For years, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) board of directors anticipated awarding a contract for a major renovation of its headquarters with a bid specification requiring all contractors to sign a Project Labor Agreement with the Sacramento-Sierra’s Building and Construction Trades Council. Bids have now been received and the low bid is about $30 million over the estimate. Eric Christen of the Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction and Richard Marksuon (representing the Western Electrical Contractors Association, Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors of California, and Air Conditioning Trade Association) asked the SMUD board on May 5 to try rebidding the project without the Project Labor Agreement. In response, the chairwoman of the SMUD board insisted that the Project Labor Agreement had nothing to do with the unexpectedly high price of the low bid.