The (Almost) Daily Brief

House Passes a Water Bill Authorizing Work in Three Minnesota Cities

By Megan Dayton · 9/18/2026

POLICY  The federal procurement rewrite has reached architect-engineer contracting. The FAR Council published four proposed rules on Sept. 18, the second batch of twelve that will rewrite the Federal Acquisition Regulation under Executive Order 14275. FAR Case 2026-010 covers parts 14, 28, 36, and 52 at 91 FR 59534. Part 36 governs construction and architect-engineer contracts, and the rule would pull the two apart. The preamble traces the comingling to 1946 committee recommendations. The rule keeps the qualifications-based selection machinery, including public announcement under 40 U.S.C. 1101, evaluation boards, discussions with at least three firms, a report ranking at least three firms as most highly qualified, and negotiation with the most highly qualified until the contracting officer formally terminates and moves to the next. The SF 330, the SF 252, and the four architect-engineer clauses survive, as does the instruction that a contracting officer assess the architect-engineer’s liability when a design error forces a construction modification. The construction side loses more. The rule would delete the Physical Data clause at 52.236-4, the Site Visit provision at 52.236-27, the Preconstruction Conference clause at 52.236-26, Performance of Work by the Contractor at 52.236-1, and Organization and Direction of the Work at 52.236-19, on the reasoning that a solicitation can carry the same requirements. The Council is also weighing moving every provision and clause out of subpart 52.2 into a new subpart, and asks for comment on what that would cost contractors. The three companion rules cover parts 8, 12, 13, 15, 38, 44, and 51; parts 16, 17, and 35; and parts 9, 27, and 47. Comments on all four close Oct. 19.

Sources: Federal Register 2026-19158; Federal Register 2026-19162

ENG  MnDOT posted an on-call contract for contaminated-materials review on state road construction. Letters of interest are due Oct. 6 at 2pm under contract 1064344, open only to consultants pre-qualified in work type 5.4, Contaminated Property Investigation - Level I. The Office of Environmental Stewardship’s Contaminated Material Management Team evaluates state road construction projects for contaminated soil, groundwater, and soil vapor within existing and proposed right of way, and decides whether a contamination assessment or a response action is required. The announcement states that current and anticipated workloads exceed available staff capacity. MnDOT anticipates awarding contracts to multiple responders, each running two years with three one-year renewals. The work is document review and recommendation. It covers regulatory file searches against the Pollution Control Agency and Department of Agriculture What’s in My Neighborhood databases, Department of Health well records, and EPA Superfund. It covers comments and draft responses on scoping reviews, early notification memos, property acquisition due diligence approvals, design plans, special provisions, environmental management plans, and Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments. And it covers drafting No Association Determination requests, property owner notification letters, and construction contingency plans. Each responder must field four named roles, three of them holding degrees in geology, hydrogeology, civil or geological engineering, environmental science, or chemistry, and the lead carrying five years of Phase I and Phase II work on transportation or linear corridors. Questions close Sept. 29 at 2pm. Answers post Oct. 1.

Sources: MnDOT professional/technical notices; Pre-qualification announcement, MnDOT contract 1064344

POLICY  The Public Utilities Commission decides next Thursday what a ton of future carbon regulation is worth. Dockets E999/CI-07-1199 and DI-25-345 come up as item 4 at the Sept. 24 agenda meeting, 10am at 121 Seventh Place East in Saint Paul. Minnesota Statutes §216H.06 requires the commission to set an estimated range for the regulatory cost of future carbon dioxide regulation on electricity generation, and utilities must run that range through the economic modeling they file in resource planning and resource acquisition proceedings. The range the commission set in December 2023 is $5 to $75 per short ton, effective in 2028. The Department of Commerce and the Pollution Control Agency recommended in a Feb. 25 report that the commission move to $0 to $85 and push the starting year to 2030, and said they would not oppose keeping the current range given federal uncertainty. Xcel Energy, Minnesota Power, and Otter Tail Power support keeping $5 to $75 and do not oppose the change. Xcel told the commission the repealed federal carbon standards carried an equivalent regulatory cost near $13.75 a ton, and argued the $75 upper bound reflects long-term planning sensitivity. Great River Energy and the Minnesota Large Industrial Group want the regulatory cost set at $0 and replaced with a Renewable Energy Credit framework priced at $4 to $40 per credit, and want carbon values pulled out of capacity expansion modeling and applied in post-analysis, where they would no longer steer which resources the model selects. Staff put nine decision options in front of the commission.

Sources: PUC staff briefing papers, docket E999/CI-07-1199; PUC agenda, Sept. 24

POLICY  The House of Representatives voted 417 to 3 to make the largest electric loads pay for the grid they need. H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, passed Sept. 16. It would require state utility regulators and unregulated utilities to consider adopting standards for loads above 100 megawatts that recover the full incremental cost of any generation, transmission, or distribution upgrade built to serve them, require financial assurances before those upgrades go in, and guarantee cost recovery if a large load leaves its power supply contract early. Regulators would have one year to begin considering and two years to decide. ClearView Energy Partners called the reach into power supply costs significant, since interconnection agreements typically cover only transmission and distribution. The same client note put the bill behind the regulatory curve, largely reinforcing a shift already underway, and unlikely to clear the Senate before the November elections. Thirteen states have no large-load tariff requirements at all. Senator Martin Heinrich’s GRID Savings Act would instead direct FERC to write large-load interconnection rules, including cost allocation and financial security.

Sources: Utility Dive, Sept. 17; House roll call 312

BIZ  Carollo Engineers named its next chief executive. Anne Prudhel becomes president and chief executive of the water-focused firm on Jan. 1, 2027. She joined Carollo in 2004, has served as chief of infrastructure design and as client services director, and sits on the firm’s board of directors and its strategic growth advisory board. Her 24 years of practice cover water supply, wastewater collection, recycled water, and regional conveyance. B. Narayanan, 36 years at the firm and 15 as chief executive, moves to an advisory role and retires at the end of 2027. Carollo grew from 500 employees to 2,000 during his tenure.

Source: ACEC, Sept. 17

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