Davis-Bacon Labor Standards/Contract Stipulations

1. Health Resources and ServicesAdministration (HRSA)DAVIS-BACON WEBINAR TRAININGCovering Wage Determinations, Conformances, & Certified PayrollsThursday, June 10, 2010

2. Davis-Bacon Labor Standards/Contract Stipulations • The term “labor standards” means the requirements of: • The Davis-Bacon Act • The Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act • The Copeland Act • Prevailing wage provisions of the Davis-Bacon and “related Acts” • Regulations, 29 CFR 1, 3, and 5

3. Minimum wages (MW’s) Withholding Maintaining basic payroll records Submission of certified payroll records Apprentices Trainees Davis-Bacon Labor Standards (29 CFR 5.5)

5. Copeland Act (CA) compliance Subcontracts Contract termination and debarment Rulings and interpretations Disputes Certification of eligibility Davis-Bacon Labor Standards

6. Davis-BaconWage Determinations

8. DB Wage Determinations What Is It? • A document issued by the Wage and Hour Division specifying the minimum hourly wage rates and fringe benefits that contractors and subcontractors are required to pay employees working on construction projects.

9. DB Wage DeterminationsWhy Do I Need One? • The Davis-Bacon Act requires that each contract over $2,000 to which the Federal Government or the District of Columbia is a party to for the construction, alteration and or repair of a public building or public work, including painting and decorating, must contain clauses setting forth the minimum wages to be paid to various classes of laborers and mechanics employed on federally funded or assisted construction projects.

10. DB Wage DeterminationsHow Do I Get One? • If you are a Contracting Officer or Federal Agency • Official site for General Wage Determinations – http://www.wdol.gov/ • If you are a Contractor • Federal agencies are required to include WD’s in the solicitation and contract documents • If you are a Subcontractor • Prime contractor is required to include WD’s in subcontractors agreement

11. DB Wage DeterminationsSelecting The Proper Wage Determinations • Location: State and County • Type of Construction: Building; Heavy; Highway; Residential • Current WD: question or disputes concerning appropriate classification of project should be submitted to Wage and Hour Division for resolution

12. DB Wage DeterminationsTypes • General Wage Determinations • Project Wage Determinations

13. DB Wage DeterminationsGeneral • Have been issued for most counties and for each major type of construction, nationwide • May be used by the Federal agency without notifying the WHD • Official site for General Wage Determinations – http://www.wdol.gov/

14. Project Wage Determinations • Issued on case-by-case basis where no general WD is in effect or where virtually all the work (100%) on a contract will be performed by a classification that is not listed in general WD • SF-308, “Request for Determination and Response To Request” submitted by agency to request Project WD

15. DB/DBRA WAGE DeterminationModifications • Both General and Project WD’s may be modified: • To apply results of a new survey • To update union rates due to changes in CBA’s • General Wage Decisions contain “Supersedes wage decisions” that replace prior General WD’s. These WD’s begin with Mod. No. 0

16. DB/DBRA Current Wage Determinations • Contracting agency must ensure that up to date WDs are included in bid/RFP documents, and modifications are included up to the time of award • On negotiated contracts (RFPs), contracting agency must use most up to date WD issued at time of contract award date

17. DB/DBRA Current Wage Determinations • On competitive bidding contracts, WD’s issued within 10 days of opening bid date shall be used unless there is not enough time to notify all bidders • Where General WD applies, if contract not awarded within 90 days, new modifications must be incorporated or extensions applied for and granted. • Same for Project WD that expires before award

18. DB/DBRA Current Wage Determination • Modifications to DB WDs and supersedes WD issued after award do not apply to contract. • During pre-bid conferences, Contractors should be encouraged to review WDs and raise any objections or questions during advertising period. Later complaints may be deemed untimely and not be acted upon.

19. DB/DBRA Wage Determination Extensions Granted by WH Administrator if after opening bid: • For General WD, award does not take place within 90 days • For Project WD, WD expires before award date • Request is supported by written finding with factual support that extension is necessary and in public interest

20. DB/DBRA Wage DeterminationCorrection of Clerical Errors • WH Administrator may correct any WD if it is determined that it contains inadvertent clerical error • Such corrections are retroactive to start of construction and in any bid specification

21. DB/DBRA Wage DeterminationCover Sheet • The decision number • Number of WD superseded, if applicable • State(s) covered • Type of Construction • Counties or cities covered • Description of construction WD applies, or does not apply to • Record of Modifications

27. WDOL Home Page

29. Archived DBA WDs

33. Library • SCA Directory of Occupations • Applicable Regulations – FAR & DOL • FAR Supplement & Other Acquisition Regulations • Sites relating to labor standards & compliance requirements

34. Library • Acronyms & Glossary • Sites for Contracting Agency Pre-Award Activities • Related Documents/Links • Cross-Walk from Title 29 CFR (DOL Regs) to Title 48 CFR (FAR) • Conformances

35. Applicable Regulations • Title 41 CFR (FAR) • Federal Register • Title 29 CFR (DOL Regulations) • Engineer Pamphlet on SCA Labor Relations

36. Other Internet Sites • Wage and Hour Division - http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd • Office of the Administrative Law Judges Law Library - http://www.oalj.dol.gov • Administrative Review Board - http://www.dol.gov/arb • Debarred Bidders List - http://www.epls.gov

37. DAVIS-BACON Wage Determination Conformances

38. DB/DBRA Wage DeterminationConformance Process • Is requested classification already listed in contract WD? • Can a classification in the contract WD perform the work?

39. DB/DBRA Wage DeterminationConformance Process • If yes, is WD classification a union or non-union rate? • Union rate - only information from union segment of industry is relevant to determining if request should be denied • Non-union rate - only practices of non-union contractors may be used as basis for denying request

40. DB/DBRA Wage DeterminationConformance Process • Is there evidence that duties in question were performed by employees in that sector of the construction industry on similar construction in area prior to award? • If there is such evidence - request must be denied • If no such evidence - determine if requested rate bears reasonable relationship to wage rates on WD

41. DB/DBRA Wage DeterminationConformance Process • Welders • Additional classification not generally needed • Welding is commonly considered incidental to ironworkers, plumbers, sheet metal workers, etc.

42. DB/DBRA Wage DeterminationSpecial Situations • Additional classifications and wage rates are not needed for bona fide apprentices and trainees • They can work for less that WD wage rates only if they are registered in an approved program authorized by or recognized by Bureau of Apprenticeship Training (BAT)

43. DB/DBRA Wage DeterminationSpecial Situations • Helpers may not be employed and a helper rate conformance request will not be approved unless duties are clearly defined and distinct from those of journeyman classification, and use is established by prevailing practice

44. DB/DBRA Wage Determination Conformance ProcessSF-1444 • Is classification already listed? • Does a listed classification perform the work? • Is listed classification union or non-union rate? • Is there project payment evidence from that sector? • Does listed classification performing the work disapprove of request? • If work not performed by listed classification, is requested rate comparable to other rates?

45. Conformances CLASSROOM EXERCISE

50. Disclaimer • This presentation is intended as general information only and does not carry the force of legal opinion. • The Department of Labor is providing this information as a public service. This information and related materials are presented to give the public access to information on Department of Labor programs. You should be aware that, while we try to keep the information timely and accurate, there will often be a delay between official publications of the materials and the modification of these pages. Therefore, we make no express or implied guarantees. The Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations remain the official source for regulatory information published by the Department of Labor. We will make every effort to keep this information current and to correct errors brought to our attention.