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Nearly 3,000 potential subcontractors showed up at meetings hosted by the construction company Bechtel National Inc. on two continents to learn about construction opportunities in Iraq. As USAID announced that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will serve as construction manager for the company's rebuilding contract, the contractor held the first of three program supplier conferences in Washington D.C. The May 21 meeting attracted more than 1,800 attendees. About 90% of the work will be subcontracted, says Clifford G. Mumm, company's program manager for the Iraq contract.

Focuses on the construction of the MCI Center located in Washington, D.C. Access problems faced by contractors; Factors contributing to the delay on the construction project; Soil remediation efforts made; Estimated cost of the project; Challenges faced on the erection of the steel roof; Alleged noncompliance of the project to the Americans With Disabilities Act.

The article presents information related to various happenings in Washington D.C. The House added $626 million to 2006 funding its Appropriations Committee had allotted to Amtrak. To help pay for that hike, lawmakers slashed the General Services Administration's (GSA) renovations program by $568 million. The White House has nominated a House staffer and a private attorney to fill two long-vacant senior positions at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. F. Joseph Moravec, head of GSA's Public Buildings Service, said that he is returning to the private sector. Before GSA, Moravec worked for major real estate companies and was senior advisor for business development at George Washington University in Washington D.C.

With a tight federal budget expected to continue and no immediate U.S. President George W. Bush's White House plans to seek extra dollars for hazardous waste cleanups, Superfund is ripe for change, says Thomas P. Dunne, who heads the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency office that oversees the cleanup program. Dunne has floated some ideas on how to leverage Superfund's dwindling pool of money. Partisan battles have sunk past Capitol Hill efforts to "reform" Superfund. Dunne's suggestions, contained in a December 2 speech at a Charlottesville, Virginia, conference, are not fully developed. He says EPA could stop listing new sites or not start cleanup at newly eligible sites where there is no responsible party until work in the pipeline is finished. Dunne issued a plea to put politics aside.

This article presents news briefs. Four White House nominees to senior Environmental Protection Agency jobs have won Senate confirmation. They were among some 165 nominations approved November 21, 2004 to various posts. For the past several months, CEO Stephen Johnson and general counsel Ann R. Klee have held the positions to which they were confirmed under appointments President Bush made when Congress was in recess. U.S. President George W. Bush will have another Cabinet slot to fill, after Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge's November 30, 2004 resignation announcement.

The controversial 2nd World War Memorial will be dedicated on May 29, in Washington D.C., more than 10 years after plans were first announced and longer than it took Allied Forces to defeat Germany, Italy and Japan. Fifty-six stone pillars standing 17 ft above grade, representing the states and territories, rim the perimeter of the 7.5-acre memorial site. The ring is broken at the northern and southern ends by two memorial arches, representing the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. The original concept by Rhode Island architect Friedrich St. Florian was tweaked several times before final approval by the federal Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission.

The article focuses on various developments in Washington D.C., related to the construction industry. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee leaders have agreed on key elements of a $255-billion, six-year highway bill. Firms providing construction, engineering and architectural services would benefit from a 10-year, $140-billion tax-cut package approved on October 28, 2003 by the House Ways and Means Committee. The proposed legislation would reduce the corporate tax rate for those firms from the current 35% to 32% beginning in 2007. Committee Democrats were able to remove a provision that would have given about $70 million in tax breaks to U.S. companies with offshore contracts, including firms doing construction work in Iraq.

The price tag for the new Capitol Visitor Center under construction in Washington, D.C., is going to be significantly higher than expected. In a June report not made public until this month, the U.S. General Accounting Office estimates the three-level underground center will cost between $351.3 million and $395 million, a sharp rise from the revised $303.5 million that Congress budgeted for the job. Amount ranging from $30 million to $45 million may have to be budgeted to cover larger risks and uncertainties, including unforeseen conditions, contractor coordination issues and unapproved design components. Legislators also are concerned that similar problems could carry over to the five-year, $122-million overhaul of the U.S. Supreme Court building.

Focuses on the planned anthrax decontamination for the Brentwood Post Office in Washington D.C. Number of people working on the cleanup; Specifications of the Brentwood facility; Cost of the project.

Reports developments in the construction industry in Washington D.C. as of November 2001. Decision of the Senate Democrats to diminish the infrastructure hope funds; Role of the Environmental Protection Agency in the research and development of the water infrastructure; Details on the signing of 2002 fiscal appropriation bills by President George W. Bush.

Focuses on a report which conclude that fire safety protection in five Washington D.C. office buildings has improved. Key changes that should be imposed on the area's office buildings.

Presents news briefs on engineering in Washington, D.C. as of April 2000. Budget for courthouses construction; Approval of a bill that would allow the storage of nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain in Nevada; Effectiveness of the Clean Air Act.

Reports on the exterior repair of the 110-year-old Washington Monument. Details on how the monument will be restored; Scaffold of the monument; Remarks from John G. O'Connor, one of the designers of the scaffold.

Presents brief information on events occurring in Washington, D.C. Details on a Small Business Administration program to assist disadvantaged firms; Planned replacement of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge; Amount of funds to be appropriated to the Environmental Protection Agency; Occupational Safety and Health Administration advised to launch an office to oversee negotiated regulations.

Provides information on financial problems facing the reconstruction of the Washington Opera Company. Information on the conceptual design by James Ingo Freed of Pei Cobb Freed and Partners; Comments from Charles Young, project senior design for Pei Cobb Freed.

Reports on the design changes in a sports arena being constructed in Washington, D.C. to comply with the American With Disabilities Act. Features of federal District Court Judge Thomas Hogan's ruling on the initial design; Background on the lawsuit filed against project owner Abe Pollin by the Paralyzed Veterans of America; Seating design of the revised plan.

Focuses on issues that could affect the construction of an arena in Washington D.C. known as MCI Center. Pending decision on the ruling to lift the injunction imposed in response to a lawsuit filed by Robert L. Johnson; Design of the arena; Possibility of interference from a metro line under the event floor.