporation smelter at Thompson Falls, funded by a $27 million Defense Production Act award.

New law requires annual reporting on delayed and over-budget federal projects

OCTOBER 7, 2026   ·   SOURCE

The President signed S. 766, the Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act of 2025, which the signing statement says requires an annual report on federally funded projects that are more than 5 years behind schedule or more than $1 billion over the original cost estimate. The statement names no administering agency, sets no date for a first report and gives no further implementation detail.

Navy puts up to $2.9 billion behind the Arsenal-2 shipyard in Maryland

OCTOBER 8, 2026   ·   SOURCE

A release on American industry says the Arsenal-2 shipyard is now moving forward in Maryland, with Anduril investing $3.7 billion in private capital and the Navy putting up to $2.9 billion behind it, and says the yard will create about 3,100 direct jobs. The release gives no construction schedule and no separate figure for the facility itself.

Texas roundup names a sterile-fly facility at Moore Air Base and a Shackelford County data center

OCTOBER 7, 2026   ·   SOURCE

A release on the administration’s Texas record names a $750 million sterile-fly facility at Moore Air Base in Edinburg, which it says broke ground in April, and a Vantage Data Centers investment of $25 billion to build a 1,200-acre data center campus in Shackelford County.

Arizona roundup carries a $179 million Phoenix water purification plant

OCTOBER 14, 2026   ·   SOURCE

A companion release on the administration’s Arizona record states that the Bureau of Reclamation announced in July 2025 a $179 million investment to design and construct the North Gateway Advanced Water Purification Facility in Phoenix.

Executive order creates a task force on manufactured housing permitting and factory-built production

OCTOBER 22, 2026   ·   SOURCE

Executive Order 14438, Decreasing Housing Costs for the American People, establishes a Task Force on Manufactured Housing Innovation co-chaired by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, with the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce and Veterans Affairs as members. Within 180 days of the order the task force must submit recommendations to the President through the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy.

Section 3 of the order, headed Standardizing the Permitting of Homes, is where the construction content sits. The task force’s recommendations must include actions on five subjects: promoting specifications, certifications, inspections and approvals across federal housing and housing-finance programs; establishing reciprocal recognition among agencies of licenses, certifications, approvals and inspections where that avoids unnecessary duplication; eliminating federal requirements and duplicative reviews that unnecessarily impede automation, modularization, standardized production or other advanced manufacturing techniques, or that increase the time or cost of bringing homes to market; using federal financing, insurance, guarantee, purchasing and other program authorities to encourage innovation and greater production of affordable manufactured and factory-built homes; and promoting competition among manufacturers and other market participants while maintaining appropriate standards for safety, quality, durability and consumer protection.

The order separately directs the task force to evaluate whether federal grant funding can be conditioned on, or used to incentivize, state and local adoption of standardized permitting and licensing for factory-built housing, tied to best practices under section 4(a) of Executive Order 14394. It must also prepare legislative recommendations, and the heads of agencies represented on the task force must act within their own authorities to implement what it recommends. The order carries no dollar figures, and its remaining sections deal with mortgage insurance cancellation, title insurance in refinancing and interest rates on direct single-family loans.

Kansas roundup itemizes military construction at Fort Riley and Fort Leavenworth

OCTOBER 19, 2026   ·   SOURCE

The White House published state record-of-results roundups for seven states during the two weeks, and these again carry the itemized federal construction figures that the presidential actions themselves do not. The Kansas roundup is the most granular on military construction. Fort Riley is listed for $26 million for a new air traffic control tower, $5.5 million to modernize security infrastructure around the intermodal railyard and $2.6 million to improve the staging area for the 1st Infantry Division. Fort Leavenworth is listed for $8 million for a new fire station and $900,000 to update the current facility. Forbes Field in Topeka was named in October as one of four candidate bases for the KC-46A Pegasus mission, which would bring eight tanker aircraft to the 190th Air Refueling Wing.

On the industrial side the roundup names Merck Animal Health at $895 million to expand its De Soto manufacturing facility and research and development laboratories, with 200 jobs; the Kansas City BioSecure Manufacturing Tech Hub at $34 million to build an advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing center and train workers in biomanufacturing; Indra Group at $50 million to build and equip a new Kansas City manufacturing facility, with 200 jobs; U.S. Engineering Metalworks at $25 million for a 110,000-square-foot production facility at Lawrence VenturePark, with about 50 jobs; J.M. Smucker Co. at $20.5 million to expand its Topeka pet food factory; and Beale Infrastructure at $3 billion to build a data center campus in De Soto.

South Carolina roundup names a nuclear power training facility and recruit barracks

OCTOBER 21, 2026   ·   SOURCE

The FY 2027 National Defense Authorization Act authorized $161.7 million for a nuclear power training facility expansion at Joint Base Charleston, and Parris Island carries extended funding totaling $166.7 million for new recruit barracks. These are the two largest itemized military construction project lines in the window.

Plant construction in the roundup includes Octapharma at $1.5 billion for a critical care manufacturing plant in Rock Hill, Ferrara Candy Company at $675 million for its first South Carolina operation in Orangeburg County, Okonite at $400 million for a high-voltage electric cable plant in Orangeburg with 105 jobs, Eaton at $340 million to expand transformer production in Jonesville, and Scout Motors at $300 million for a Supplier Park at its Blythewood Production Center, with seven suppliers investing more than $82 million across Spartanburg, Duncan and Piedmont. NorthMark Strategies is listed at $2.8 billion for a high-performance computing facility in Spartanburg, and a $23.5 million federal grant will replace 18 aging bridges across nine counties.

Ohio roundup lists Wright-Patterson work, a submarine repair center and 10 gigawatts of new generation

OCTOBER 28, 2026   ·   SOURCE

The FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act carries more than $72 million for Ohio defense projects, including $60 million for work at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Cleveland was named in October as the location of the new U.S. Submarine Component Repair Center, with no dollar figure given. Anduril’s Arsenal-1 in Pickaway County is given as a $910.5 million project expected to create more than 4,000 jobs, with the first Ohio-built Fury drone off the line in July.

SoftBank Group and SB Energy will build 10 gigawatts of new power generation in southern Ohio under a public-private partnership, with $40 million in community benefits from SB Energy, and Nvidia is financing up to $105 billion for a new Super Intelligence data center in Pike County. Plant construction includes Bayer at $2.2 billion for a New Albany pharmaceutical manufacturing campus, with about 600 permanent jobs and 1,500 construction jobs; Electra at $850 million for its first EL9 Ultra Short aircraft production facility in Springfield, with 1,975 new jobs; Kimberly-Clark at $800 million in Warren, its first new United States plant in 37 years; Honda at up to $2.5 billion for a new hybrid vehicle production plant; Stellantis at $400 million at the Toledo Assembly Complex, with over 900 jobs; and Weidmann at $150 million to renovate and expand a historic former paper mill in Middletown. The Department of Energy awarded $500 million to support a $1 billion investment at Cleveland-Cliffs Middletown Works.

North Carolina roundup carries the window’s largest construction job counts

OCTOBER 20, 2026   ·   SOURCE

JetZero is listed at $4.7 billion to build a commercial airplane factory in Greensboro, a project the roundup puts at about 14,560 jobs. Johnson & Johnson is at $2 billion to build a manufacturing campus in Wilson, credited with more than 500 high-wage manufacturing jobs and thousands of construction jobs. Genentech is at $2 billion to expand its Holly Springs biomanufacturing facility, with more than 500 manufacturing jobs and 1,500 construction jobs, and AbbVie at $1.4 billion to build a 185-acre pharmaceutical manufacturing campus in Durham, with nearly 750 permanent jobs and more than 2,000 construction jobs. The Genentech and AbbVie entries, with the Ohio Bayer line above, are the window’s most detailed splits between construction employment and permanent plant employment.

Also listed are Biogen at $2 billion to expand manufacturing in the Research Triangle, Prysmian at $1 billion to expand its Catawba County cable manufacturing facility with 385 jobs, US Forged Rings at $875 million to build a new production site in Hertford County with 625 jobs, STERIS at $600 million to build a manufacturing and distribution hub in Sanford with 335 jobs, and Amazon at $10 billion to expand cloud computing and Super Intelligence infrastructure in Richmond County, with at least 500 high-skilled jobs and support for thousands more. Hurricane Helene recovery accounts for more than $7.5 billion in federal disaster funding, plus an additional $858 million recently announced.

Mississippi roundup names installation upgrades and a sheet metal plant expansion

OCTOBER 26, 2026   ·   SOURCE

National Defense Authorization Act funding for Mississippi is given as $528 million, including $53 million for critical upgrades at Columbus Air Force Base, Camp Shelby, Navy Reserve Center Meridian and Key Field Air National Guard Base. The roundup does not state which fiscal year’s act carries the $528 million. Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula received a $99 million contract modification for sea trials of the USS Lyndon B. Johnson and a $283 million contract to begin work on the Navy’s new FF(X) frigates.

On data centers and plants, Amazon is listed at an additional $12 billion to expand its Madison County data center operation with 700 jobs, and xAI at $20 billion to build a data center in Southaven. The roundup places an earlier $3 billion Vicksburg project alongside the Amazon investment without specifying its type. Facility investments include BWC Terminals at $316 million for a terminal facility in Pascagoula, Siemens Energy at $300 million for a new Pearl manufacturing facility for electrical grid components with up to 300 jobs, Hood Industries at $245 million for a new advanced sawmill in Waynesboro, Aluminum Dynamics at $200 million for a recycled aluminum slab center in Lowndes County, Gulf Ship at $44 million to modernize its Gulfport shipyard with 121 jobs, and Southwark Metal Manufacturing Company at $29 million to expand in DeSoto County.

Iowa roundup names a Cedar Rapids data center and a nuclear restart loan

OCTOBER 22, 2026   ·   SOURCE

Google is listed at $7 billion in cloud and Super Intelligence infrastructure in Iowa, including a new data center in Cedar Rapids and an expansion at Council Bluffs. The roundup also carries a loan of up to $1.9 billion to NextEra to restart the Duane Arnold Energy Center, which would provide 615 megawatts of baseload power, described in the roundup as enough for nearly 500,000 homes. Mesabi Metallics is listed at $15 billion for a Lee County steelmaking complex with at least 1,750 permanent positions plus construction jobs the roundup puts only at thousands. Data center developers working with Alliant Energy, among them QTS, must cover 100 percent of the energy and infrastructure costs for their facilities and support a five-year rate freeze.

Plant investment includes John Deere at $20 billion in the United States, with new high-horsepower tractor assembly lines at its Waterloo plant, JBS USA at $135 million for a Perry production facility with hundreds of jobs, Electrical Power Products at $42 million to expand in Des Moines with 200 jobs, Greater Machining and Manufacturing at $16 million to expand in Independence with 100 jobs, and Webster City Custom Meats at $2.5 million to expand its meat processing facility. The Iowa City VA Health Care System is listed for infrastructure upgrades including a dialysis unit renovation, announced in February 2026, with no dollar figure given.

Florida roundup names an airport terminal expansion and detention capacity

OCTOBER 23, 2026   ·   SOURCE

The Federal Aviation Administration awarded $10 million in May 2026 to expand the terminal at President Donald J. Trump International Airport and add facilities for mothers and travelers with special needs. The roundup lists $608 million to expand detention capacity in the state, naming no site, and contract modifications to speed construction of the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir, now expected to be complete by 2029, with no dollar figure given. The Department of Veterans Affairs broke ground in June 2026 on a North Port clinic replacing the Port Charlotte clinic, to serve more than 10,000 veterans annually.

Plant construction includes Johnson & Johnson at $1 billion to upgrade manufacturing and packaging technologies in Jacksonville, where it is also building a new distribution facility; Williams International at $1 billion to build a high-volume aviation gas turbine engine manufacturing facility in Okaloosa County; Blue Origin at $600 million to expand its Rocket Park campus at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport; Lupin at $250 million for a new Coral Springs pharmaceutical manufacturing plant; Chick-fil-A at $150 million for a new Winter Haven distribution center; and Monin at $111 million to build a manufacturing plant in Zephyrhills. In August 2026 Gulf Marine Corporation received over $1 million for training center equipment, wheel loaders and upgrades to three berths in Tampa.

Industry roundup puts the Baltimore Arsenal-2 shipyard at $6.6 billion

OCTOBER 26, 2026   ·   SOURCE

A separate industry roundup published the same day gives new figures for several facility projects. The Navy and Anduril are investing $6.6 billion to build Arsenal-2, a software-defined shipyard in Baltimore. Audi is investing $4.2 billion in its first United States production site near Macon, Georgia, with 4,500 jobs and planned annual capacity of 200,000 vehicles. The Defense Production Act is being used to provide $150 million to expand United States refining capacity in Iowa, and Antheia is revitalizing pharmaceutical manufacturing at a facility in Winchester, Kentucky, backed by an $80 million investment. Nebraska is listed for $1.3 billion in domestic fertilizer manufacturing, with TalusAg opening two facilities in the state. Wolfspeed is listed for up to $1.5 billion for semiconductor production expansion in North Carolina.

Proclamation opens Section 232 talks on robotics and industrial machinery imports

OCTOBER 28, 2026   ·   SOURCE

A proclamation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 directs the Secretary of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative to negotiate agreements with trading partners on imports of robotics, industrial machinery and their parts and components, and requires an update on those negotiations within 180 days of the proclamation. It sets no tariff rates, no effective dates and no Harmonized Tariff Schedule codes, and states that the President may consider alternative remedies in the future, including tariffs, duties, quotas and fees.

Neither the proclamation nor the accompanying fact sheet names HVAC, air conditioning, refrigeration, ventilation, fans, blowers, compressors, pumps, boilers, heating equipment or sheet metal fabrication machinery, and whether mechanical equipment falls inside the term industrial machinery is not addressed. Construction equipment and metal fabrication appear only inside one list of the things industrial machinery is used in, alongside electronics, medical devices, motor vehicles and aircraft.

Companion proclamation opens Section 232 talks on wind turbine imports

OCTOBER 22, 2026   ·   SOURCE

A Section 232 proclamation issued six days before the robotics action covers imports of wind turbines and their components and subcomponents, and requires the Secretary of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative to provide at least one update on negotiations within 180 days. It sets no tariff rates and no effective dates and lists no Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheadings. The text discusses networked inverters used in wind farms in an import-reliance and cybersecurity context, and blades in a domestic-capacity context, saying domestic manufacturing capacity for certain products such as blades has not meaningfully increased. It says the President may consider alternative remedies in the future, including tariffs, and that the plan of action may pair negotiations with other actions to adjust imports. It also states that certain components made of significant amounts of aluminum, steel or copper are already subject to existing tariffs under Proclamations 9704, 9705 and 10962, as amended, and that nothing in it modifies those.

Council of Economic Advisers puts a dollar figure on faster environmental reviews

OCTOBER 28, 2026   ·   SOURCE

A Council of Economic Advisers analysis estimates the economic effect of statutory deadlines on environmental impact statements. Its baseline is that environmental impact statements published in recent years have averaged roughly 1,700 pages including appendixes and that agencies took on average 4.2 years to complete them. The statutes it names are the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act and the National Historic Preservation Act.

Under the two-year environmental impact statement deadline in the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, the analysis projects long-run gross domestic product higher by 0.28 to 0.56 percent, or $82 billion to $164 billion in additional output, annual tax revenue higher by $14 billion to $28 billion, real wages up $306 to $637 per average household, electric bills down $178 to $251 and other household expenses down $125 to $176. A more aggressive one-year completion scenario moves those figures to 0.41 to 0.83 percent of output, or $120 billion to $243 billion, with revenue up $20 billion to $41 billion, wages up $445 to $922, electric bills down $259 to $366 and other expenses down $184 to $257.

Analysis release puts construction wages up $2,800 and factory construction jobs up more than 111,000

OCTOBER 22, 2026   ·   SOURCE

A release citing a Council of Economic Advisers analysis states that, since the President took office, construction employment has grown by 100,000, including more than 111,000 additional factory construction jobs. Over the same period it puts manufacturing wages up $2,000 and construction wages up $2,800, construction workers’ real wages up $3,800, and inflation-adjusted wages for blue-collar manufacturing workers up an average of $2,400 more per year. Manufacturing employment is given as up 72,000 in 2026, including a 101,000 job increase in durable goods. In both employment pairs, as the release states them, the subcomponent figure exceeds the total. The underlying analysis, titled The State of American Manufacturing, is dated October 10, 2026, and is linked from the release as a PDF.

OSHA proposes $648,094 against six contractors over a Monroe, New York excavation

OCTOBER 13, 2026   ·   SOURCE

OSHA issued 23 serious and five willful citations to the general contractor and five subcontractors at the Monroe Commons project in Monroe, New York, a planned four-story mixed-use building the agency describes as approximately 408,000 square feet on an 18-acre site. The agency says the excavation carried an unstable embankment nearly 75 feet high that was not adequately sloped or shored, and that the excavation, 21 to 75 feet deep, was not designed by a registered professional engineer. Cited conditions include cave-in, struck-by and chemical hazards, falling or rolling rock and soil, lack of fall protection, and failure to ensure daily excavation inspections by a competent person. Proposed penalties total $648,094.

• Advanced Plan and Build LLC, $175,444.
• Century Max Industries Corp., $46,340.
• DelValle Contractor, $19,151.
• Parkstone Inc. and Obstacle Systems Inc., operating as Drip Drop Waterproofing Inc., $198,615.
• Prime Structure Inc., $19,860.
• The Paving Masters LLC, $188,684.

The employers have 15 business days from receipt to comply, request an informal conference with the area director, or contest before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

OSHA proposes $254,884 against a Pennsylvania contractor after a fatal trench cave-in

OCTOBER 7, 2026   ·   SOURCE

OSHA cited Jonas David Wagoner, doing business as J.D. Wagoner Excavating, of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, after a worker was engulfed and fatally injured when a section of trench wall failed. Workers were installing a storm sewer 12 feet below ground in a trench not adequately protected against soil collapse, and the agency opened its investigation on April 2, 2026. The citations are one willful violation for failing to protect workers from cave-ins, two repeat violations for not having a competent person conduct daily trench inspections and for failing to remove employees from hazardous conditions, and three serious violations covering training, safe means of exit, material placement and roll-in hazards. Proposed penalties are $254,884, and the employer has 15 business days to request an informal conference with the area director or contest before the Review Commission.

Labor Department awards $81.5 million for industry-driven job training in rural communities

OCTOBER 16, 2026   ·   SOURCE

The Department announced, in the words of its headline, $81.5 million in grants to support industry-driven job training programs in rural communities. The Employment and Training Administration’s program page for Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities records the round as 13 grantees totaling $81,542,854 across the Appalachian, Delta and Northern Border regions, and puts the program at seven funded rounds to date, 174 grants and $289,513,730. The program runs as a partnership between the Employment and Training Administration and the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Delta Regional Authority and the Northern Border Regional Commission, funding regional industry and sector partnerships that design industry-driven training in economically distressed areas. The funding opportunity announcement for the round lists industry and employer associations and labor-management organizations among its eligible applicants, alongside state and local workforce boards.

Tri-agency final rule reorganizes machine-readable price files and adds telephone cost disclosure

OCTOBER 6, 2026   ·   SOURCE

Labor, Treasury and Health and Human Services issued a final rule, Transparency in Coverage, carrying RIN 1210-AC30 for the Employee Benefits Security Administration, RIN 1545-BR51 for the Internal Revenue Service and RIN 0938-AV64 for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. It appears as Treasury Decision 10058, docket CMS-9882-F and Federal Register document 2026-20447. The rule, at 91 FR 63748, is effective December 7, 2026, and the amended and new cost-sharing disclosure paragraphs apply for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2027. Group health plans and issuers must make the same cost-sharing information available by telephone on request that they already provide online and on paper, accurate at the time of the request, through the customer assistance number already printed on identification cards. Plans may limit telephone and paper requests to no fewer than 20 providers per day, applied separately to each method per operational day. The balance-billing statement is amended to explain that an estimate may not reflect additional amounts an out-of-network provider could bill where law allows it, and is not required where a state bars all such billing.

On the machine-readable files, in-network rate files are reorganized by provider network rather than by coverage option, each requiring a common provider network name and identifier, and allowed amount files are organized by health insurance market, defined irrespective of state. Other changes add product type, a text file and footer links to aid findability, require an attestation of accuracy and completeness, reduce reporting frequency from monthly to quarterly, and remove in-network rates for unlikely provider-to-service mappings. The rule gives total annual costs of $80,439,626, total one-time costs of $399,747,381 and total annual cost savings of $254,934,840. The proposed rules were published December 23, 2025 at 90 FR 60432.

Wage and Hour Division withdraws its proposal to decodify FLSA interpretive bulletins

OCTOBER 7, 2026   ·   SOURCE

The Wage and Hour Division withdrew the proposed rule it published on July 2, 2025 at 90 FR 28985, which would have removed nine parts of subchapter B of 29 CFR, the interpretive statements not issued or amended through notice and comment rulemaking. The proposal would have reissued them as subregulatory guidance elsewhere. The parts affected were 775, 776, 779, 782, 783, 784, 789, 793 and 794. The withdrawal, at 91 FR 64129 under RIN 1235-AA52 and docket WHD-2025-0002, is effective October 6, 2026, and the Division says it reevaluated the proposal and concluded further rulemaking “no longer aligns with the Department’s needs, priorities, and objectives,” citing commenter concerns including effects on specific industries. The long-standing interpretive bulletins stay codified; comments are no longer accepted and the original comment period closed August 1, 2025.

OSHA seeks comment on the rigging equipment recordkeeping collection

OCTOBER 16, 2026   ·   SOURCE

OSHA submitted for review by the Office of Management and Budget the information collection supporting its rigging equipment for material handling standard, OMB Control Number 1218-0233, at 91 FR 65788. The collection covers affixing identification tags or markings to rigging equipment, developing and maintaining inspection records, and retaining proof-testing certificates. The agency estimates 115,829 respondents, 263,953 responses and 49,160 hours of annual time burden, with no other annual cost burden. Comments are due November 16, 2026, filed through reginfo.gov.

Energy Department commits up to $4.2 billion to nuclear uprates in Pennsylvania and Ohio

OCTOBER 5, 2026   ·   SOURCE

The Office of Energy Dominance Financing issued a conditional loan commitment of up to $4.2 billion to finance nuclear uprates and modernization across Vistra’s fleet, at Beaver Valley in Pennsylvania and Davis-Besse and Perry in Ohio, with an option to finance future uprates at Comanche Peak in Texas. The Department says the projects preserve nearly 4 gigawatts of baseload power, enough for more than 3 million homes, add 433 megawatts of new nuclear capacity and support plant operation for 20 more years beyond current licenses. It states the investments “will produce more electricity from existing nuclear plants without requiring new transmission corridors or equivalent new generation resources,” and it puts project-related employment at approximately 3,000 jobs in engineering, construction and planned outage work. The commitment is conditional, and Vistra must satisfy technical, legal, environmental and financial conditions before definitive financing documents are executed.

Energy Department selects eight energy workforce training projects

OCTOBER 15, 2026   ·   SOURCE

The Department announced nearly $11.1 million for eight projects selected for negotiation under the Partnerships for Academic-Industry Career Training initiative. Six Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office projects receive almost $8.8 million, and a further two, from the Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs, receive approximately $2.3 million. Two of the selected institutions are tribal colleges and universities. The projects would create or expand hands-on training and industry-recognized credentialing across oil, natural gas, coal, geothermal energy, energy infrastructure and Tribal communities. The announcement names no recipient institutions and no occupations.

Energy Department commits up to $5 billion for Constellation nuclear uprates at eight plants

OCTOBER 27, 2026   ·   SOURCE

The Office of Energy Dominance Financing made two large new generation financings inside the window. One is a conditional loan commitment of up to $5 billion to Constellation Energy for uprates adding nearly 1.1 gigawatts across eight plants: Braidwood, Byron, Clinton, Dresden, LaSalle and Quad Cities in Illinois, Calvert Cliffs in Maryland and Limerick in Pennsylvania. The Department puts the added capacity, which serves PJM and MISO, at enough for more than 930,000 homes, and the work at more than 10,000 project-related jobs. The commitment carries an option to finance uprates at additional Constellation facilities. Constellation must meet technical, legal, environmental and financial conditions before the Department signs final documents and disburses.

Energy Department closes a $5.1 billion loan package for Alliant gas plants and generation upgrades

OCTOBER 28, 2026   ·   SOURCE

The $5.1 billion package to Alliant Energy funds new natural gas-fired power plants, energy storage systems and upgrades to existing generation facilities in Iowa and Wisconsin, adding more than 2.6 gigawatts of new or upgraded power generation capacity. The Department projects more than $1 billion in electricity cost savings and puts the capacity at the equivalent of nearly 2 million homes, with hundreds of construction-related jobs. It is the Administration’s tenth financial close and its sixth and seventh utility financings. The release names no individual plant or site and gives no project count.

Fact sheet puts the nuclear uprate program at approximately 4.7 gigawatts identified

OCTOBER 27, 2026   ·   SOURCE

A fact sheet on Project Uprise states that the program has identified approximately 4.7 gigawatts of additional nuclear capacity, 95 percent of its 5 gigawatt goal by 2029, under an executive order directing the Department to facilitate 5 gigawatts of uprates at existing reactors and to begin construction of 10 new large reactors with complete designs by 2030. It gives the Vogtle uprates as over 300 megawatts, says uprates span 6 gigawatts of existing nuclear capacity, and lists license extensions for Hatch and Farley into the 2050s.

The restart projects are set out with their own figures: Palisades in Michigan at 800 megawatts, with up to 650 high-quality jobs and a $1.5 billion loan to Holtec; the Crane Restart Project in Pennsylvania at 835 megawatts, approximately 800,000 homes, more than 600 jobs and a $1 billion loan to Constellation; and Duane Arnold in Iowa at 615 megawatts, nearly 500,000 homes, approximately 1,500 construction and refurbishment jobs, more than 450 permanent operations jobs and $1.9 billion in financing to NextEra. A separate $17.5 billion American Nuclear Supply Chain Loans conditional commitment covers equipment procurement across five eligible projects, with a goal of accelerating deployment of 10 new reactors by up to three years.

Energy Department puts $42 million into Constitution Pipeline pre-construction work

OCTOBER 19, 2026   ·   SOURCE

The Department will provide up to $42 million in Defense Production Act Title III funding for eligible pre-construction and permitting activities on the proposed 125-mile Constitution Pipeline, which would run from Pennsylvania to New York and is held by Constitution Pipeline Company, LLC. The announcement says the funds may cover environmental reviews and assessments, engineering and site preparation, and that once permits are complete the funding may also support deploying complementary natural gas infrastructure. It also references $1 billion appropriated under the Working Families Tax Cut for energy projects. A companion fact sheet followed on October 21.

Energy Department selects 63 tribe-led projects, including natural gas heating conversions

OCTOBER 22, 2026   ·   SOURCE

The Department announced over $125 million for 63 tribe-led projects across 16 states, including Alaska, reaching 61 tribal entities, and called it the largest single investment in tribal energy development in the office’s twenty-year history. The money comes from FY 2026 and prior-year appropriations. The construction content sits in the 13 community-scale deployment projects, which will bring electric service to 150 tribal homes lacking electricity, convert 500 homes and businesses to natural gas heating, and upgrade electrical infrastructure. The remainder is 27 predevelopment projects covering studies on tribal utility authorities, transmission and distribution, resource assessments, resiliency and workforce development, and 23 planning, assessment and feasibility projects for large-scale, revenue-generating tribal energy projects. The announcement states that selection for award negotiations "is not a commitment by DOE to issue an award or provide funding."

Energy Department commits up to $150 million to restart a refinery and expand refining capacity

OCTOBER 22, 2026   ·   SOURCE

The Department will use up to $150 million in Defense Production Act Title III funding to restart an American refinery and expand refining capacity, with an expected increase in output of millions of gallons per day. The announcement names no company, site, city or state, stating that the selection process is ongoing and will be announced in the near future, and it does not mention construction. A White House industry roundup published October 26 places the capacity expansion in Iowa. The announcement also references $1 billion in federal funding appropriated for energy projects deemed critical to national security.

Manufactured housing action plan opens code work on chassis-free factory-built homes

OCTOBER 7, 2026   ·   SOURCE

HUD released the Next Generation Manufactured Housing Action Plan, following its sixth annual Innovative Housing Showcase, to update codes and guidance for factory-built housing after the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act removed the permanent chassis requirement. The plan sets out seven actions.

• Energy efficiency standards. Update the standards that apply to manufactured homes.
• Chassis-free design and construction. Address the design and construction of homes built without a permanent chassis.
• Foundations and installation. Set foundation, anchoring and installation requirements for chassis-free homes.
• Innovative housing types. Create pathways for housing types that factories can realistically complete.
• Performance-based code. Develop a performance-based code for larger factory-built residential structures, examining a federal construction and safety framework for them.
• Chassis-free resources. Produce resources on early chassis-free projects covering design, transportation, foundations, installation, zoning, appraisal, lending, insurance and market acceptance.
• Broader manufacturer participation. Offer resources to existing modular and other off-site builders that comply with the federal system, to increase housing supply.

The plan sets no deadlines, no dollar figures and no effective date. Secretary Turner is quoted saying that for 50 years the HUD Code has provided a national framework for safe, quality, affordable housing.

Justice Department presses preemption challenges to state and local natural gas restrictions

OCTOBER 5, 2026   ·   SOURCE

The Energy and Natural Resources Division announced developments in two challenges to restrictions on natural gas use in buildings. In Colorado the Division had filed a statement of interest supporting a challenge to certain Colorado and Denver regulations that set building-wide energy use targets. The United States District Court for the District of Colorado then allowed the challenge to proceed, holding it plausible that the measures are preempted by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. The court agreed with the Division’s argument that building-wide energy use targets, which are largely a result of how much energy appliances in a building use, have an impermissible connection with the appliance energy use and efficiency that federal standards already regulate.

In Illinois the Division filed an amicus brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, opposing a natural gas ban adopted by the Village of Oak Park as part of Climate Ready Oak Park. The brief argues that the broad preemption provision of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act bars local measures that prohibit products subject to a federal energy conservation standard from using a type of energy, or that impose specific requirements concerning the energy use or efficiency of appliances. The release gives no case names, no civil action numbers and no statement of the relief sought, and dates the Colorado ruling only as the preceding week. The Division says Deputy Assistant Attorney General Charles Roberts handled both filings.

Federal contract minimum wage under Executive Order 13658 rises to $14.05 for 2027

OCTOBER 8, 2026   ·   SOURCE

The Wage and Hour Division set the 2027 rate under Executive Order 13658 in a notice published at 91 FR 64403 on October 8, 2026, a date that fell just outside the last reporting window. Workers on covered federal contracts must generally be paid $14.05 per hour, up from $13.65, and tipped employees performing work on those contracts must generally be paid a cash wage of $9.85, up from $9.55. The notice states that the new rates "shall take effect on January 6, 2027." The rates they replace took effect May 11, 2026.

Coverage is limited to a closed set of older contracts. The rates reach only certain contracts entered into, renewed or extended between January 1, 2015, and January 29, 2022, that have not been renewed or extended on or after January 30, 2022. The Department’s government contracts page says the rate primarily applies to workers performing work on or in connection with federal contracts subject to the Davis-Bacon Act and the Service Contract Act. Executive Order 14026, which set a separate and higher federal contractor minimum wage, was revoked by Executive Order 14236 at 90 FR 13037, and the Department states that it is no longer enforcing that order and will take steps to effectuate the revocation, including rescinding 29 CFR part 23.

OSHA expands Intertek’s recognition as a nationally recognized testing laboratory

OCTOBER 29, 2026   ·   SOURCE

OSHA granted Intertek Testing Services NA, Inc. an expansion of recognition as a nationally recognized testing laboratory, published at 91 FR 68171. The expansion covers the addition of one test site, Intertek Testing Services (Singapore) Pte Ltd., limited to the test standards for which that site has the proper capability and programs. The firm already holds 34 recognized sites and 608 test standards.

GSA proposes moving utility service clauses out of the FAR into its own regulation

OCTOBER 5, 2026   ·   SOURCE

GSA proposed amending 48 CFR parts 541 and 552 to move the utility services provisions and clauses out of FAR part 41 and into the General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation, implementing Executive Order 14275. The proposal is GSAR Case 2026-G502 under RIN 3090-AL14, docket GSA-GSAR-2026-0595, at 91 FR 63243, and comments are due on or before November 4, 2026. It revises 541.501, on applicability to agencies and GSA guidance, and 541.502, on requests for GSA assistance or delegation. It also adds 541.601 on the solicitation provision and contract clauses.

Fourteen clauses and one solicitation provision are added at 552.241-1 through 552.241-15. They cover electric service territory compliance representation, order of precedence, scope and duration of contract, change in class of service, contractor’s facilities, service provisions and disputes. The remainder deal mainly with rates, charges and liability: changes in rates or terms for regulated and for unregulated services, connection charge, termination liability, multiple service locations, nonrefundable nonrecurring service charge, cooperative membership, and economic price adjustment for deregulated electric supply. No GSAR provisions or clauses are listed as removed.

GSA breaks ground on a $282 million federal courthouse in Chattanooga

OCTOBER 21, 2026   ·   SOURCE

The new United States courthouse in Chattanooga is budgeted at $282 million and will run to approximately 191,000 square feet, with seven courtrooms and nine judges’ chambers, and is expected to reach substantial completion in 2030. HOK is designer of record, Brasfield & Gorrie is construction manager as constructor and fs3|Hodges is construction manager as advisor. Administrator Edward C. Forst said GSA "is honored to work alongside the Judiciary to deliver a brand-new courthouse with great value, care, and speed." Chief Judge Travis R. McDonough of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee thanked Administrator Forst and his team "for their on-time start, protecting both taxpayers and this project."

GSA audits nearly 700 contractors and asks Congress to raise the capital project prospectus threshold

OCTOBER 21, 2026   ·   SOURCE

GSA said 689 firms holding federal contracts are being audited for potential fraud, in work with the Small Business Administration following the suspension of 8(a) Business Development Program participants whose contracts carried a collective ceiling of $5.5 billion. The agency said it has identified more than $13 billion in potential fraud since August, including $1.2 billion coordinated with the Department of Health and Human Services, and that suspected fraud will be referred to its Office of Inspector General and the Justice Department. SBA said that it has spent 21 months cleaning up the 8(a) program, and an SBA assessment found that hundreds of program participants had not demonstrated compliance.

The same release carries a legislative ask bearing directly on federal buildings work: GSA wants the prospectus threshold, the dollar level above which a capital project needs congressional approval, raised from $4.109 million to $75 million. By its own account the agency oversees over $126 billion in products and services, manages approximately 360 million rentable square feet and is addressing nearly $50 billion in delinquent maintenance.

INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE

IRS replaces its retirement plan correction program and adds one for individual retirement accounts

OCTOBER 22, 2026   ·   SOURCE

Two revenue procedures issued the same day cover separate ground. Revenue Procedure 2026-34 expands the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System, the correction system through which plan sponsors fix retirement plan errors, and replaces and restructures Revenue Procedure 2021-30. The release states that it "is effective today," October 22, 2026. It contains the Self-Correction Program, the Voluntary Correction Program and the Audit Closing Agreement Program. The plan types named are qualified plans, section 403(b) plans, SEP arrangements and SIMPLE IRA plans. The release does not mention multiemployer plans.

The second, Revenue Procedure 2026-33, establishes a separate IRA Compliance Resolution System under the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022. The release states that it "is effective May 1, 2027." Sixty-day rollover waivers obtained through private letter ruling requests will move into that system over 2027 and 2028, while Revenue Procedures 2020-46, 2016-47 and 2003-16 remain available for automatic waiver and self-certification at no cost. Treasury and the IRS invite comments on both programs, with each revenue procedure setting its own comment deadline.

PBGC proposes to collect investment policies from plans that took special financial assistance

OCTOBER 16, 2026   ·   SOURCE

PBGC proposed expanding the annual statement of compliance that multiemployer plans receiving special financial assistance must file, so that it covers plan investment policies and procedures for locating missing participants. Plans would submit the most recent investment policy statement or a comparable governing document, such as investment guidelines, an asset allocation policy or an investment committee charter, together with minutes of trustee or fiduciary committee meetings at which investment policy or investment-related service providers were discussed. They would also submit data on participants who may have lost contact with the plan, and documentation of the procedures used to find them. The notice would further revise the statement to indicate whether any criminal violations affecting the plan have occurred. The notice is at 91 FR 65801 under OMB Control Number 1212-0074, with no RIN. Comments are due December 15, 2026, through regulations.gov, by email to paperwork.comments@pbgc.gov with the control number in the subject line, or by mail to the Regulatory Affairs Division in the Office of the General Counsel. PBGC estimates the added documentation at approximately 3 hours of fund office time and approximately $1,200 in contractor costs per plan sponsor, with an annual average of 175 plan sponsors filing and the modified statement carrying an average burden of 7 hours and an average annual cost burden of $4,400.

NASA Glenn opens a Phase 1 round for an aerospace power systems laboratory

OCTOBER 6, 2026   ·   SOURCE

The Glenn Research Center opened a Phase 1 proposal round for the design and construction of a new laboratory facility, with the procurement’s principal purpose stated as delivering a laboratory facility to support the testing and development of power systems, together with site work, infrastructure and systems. Questions were due by October 12, 2026, in writing to contracting officer John Christel; proposals are due no later than October 30, 2026 at 1 p.m. EST; and the anticipated contract award date is December 16, 2026. The procurement is coded to NAICS 236220, commercial and institutional building construction, with a $45 million small business size standard. The release states no project value and no square footage.

NRC updates and renews the AP1000 design certification through 2066

OCTOBER 14, 2026   ·   SOURCE

The Commission updated and renewed certification of the Westinghouse AP1000 reactor design. The release’s subtitle describes the updated design as incorporating lessons from Vogtle Units 3 and 4 and extending certification to 2066. The Commission says that during construction and startup of the two Vogtle units it reviewed and approved nearly 200 license amendments, and that the action is intended to reduce duplicative regulatory reviews, lower licensing costs and help future AP1000 projects move through the licensing process more efficiently. Future applicants must still obtain approval for site-specific environmental, safety and security considerations, and the action does not authorize siting, construction or operation of any facility.

NRC clears a tilted fuel assembly move at Palisades and opens a Dresden inspection

OCTOBER 14, 2026   ·   SOURCE

The Commission announced on October 14 that it had approved a Palisades license amendment the previous day, allowing the operator to use custom equipment and procedures to move a tilted fuel assembly from the core to the spent fuel pool. The Commission says its review confirmed that the activity can be carried out safely and in compliance with NRC regulatory requirements. It announced a special inspection at the Dresden plant on October 14, and issued a chilling effect letter to Holtec on October 13.

NRC finalizes a rule letting applicants use Energy and War department reactor test data

OCTOBER 22, 2026   ·   SOURCE

The final rule amends 10 CFR Parts 50 and 53 so that applicants may use analyses, test data and other information from Department of Energy or Department of War reactor demonstration programs to support commercial reactor license applications. It published on October 26, 2026, at 91 FR 67195, under Docket ID NRC-2025-1503 and RIN 3150-AL60, and is effective November 25, 2026. The Commission received 136 unique comment submissions on the proposed rule, which published April 2, 2026.

Applicants must still show compliance with NRC requirements and identify differences between the demonstration reactor and the proposed commercial project, including design, site or hazard differences that could affect safety. The final rule states that applicants remain responsible for all applicable statutory and regulatory requirements. Chairman Ho K. Nieh said the rule "delivers the EO 14300 vision for an expedited path from DOE and DOW projects to NRC commercial licensing."

NRC finalizes a contested hearing rule with three scheduling tracks

OCTOBER 30, 2026   ·   SOURCE

The rule creates Standard, Focused and Expedited hearing tracks keyed to application complexity, and requires hearing notices to include a standard hearing completion date. The Commission says the schedules are designed to complete most cases in about a year and to resolve the simplest cases in roughly six months, against previous hearings that often took years. Hearings will now start as soon as practicable after a contention is admitted rather than after the staff finishes its technical review, a change the Commission says is designed to shave months off proceedings.

The rule implements the 2024 ADVANCE Act and Executive Order 14300, and takes effect 30 days after Federal Register publication, applying to contested hearing opportunities that open on or after the effective date. The proposed rule published March 3, 2026, at 91 FR 10450 under Docket ID NRC-2025-1501. Chairman Ho K. Nieh said the rule "preserves public participation while making the hearing process more efficient." With the design-data rule above, the Commission acted on both the evidentiary requirements for an application and the adjudicatory timetable in the space of eight days.

FERC proposes a blanket authorization program for LNG facilities

OCTOBER 15, 2026   ·   SOURCE

The Commission took two natural gas policy actions at its October 15 meeting, the first a notice of proposed rulemaking adopted unanimously in Docket No. RM26-2-001 that would create the first blanket authorization program for liquefied natural gas facilities. The program would allow eligible activities to proceed without case-specific orders under sections 3 and 7 of the Natural Gas Act, modeled on the Commission’s 40-year blanket certificate program for interstate pipelines. The program would run in three tiers.

• Automatic authorization. Activities that would not increase authorized capacity, expand the plant’s authorized footprint or push operating conditions past design limits, subject to periodic reporting.
• Sixty-day prior notice. Activities that may increase authorized capacity but stay within the footprint and within the design limits of the affected and remaining facilities.
• Ninety-day prior notice. Construction of new facilities “such as liquefaction trains, LNG tanks, and marine berths,” plus related auxiliary systems, which may lie outside the footprint and are subject to limitations on facility type, location and size.

The proposal also sets standard environmental and engineering design conditions. Comments are due 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.

FERC proposes to stop requesting air dispersion modeling from gas applicants

OCTOBER 15, 2026   ·   SOURCE

The second of the two natural gas policy actions is a draft policy statement in Docket No. PL26-3-000. It proposes that the Commission no longer request air dispersion modeling from applicants for Natural Gas Act projects, and no longer rely on such modeling to assess operational air quality effects under the National Environmental Policy Act, substituting other information submitted by applicants and identified by Commission staff. The Commission frames the change as aligning its environmental analysis more closely with its statutory role and ending overlap with Clean Air Act permitting by air regulatory agencies, while still addressing air quality effects in its environmental documents in a more streamlined way. Comments on the draft policy statement are due November 16, 2026.

FERC certificates new Kentucky pipeline facilities and reworks a Louisiana LNG authorization

OCTOBER 15, 2026   ·   SOURCE

Alongside those two policy actions, the Commission acted on two gas projects at the same October 15 meeting. In Docket No. CP26-11-000 it issued certificates to Columbia Gulf Transmission, LLC for new pipeline facilities in Lincoln and Pulaski Counties, Kentucky, carrying 260,000 dekatherms a day of firm transportation to meet the needs of East Kentucky Power Cooperative, Inc. In Docket Nos. CP26-537-000 and CP17-118-000 it vacated in part Driftwood Pipeline LLC’s certificate and amended Louisiana LNG Infrastructure LLC’s authorization, moving an interconnect and receipt meter station into the export facilities.

Comment period closed on the FAR overhaul rules rewriting the construction and bonding parts

OCTOBER 19, 2026   ·   SOURCE

Comments were due October 19, 2026, on four Revolutionary FAR Overhaul proposed rules published September 18, 2026. FAR Case 2026-010, at regulations.gov docket FAR-2026-0010-0001, is the one carrying the construction content: it rewrites Part 14 on sealed bidding, Part 28 on bonds and insurance, Part 36 on construction and architect-engineer contracts, and the corresponding clauses in Part 52. The others are FAR Case 2026-003 on Parts 8, 12, 13, 15, 38, 44, 51 and 52, docket FAR-2026-0003-0001; FAR Case 2026-006 on Parts 16, 17, 35 and 52, docket FAR-2026-0006-0001; and FAR Case 2026-011 on Parts 9, 27, 47 and 52, docket FAR-2026-0011-0001. The acquisition.gov page listing rules open for comment, last updated October 26, 2026, still shows all four as open, so whether the period was extended is unsettled.