The Building U.S. Infrastructure by Leveraging Demands for Skills (BUILDS) Act would create a new competitive grant program within the Department of Labor to promote industry or sector partnerships. These partnerships plan and implement training and workforce development activities tied to targeted infrastructure industries, including energy, construction, information technology, utilities, and transportation. The goal is to spur industry growth and competitiveness while improving workers’ training, retention, and advancement—leveraging infrastructure investments to align employers, educators, and workers around shared skills and credentials. Grants would fund planning and implementation over up to three years, with a strong emphasis on work-based learning, apprenticeships, portable credentials, and serving workers with barriers to employment. Approval and administration involve multiple federal agencies (including Transportation, Energy, Commerce, Education, and the Army Corps of Engineers) to coordinate efforts. Grant recipients must develop measurable objectives, credentials, and strategies to scale training across multiple businesses, align curricula, and connect workers to opportunities created by local and federal infrastructure projects. The bill also requires ongoing reporting and prioritizes renewals for sustainable partnerships and sufficient non-Federal cost-sharing.
Key Points
- 1Establishes a competitive grant program to fund industry or sector partnerships that coordinate planning, resource alignment, and training for workers in targeted infrastructure industries.
- 2Grants: implementation grants up to $2.5 million and renewal grants up to $1.5 million, with a maximum grant period of 3 years; funding total authorized at $500 million per year for five years (2026–2030).
- 3Targeted industries include energy (including renewables and transmission), construction, information technology, utilities, and transportation (surface, transit, aviation, rail), with partnerships identified through collaboration among businesses, labor, education providers, and other stakeholders.
- 4Requirements for grant applications include: partnership description, targeted workers and barriers to employment, credentials (nationally portable and recognized postsecondary credentials; may include registered apprenticeships), alignment with work-based learning and apprenticeship programs, and a plan for sustaining progress and credentials.
- 5Strategic objectives focus on: convening stakeholders, identifying and meeting training needs, achieving economies of scale for training, aligning curricula with targeted industry needs, coordinating with career pathways, informing unemployment services about opportunities, and broadening worker recruitment to include individuals with barriers to employment.
- 6Activities funded by the grants include business engagement (helping employers register apprenticeship sponsors, develop curricula, place workers on work-based learning programs, mentor/train staff, and provide career guidance), planning, and work-based learning supports (pre-employment, early employment, and post-employment services for at least 12 months).
- 7Emphasis on serving individuals with barriers to employment (e.g., participants in WIOA programs, SNAP, TANF, etc.) and providing wraparound services (child care, transportation) to support training and placement.
- 8Accountability and oversight: annual progress reports to the Secretary and the relevant State Governor, with performance measured against established objectives and disaggregated by populations and demographic groups as required under WIOA; 5% of grant funds may be used for administrative costs.
- 9Administration and technical assistance: the Secretary may spend up to 10% of funding for administration and must provide technical assistance and oversight to grant recipients.