Speaking at a press conference in Stuttgart, Germany, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Feb. 11 instructed Dept. of Defense agencies to remove language requiring project-labor agreements in all contracts of more than $35 million and to update and revise all existing contracts accordingly.

Undersecretary of Defense John Tenaglia, who is in charge of federal contract operations, followed up the announcement with a memorandum instructing all agencies within the department that “effective immediately, contracting officers shall not use project labor agreements for large-scale construction projects,” and that “contracting officers shall amend solicitations to remove project labor agreement requirements, including any solicitation provisions and contract clauses.”

PLAs are agreements between labor and contractors that generally exempt non-union workers from being able to participate in such projects. The Biden administration’s PLA mandate had required them on most federal projects, but a federal claims court ruling overturned the Biden-era rule. The Associated General Contractors of America came up with the legal strategy of challenging the rule via bid protests. The Trump administration’s Justice Department promised to remove the same mandate on 12 projects that were the subject of the bid protest approach that was crafted at the behest of the AGC.

“The announcement that the U.S. Dept. of Defense will drop project labor agreement mandates from its military construction solicitations is a clear sign that our approach is working,” said Jeffrey Shoaf, CEO of the AGC, which represents roughly one-third union and two-thirds open-shop member companies, in a statement. “We expect all federal agencies involved in procuring construction services to follow suit and drop what is clearly an unlawful mandate from their construction solicitations.”

Shoaf also said AGC would continue to talk with the Trump administration about the need to revoke Biden’s PLA mandate executive order and Federal Acquisition Rules to eliminate any remaining ambiguity. The Associated Builders and Contractors, which is a mainly non-union construction association, said it would continue to push for similar clarity in the federal construction marketplace.

“ABC has fought hard to restore merit-based fair and open competition in federal contracting so all Americans and all qualified construction firms can compete on a level playing field to build and rebuild America,” said Ben Brubeck, ABC vice president of regulatory, labor and state affairs, in a statement. “While we are pleased with the DOD’s policy change, ABC will continue its tireless efforts advocating for this pro-taxpayer policy to be adopted government-wide permanently.”

Somewhat uncharacteristically for the outspoken President Trump, his administration had made no policy decisions or mentions of PLAs in either his campaign or anytime since. Trump enjoyed sufficient support from union members to win enough households in states such as Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio to retake the White House in November, and his choice for Labor Secretary, former Oregon representative Lori Chavez-Deremer, was seen as a departure for a Republican president, as Chavez-Deremer is seen as generally pro-labor, having represented a strong union district in Congress.

Representatives of North America’s Building Trades Unions—the umbrella group that represents several building trade unions—did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Defense memo.

Chavez-Deremer has not yet been confirmed for the position by the U.S. Senate, so Hegseth and Tenaglia’s action is the first by a federal agency to change the Biden PLA mandate. Agencies within DOD, such as the Naval Facilities Systems Engineering Command, based in San Diego, had already notified staff to remove PLA requirements from all solicitations on February 11.