Thank you Shannyn! Also to be considered here is the very obvious way in which this company was avoiding any local hire. The "test" would be a welding certification test which could be taken either in Anchorage or Fairbanks. The employer could very simply arrange for local employees to be tested by calling a lab in either location and telling them what procedure they wanted the welder to be certified for. Another alternative is for the onsite welding inspector to test incoming hires which as an inspector I did many times myself. By requiring prospective employees to travel to Louisiana to take the test they are effectively ruling out any local hire as well as bypassing our own test labs who could probably use the contract. I traveled all over the U.S. working in certified welding jobs and the certification test was always given on site or in the nearest city. There needs to be a way to enforce local hire when Outside contractors are used by oil companies.