This article provides an in-depth overview of the Free Enterprise Alliance (FEA), its mission to defend open competition in the construction industry, and its impact on contractors, suppliers, and the broader economy. It is intended for construction professionals, ABC members, policymakers, and anyone interested in the principles of free enterprise and fair competition. Understanding FEA’s advocacy is crucial for those who want to ensure a level playing field and support economic growth in the construction sector.
The Free Enterprise Alliance serves as the action arm for small businesses, entrepreneurs, and advocates of limited government and open, fair competition in the construction industry. Since its founding, FEA has served as the primary issue advocacy voice for contractors who believe that market-driven competition—not government mandates—produces the best outcomes for taxpayer dollars, workers, and communities.
The Free Enterprise Alliance was founded by the Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc., to advocate for small businesses and open competition. Its mission is to educate members and the public about issues important to open competition in America. FEA supports fair and open competition in government contracting and opposes federally mandated project labor agreements that stifle competition and cost taxpayers millions. The Alliance believes that small businesses and entrepreneurs—not union bosses and federal bureaucrats—are the true drivers of job creation and economic growth.
FEA promotes balanced government regulation to support open competition and aims to create a level playing field for hard-working Americans by holding elected officials accountable and removing barriers to success. By advocating for open competition and fair policies, FEA supports workforce development in the construction industry and ensures that all qualified contractors have the opportunity to compete. The organization’s focus on balanced regulation and accountability helps foster an environment where merit, safety, and value are rewarded, benefiting contractors, workers, and communities alike.
FEA was founded by Associated Builders and Contractors, a national trade association representing more than 23,000 merit shop construction and construction-related firms across 67 chapters, including regional chapters such as ABC Carolinas. This connection to ABC members ensures that FEA’s advocacy work reflects the real-world concerns of contractors, suppliers, and employees who build America’s schools, hospitals, offices, and infrastructure.
The organization focuses on educating ABC members, employees, elected officials, and the public about policies that impact open competition and economic freedom in construction markets. FEA accepts the need for common-sense regulations around safety, basic worker protections, and environmental standards. However, the Alliance argues that government intrusion has increasingly tipped the scales against free enterprise and small businesses, creating barriers that favor politically connected firms over those competing on merit.
Core elements of the Free Enterprise Alliance:
ABC’s story begins in 1950, when seven contractors in Baltimore, Maryland, came together around a simple belief: public construction work should be awarded to the most qualified, responsible low bidder, regardless of union affiliation. This founding principle challenged the prevailing assumption that union labor arrangements should determine who builds America’s public infrastructure.
The merit shop philosophy that emerged from this founding holds that employees and employers should freely determine wages, benefits, and working conditions within legal standards. Projects are awarded based on merit—qualifications, safety records, price, and performance—rather than mandated union arrangements or political connections. This approach encourages open competition among contractors and gives workers genuine choice in how they pursue their careers.
FEA operationalizes this philosophy in the realms of politics and public advocacy, serving as ABC’s issue-advocacy and education arm on free enterprise and competition. While ABC chapters deliver direct member services, FEA fights the policy battles that determine whether merit shop contractors can compete fairly for work.
Regional chapters, such as ABC Carolinas, build on this foundation by offering safety training, apprenticeships, workforce development, and local advocacy in North and South Carolina. These chapters rely on FEA’s national campaigns to keep markets open and ensure that federal and state policies don’t lock merit shop firms out of public projects.
FEA operates as a modern political and educational operation that runs national and state-focused issue advocacy campaigns. Unlike political action committees that contribute directly to candidates, FEA focuses on educating voters and policymakers about specific policies affecting the construction industry and free enterprise.
The Alliance deploys sophisticated outreach tools, including targeted digital media, television and radio spots, direct mail, peer-to-peer texting, and educational microsites. The FEA website serves as a central resource for advocacy, information, and outreach efforts, providing up-to-date content and access to campaign materials. Since its founding in 2008, FEA has generated over 195 million impressions across these platforms, reaching contractors, policymakers, and voters with information about construction-related policy issues. The organization has raised nearly $20 million for these issue advocacy campaigns promoting fair competition.
FEA engages in voter education that encourages turnout for candidates who support open competition, right-to-work protections, and market-driven workforce solutions. The Alliance also builds coalitions with local business groups, chambers of commerce, and state ABC chapters to amplify pro-merit shop positions in statehouses and city halls. This 50-state approach ensures that advocacy efforts reach decision-makers at every level of government.
For regional members like ABC Carolinas contractors, this national infrastructure provides research, messaging, and media support that would be impossible to replicate locally. When federal contracting rules or state legislation threaten fair competition, FEA mobilizes resources to inform the public and influence the debate.
The Free Enterprise Alliance’s mission centers on specific policy arenas that most directly impact competition, costs, and opportunity in the construction economy. These aren’t abstract political debates—they determine whether contractors can bid fairly, hire flexibly, and invest confidently in their businesses and workers.
FEA’s advocacy work spans several interconnected policy areas:
| Policy Area | Core Issue | Impact on Contractors |
|---|---|---|
| Project Labor Agreements | Government-mandated union arrangements | Limits bidding pool, increases costs |
| Right-to-Work | Worker choice in union membership | Affects labor costs and flexibility |
| Tax Policy | Business investment incentives | Determines capital available for growth |
| Immigration | Workforce availability | Addresses chronic labor shortages |
| Davis-Bacon | Prevailing wage requirements | Adds compliance burden, costs |
| Inflation Reduction Act | Labor mandates tied to incentives | Restricts access to energy projects |
| Each of these areas receives focused attention through research, public education, and legislative engagement designed to protect economically sound principles and merit-based competition. |
Project labor agreements are pre-hire collective bargaining agreements that can be mandated on public construction projects. When a government entity requires a PLA, contractors must follow union hiring, wage, and benefit rules even if their workforce is nonunion. This effectively excludes many qualified merit shop firms from bidding.
FEA’s position is clear: federally mandated PLAs reduce the pool of bidders, exclude qualified contractors, and drive up construction costs for taxpayers by limiting competition. When fewer firms can bid, prices rise, and innovation suffers. The Alliance argues that the government should remain neutral in labor arrangements, allowing all qualified contractors to compete based on their actual capabilities.
The data support this concern. PLAs can add millions of dollars to the cost of large taxpayer-funded projects. As of the mid-2020s, roughly 25 states have taken action—through statutes or executive orders—to prohibit government-mandated PLAs on public work. These states have recognized that neutrality in public contracting protects taxpayer dollars while expanding opportunities for small and mid-sized firms.
FEA supports these state-level efforts by providing research, public education campaigns, and media outreach that demonstrate how open competition on public projects lowers costs, including national efforts such as TheTruthAboutPLAs.com and related campaigns. The Alliance’s work has helped build momentum for PLA reform across the country, creating a more level playing field for contractors who compete on merit rather than political relationships.
For ABC Carolinas members bidding on public work in North and South Carolina, the PLA policy directly affects access to schools, municipal buildings, and infrastructure projects. Open bidding processes mean more opportunities for local contractors to win work and create jobs in their communities.
Right-to-work laws are state statutes that prevent employees from being required to join a union or pay union dues as a condition of employment. Workers can still choose to join unions voluntarily, but they cannot be compelled to do so simply to hold a job.
As of the early 2020s, 27 states have right-to-work protections. FEA and ABC view these laws as essential to preserving worker choice, fostering competitive labor markets, and supporting positive workplace environments where employers compete for talent through wages, benefits, and working conditions rather than mandatory arrangements.
The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act poses a significant threat to these protections. This federal legislation would effectively override state right-to-work laws, allowing unions to require dues payments from all workers covered by a union contract—even in right-to-work states. The PRO Act would fundamentally change the relationship between workers, unions, and employers nationwide.
FEA’s concern is that the PRO Act would require many employees in factories, schools, and job sites to pay dues regardless of their preferences, undermining state sovereignty and increasing labor costs for contractors who rely on flexible, performance-based compensation systems. The Alliance advocates for preserving the current balance that allows states to determine their own labor policies.
For ABC Carolinas members, right-to-work protections in North Carolina and South Carolina support the ability to offer competitive wages and benefits without mandatory union arrangements. This flexibility allows contractors to attract and retain skilled workers based on the value they provide, not mandated structures.
The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act represented a pivotal moment for construction businesses. The legislation reduced corporate tax rates, created a 20% deduction for certain pass-through business income, and expanded immediate expensing for equipment purchases. These reforms helped construction firms reinvest in people, equipment, and technology.
Many of the most important TCJA provisions for small and mid-sized businesses are scheduled to expire at the end of 2025. This creates significant uncertainty for contractors planning capital investments, workforce expansion, and long-term growth strategies. Without clarity on future tax treatment, businesses may delay investments that would create jobs and improve productivity.
FEA advocates for preserving and strengthening pro-growth tax policies so that contractors can confidently invest in new equipment, technology, safety programs, and workforce development initiatives. Stable, predictable tax rules allow businesses to make multi-year commitments to apprenticeship programs, equipment upgrades, and expansion plans.
This is particularly important for commercial contractors in rapidly growing regions like the Carolinas, where multi-year project pipelines depend on reliable after-tax cash flow. When contractors can predict their tax obligations and control major expenses such as construction-focused employee healthcare programs, they can plan more aggressively for growth and create more opportunities for employees and communities.
The construction industry faces a workforce crisis. Estimates suggest the industry needs more than half a million additional workers in 2024, with shortages driven by retirements, growing infrastructure demand, and the reshoring of manufacturing. Without action, these shortages will delay projects, increase costs, and limit economic growth.
FEA supports bipartisan solutions that both strengthen border security and create legal, market-driven immigration pathways to address chronic labor shortages in the skilled trades. The Alliance backs new or expanded visa programs tailored to construction and other critical sectors, designed to be responsive to actual market demand and workforce needs.
This approach complements rather than replaces domestic workforce development. ABC chapters, including ABC Carolinas, run robust apprenticeship and training programs to recruit, train, and upskill workers across their regions, and are actively engaged in modernizing registered apprenticeship models. Immigration reform would provide an additional source of workers while homegrown training programs continue to develop local talent.
FEA views immigration policy through the lens of free enterprise: solving real workforce bottlenecks in ways that maintain community security, uphold the rule of law, and allow businesses to grow based on merit and performance. The goal is a construction workforce adequate to meet America’s building needs.
The Davis-Bacon Act requires payment of “prevailing wages” on many federally funded construction projects. While the law has existed since 1931, recent rule changes by the U.S. Department of Labor have expanded its scope and complexity, creating new challenges for contractors seeking federal work.
FEA and ABC contractors argue that changes formalized through a final rule issued in the early 2020s ignored the concerns of small and mid-sized firms. The expanded requirements make compliance more burdensome, potentially pricing many merit shop contractors out of federal work entirely. Firms without large compliance departments face particular disadvantages.
Expanded enforcement and a broader definition of “prevailing wage” can increase labor costs, add paperwork, and limit participation by smaller firms. This concentrates federal contracting among larger companies with resources to navigate complex regulatory proposals, reducing the competition that drives value for taxpayers.
FEA’s role includes educating policymakers and the public about these impacts through comment letters, economic analyses, and case studies. The Alliance seeks a balance between fair wages and open, competitive bidding that gives all qualified contractors a chance to serve on federal projects.
The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act created more than $270 billion in clean energy and climate-related tax incentives. However, many of these incentives are tied to “bonus” credits conditioned on meeting prevailing wage and government-registered apprenticeship requirements. This structure creates significant challenges for merit shop contractors.
FEA’s concern is that these labor provisions effectively force private and public project owners to adopt union-style wage and apprenticeship structures, even on projects that are otherwise privately financed and merit shop in nature. The requirements can delay project timelines, increase compliance costs, and limit participation by nonunion contractors, including those focused on construction safety summits and workforce initiatives.
Contractors with employees trained through accredited, non-government-registered programs face particular obstacles. Despite having robust, industry-recognized safety and training programs, these firms may be at a disadvantage when competing for IRA-backed work. This creates an uneven playing field that doesn’t reflect actual contractor capabilities.
FEA works to spotlight these unintended consequences, pushing for reforms to implementation that open access to IRA projects for all qualified contractors. The goal is to ensure that ABC Carolinas members and similar firms can participate fully in energy infrastructure work based on their qualifications, not mandated labor structures.
Over its history, the Free Enterprise Alliance has generated tens of millions of dollars in issue advocacy support and reached audiences with hundreds of millions of impressions across television, digital, print, and social media campaigns. This scale allows FEA to compete effectively in public debates against well-funded opposition.
The impact is measurable. FEA has supported successful efforts in roughly 25 states to adopt laws or executive orders that prohibit government-mandated PLAs on taxpayer-funded projects. These victories ensure neutrality and open competition in public contracting across a significant portion of the country.
Additional results include:
These wins translate to practical benefits for contractors: more opportunities to bid on public work, reduced risk of exclusion from major projects, and a more predictable regulatory environment that rewards safety, quality, and price rather than political clout.
Regional chapters, such as ABC Carolinas’ leadership team, leverage FEA’s national advocacy to protect open markets in their states. When policy debates arise in Raleigh or Columbia, local advocates can draw on FEA’s research, messaging, and media resources to make the case for fair competition.
Commercial construction firms in North and South Carolina face the same national policy headwinds as their peers nationwide. PLA mandates, workforce shortages, shifting federal rules tied to infrastructure and energy spending, and regulatory uncertainty all affect Carolina contractors’ ability to bid, build, and grow.
ABC Carolinas depends on a free and open market—backed by FEA’s national advocacy—to sustain core services that members value. Construction safety training and OSHA compliance programs, and industry-recognized apprenticeships that prepare the next generation of skilled workers, all require a healthy business environment where contractors can invest in their workforce.
When PLAs or restrictive labor policies limit competition, small and mid-sized merit shop firms in the Carolinas may be locked out of public projects. This reduces their ability to invest in new equipment, expand their workforce, or participate in regional economic growth. The betterment of local construction communities depends on maintaining open access to work.
Defending free enterprise is not abstract philosophy—it directly affects whether local contractors can bid fairly on city schools, state office buildings, transportation projects, and energy infrastructure across the Carolinas. FEA’s work at the national level creates the policy environment that allows ABC Carolinas members to compete and succeed.
FEA’s ability to influence public debate and policy outcomes depends on active engagement and financial support from contractors, suppliers, and affiliated businesses. Advocacy work requires sustained investment to maintain the research, media presence, and grassroots outreach that shape public opinion.
Practical ways to get involved:
ABC Carolinas members can coordinate with the chapter’s leadership and government affairs staff—reaching out through the chapter’s contact channels—to align local priorities—like workforce funding, safety regulations, and permitting reform—with FEA’s national campaigns. This coordination amplifies impact at both the state and federal levels.
Supporting FEA is a strategic investment in business conditions that allow firms to grow: open bidding processes, predictable regulation, competitive labor markets, and tax policies that reward long-term planning and training. It also complements member-focused resources such as customized construction insurance and benefits solutions. Protecting opportunities for current employees, future apprentices, and the broader small-business community across the Carolinas requires ongoing engagement.
FEA’s belief is that government plays an important but limited role in the economy: enforcing safety standards, protecting property rights, and upholding the rule of law. Beyond these essential functions, the Alliance argues government should avoid policies that pick winners and losers in the marketplace or tilt the scales in favor of particular labor arrangements.
Free enterprise serves as the best engine for innovation, job creation, and community prosperity. When builders and contractors are free to compete based on merit, safety performance, and value delivered, the results benefit everyone—project owners, workers, taxpayers, and communities.
This philosophy connects directly to the practical issues covered throughout this article:
| Policy Area | Free Enterprise Principle |
|---|---|
| PLAs | Government neutrality in labor arrangements |
| Right-to-Work | Worker choice and voluntary association |
| Tax Policy | Allowing businesses to reinvest earnings |
| Immigration | Market-driven solutions to labor needs |
| Davis-Bacon | Balanced regulation without excessive burden |
| IRA Mandates | Equal access based on qualifications |
| FEA’s advocacy is grounded in the everyday realities of running a construction business: managing risk, training workers, complying with safety rules, meeting schedules, and serving clients ethically. These aren’t abstract debates—they’re the daily challenges that contractors navigate to build America. |
The Free Enterprise Alliance is the action arm of advocates for small business, limited government, and open competition in the American construction economy. With a proven record of shaping public debate and policy outcomes, FEA has demonstrated that sustained advocacy can protect and expand opportunities for merit shop contractors.
FEA’s work on PLAs, right-to-work, tax policy, immigration, federal contracting rules, and IRA mandates directly affects contractors—especially merit shop firms in regions like the Carolinas—ability to grow and create good-paying jobs. Every policy victory opens doors for firms that compete on merit rather than political connections.
Support for FEA represents a long-term investment in a competitive marketplace where projects are awarded based on merit, workers have genuine choice, and businesses can plan confidently for the future. This is the foundation that allows contractors to build stronger companies and stronger communities.
ABC Carolinas members and prospective members are encouraged to engage more deeply with FEA and ABC’s advocacy efforts. Whether through contributions, committee participation, or programs such as the FLEX young professionals network, involvement in free-enterprise advocacy strengthens the entire merit-shop construction industry. More opportunities, safer job sites, a stronger workforce pipeline, and resilient small business communities in North and South Carolina—these are the tangible outcomes of defending free enterprise today.
No. FEA is an issue advocacy and education organization that focuses on informing voters and policymakers about policies affecting free enterprise in construction. PACs are distinct entities that contribute directly to political candidates under separate legal rules. FEA’s work centers on campaigns about laws and regulations—such as PLAs, the PRO Act, and Davis-Bacon rules—rather than endorsing or funding specific candidates.
Merit shop general contractors, specialty trade contractors, suppliers, and service providers of all sizes benefit when public projects remain open to competitive bidding and when regulations are predictable and balanced. Small and mid-sized firms—common across North and South Carolina—are especially impacted because they often lack in-house policy staff and rely on FEA and ABC to defend open markets on their behalf.
While FEA does not run training programs itself, its advocacy preserves an environment in which ABC chapters, including ABC Carolinas, can operate robust apprenticeships, craft training, and safety programs, and connect future workers with career-starting construction education resources without being crowded out by government-mandated systems. FEA also promotes immigration and education policies that support a larger, more skilled construction workforce, complementing chapter-level workforce initiatives.
FEA’s educational campaigns are visible to the broader public, and nonmembers can often access materials and share them with employees and community leaders. However, companies interested in deeper engagement and coordinated advocacy typically gain the most value by joining ABC—such as ABC Carolinas—and then working through the chapter to connect with FEA efforts.
FEA’s priorities are shaped by input from ABC members, industry trends, pending legislation, and regulatory proposals that pose the greatest risk—or opportunity—for fair competition. National leadership monitors developments in Congress, federal agencies, and state legislatures, aligning FEA campaigns with the most pressing threats to or opportunities for the merit shop construction community.
