MCAA’s initiative with the MCA of Maryland, the MCA of Metropolitan Washington, the MCA of New York, and the New England Mechanical Contractors Association (NEMCA) is moving ahead with contacts in the House and Senate expanding to seek an add-on proposal in either the next COVID relief measure or possibly on the infrastructure proposal that is expected soon. The proposal is relatively simple – Congress should set up a separate COVID Cost Recovery Fund on direct Federal construction contracts to pay impaired productivity and other COVID direct costs to be administered apart from the affected projects’ budgets. The rationale is that it is inequitable for the government as proprietor of the project to take the full benefit of the fixed-price award pre-COVID and then drive a hard bargain denying full equitable cost impact recovery post pandemic, while at the same time using taxpayer resources to bail out other industries outside of any contractual relationship.…