宾夕法尼亚州承包商正在推动州官员如何处理的更明确和一致性COVID-19 lockdownmeasures in the wake of a highly critical audit report.

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State auditor Eugene DePasquale recently released a preliminary报告这发现在今年春季的COVID-19锁定期间，州官员如何向承包商和其他企业豁免方向存在广泛的矛盾之处。该报告恰好符合西宾夕法尼亚州主要建筑商协会执行董事戴维·达奎伦特（David Daquelente）。当宾夕法尼亚州州长汤姆·沃尔夫（D）推出了该国最严格的封锁之一时，他的许多成员正在为医院和其他医疗保健组织工作。

“If this were to be instituted again, our expectation is that there would be much better information that would be provided, not only about the requirements for a waiver, but also an understanding and an explanation of why something had not been accepted,” Daquelente said.

While many contractors were able to continue work after putting COVID-19 protection measures in place, that was not always the case. Daquelente noted that one of his members, a construction company with projects in the health care sector, was denied a waiver by state officials, even as a real estate development firm, owned by the same parent company, was granted a waiver because the property it managed had a grocery store.

Restrictions have since beenlifted在宾夕法尼亚州的反对struction industry, and there are no indications that another lockdown is looming or would be needed, he said. However, contractors also are hoping the audit’s findings are taken to heart by the state government, after much of Pennsylvania’s construction industry was shut down for five weeks last spring, from March 21 to May 1.

The report by DePasquale, the state auditor, found 500 cases where Pennsylvania's Dept. of Community and Economic Development (DCED) issued one decision on whether a business needed a waiver, only to issue a second ruling later that either revoked it or granted approval.

In 73 cases, the department pulled back permission for waivers that had been initially granted, while in 48 cases, businesses were initially told a waiver wasn’t required, only to be told later they not only needed a waiver, but also that it would not be granted.

另外171份豁免申请被拒绝，后来才获得批准。

Depasquale在一份新闻声明中说：“豁免计划似乎是一个主观的过程，建立在不断变化的指导的沙子上，这导致了企业主之间的严重混乱。”

该州审计师指出，一家建筑公司在其豁免申请中的结果差异很大。该公司申请翻新同一通信公司拥有的三个安装，但仅拒绝了两个豁免请求和一项批准。

在另一种情况下，承包商申请了豁免，以修理两家不同医院的屋顶。在一个案件中，州官员批准了豁免，而在另一案中，承包商被告知根本不需要豁免。

A spokesperson for the Dept. of Community and Economic Development said Pennsylvania was one of a few states with a waiver process, and that findings of the audit report are not yet final.

“沃尔夫政府将继续与审计长部合作，DCED期待在发布时审查并正式响应最终报告，并确信此状态更新中表达的任何问题都将得到适当解决，发言人说。

宾夕法尼亚州总承包商协会和基斯通承包商协会执行主任乔恩·奥布赖恩（Jon O’Brien）称豁免程序“不一致”。他说，来自全州的承包商告诉他，他们“尽管他们的竞争对手在批准商业豁免的道路上，他们要么从DCED上听到过回来或被拒绝。”

奥布赖恩说：“政府官员告诉许多被拒绝的公司再次重新申请，因为DCED的另一片目光可能会批准。”

奥布赖恩说，尽管没有得到豁免，但一些主人告诉承包商仍继续工作。他说：“现在，这是公司不必面对的噩梦。”“您是否遵守规则并关闭您的项目？还是为多年来对您公司有益的客户继续工作？”

尽管Daquelente同意与豁免状况有关的押韵或理由很少，但他确实承认：“政府和领导层必须在信息持续发展的同时做出明智的决定；但是，我们的经验是围绕该过程的决策过程豁免充其量是不一致的。”