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Davis-Bacon Act

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1. DBA Statute and Regulations The WDOL.GOV Library Page contains a link to DOL's website and to a copy of the statute (40 U.S.C. 276) and the pertinent DBA regulations (Title 29 CFR Parts 1, 3, 5, and 7).
2. FAR and Supplements. The WDOL.GOV Library Page also contains ``links to federal acquisition regulations, including the supplements issued by each federal contracting agency. WDOL.GOV users are urged to familiarize themselves not only with DOL regulations, but also with the pertinent acquisition regulations pertaining to specific contract actions requiring construction work.
3. Application of DBA. DBA provisions are applicable to contracts in excess of $2,000 for the construction, alteration and/or repair, including painting and decorating, of a public building or public work. Coverage is described in detail at Title 29 CFR Part 5 and FAR 22.402 and 22.403.

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4. DBA WDs Contracting officers and other interested parties may obtain current, official DBA General Wage Decisions (DBA WDs) from the WDOL.GOV Program.
   1. Under the WDOL Program, DOL will publish all DBA WD revisions for a given week on the WDOL.GOV Program database each Friday. The WDOL.GOV Program will also provide a notice to users of pending revisions to be listed on the next scheduled publishing date (Friday). The pending revisions are found at "DBA WDs to Be Revised Next Friday". The WDOL.GOV Program will also provide a notice to users of pending revisions to be listed on the next scheduled publishing date (Friday). The pending revisions are found at "DBA WDs to Be Revised Next Friday".
   2. DOL issues DBA WDs reflecting prevailing wages and benefits paid by the construction industry within specific localities. The DBA WDs are further classified by the nature of the construction projects performed, specifically listed as "schedules": residential, building, highway, and heavy construction. A brief outline of the definitions for each schedule is listed below. Further details and examples may be found in DOL's "All Agency Memorandum No. 130 and 131" issued in 1978 (reference the WDOL Library Page).
   • Building Construction. Includes construction of sheltered enclosures with walk-in access for the purpose of housing persons, machinery, equipment or supplies; all construction of such structures; the installation of utilities and of equipment, both above and below grade levels; as well as incidental grading, utilities and paving. Such structures need not be "habitable" to be building construction. Also, the installation of heavy machinery and/or equipment does not generally change the project's character as a building.
   • Heavy Construction. Includes those projects that are not properly classified as either "building," "highway," or "residential." Unlike these classifications, heavy construction is not a homogenous classification. Because of this catch-all nature, projects within the heavy classification may sometimes be distinguished on the basis of their particular project characteristics, and separate schedules may be issued for dredging projects, water and sewer line projects, dams, major bridges, and flood control projects.
   • Highway Construction. Includes construction, alteration or repair of roads, streets, highways, runways, taxiways, alleys, trails, paths, parking areas, and other similar projects not incidental to building or heavy construction.
   • Residential Construction. Includes the construction, alteration or repair of single-family houses, apartment buildings of no more than four stories in height. This includes all incidental items such as site work, parking areas, utilities, streets, and sidewalks.
   • Some contracts or projects may require more than one general schedule to be included depending on the nature and extent of the work. This is described in more detail in DOL's All Agency Memo No. 131. The contracting agency should provide designate the work to which each wage determination or part thereof applies per FAR 22.404-2.
   3. There may be rare circumstances where the general schedule wage determination do not contain the principal work classification necessary for contract performance. In those situation a project wage determination may be requested from Department of Labor by submittal of an SF-308 or other request that contains the same information. In such cases the Contracting Officer should follow the instruction in FAR 22.404-3.
   4. The contracting officer must monitor the WDOL.GOV Program DBA database regularly to determine if a selected WD has been revised prior to the expiration of the "effective date" for that particular contract action.
   5. DBA WD Numbering System Within WDOL.gov. DBA WDs are generally numbered by DOL in the following format: a current WD applicable to Virginia is numbered "VA030001" (showing the two-letter state abbreviation (VA), the latest year of publication (03), and the sequential number assigned to the particular WD (0001)). In using the WDOL.gov menus for "Selecting DB WDs" or selecting "Archived DB WDs", the user must use the DBA WD short-number for each WD. The format will be as follows: for VA030001 the short-number is "VA1"; for MD030114, the short-number is "MD114". In "Selecting DBA WDs, the user may also select a WD without the number by completing the menu for other selection criteria (state, county, type of construction).
   6. WDOL.GOV ALERT SYSTEM. To ensure that the contracting officer (or other interested party) is aware of revisions made by DOL to DBA WDs selected for a specific contract action, the WDOL.GOV user may register for automatic email notification of such revisions. Upon selection of an appropriate DBA WD, the user will be offered the opportunity to request email notice of future revisions for a specific period of time, or until a specific date. Contracting officers are encouraged to request this automatic notification process in order to be aware of timely revisions applicable to contract actions.
      1. At the Alert Service menu, the user will be asked to provide an email address for the WDOL.gov to use in providing notification of a revision to a WD. The user may also provide an "alert identifier" which will appear in the WDOL.gov notification and will assist the user in relating the newly revised WD to a specific contract or solicitation, or other area of interest.
      2. Users requesting the Alert Service will receive an email notice each time the selected DBA WD is revised until the Alert Service request expires. CAUTION: The Alert Service does not relieve the contracting officer of the obligation under DBA and its regulations to use timely received new or revised DB WDs in contract actions.
   7. Archived DBA WDs.Once DOL revises a DBA WD, the most current revision will be published on the WDOL.GOV database. Prior revisions, no longer current, will be maintained in the "Archived DBA WD" database for information purposes only. Contracting officers should not use an archived WD in a contract action without prior approval of DOL. Contact DOL at at Telephone no. 866-487-9423.

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5. Effective Dates for DBA WD Modifications (Reference Title 29 CFR Part 1, Section 1.6(c) and FAR 22.404-6).
   1. Modifications to DBA WDs shall be effective if received (or if notice of the modification is published in the Federal Register or the WD is posted on the WDOL.GOV website):
      1. (for contract actions resulting from other than sealed bidding, prior to date of award;
      2. for contracts resulting from sealed bidding, no less than 10 days prior to bid opening.
6. If you have questions concerning the applicability of DBA provisions or a DBA WD, or the timeliness of a revised DBA WD, contact the contracting officer or the agency labor advisor.

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7. Conformances (Requesting Authorization of Additional Classification and Rate). DOL issues WDs under DBA using available statistical data on prevailing wages and benefits in a locality. On occasion, the data does not contain sufficient information to issue rates for a particular craft needed in the performance of the contract. Because of this, DBA provisions contain a conformance procedure for the purpose of establishing a DBA-enforceable wage and benefit rate for missing job classifications.
   1. Contractors are responsible for determining the appropriate crafts necessary to perform the contract work. If a classification considered necessary for performance of the work is missing from the WD applicable to the contract, the contractor must initiate a request for approval of a proposed wage and benefit rate. Generally, the contractor initiates the request by preparing an SF-1444, Request for Authorization of Additional Classification and Rate, at the time of employment of the unlisted craft. (Reference Title 29 CFR Part 5, Section 5.5(a)(1)(ii) and FAR 22.406-3). The contractor completes blocks 2 through 15 on the form. Requests may be submitted without the form, but must contain the required information.
   2. Contractors must request employees, if present, or their designated representative, to sign block 16 noting the employee's concurrence or disagreement with the contractor's proposed wage and benefit rate. A statement supporting a recommendation for different rates may accompany any indication of disagreement. The "designated representative" may be a union representative; however, it cannot be the contractor's representative or personnel officer.
   3. The contractor submits the completed SF-1444 to the contracting officer. The contracting officer reviews the form for completeness, and signs the agency's concurrence or disagreement with the contractor's proposal. A statement supporting a recommendation for different rates may accompany any indication of disagreement.
   4. The contracting officer then submits the request to DOL for approval. The contractor must pay the proposed wage and benefit rate pending response from DOL. When DOL responds to the contracting officer, the contracting officer provides a copy of the response to the contractor with instructions to provide each employee a copy or to post it in the work area (with the applicable WD). The prime contractor must provide a copy of the determination to subcontractor(s), if any, that may employ workers in the conformed classification under the contract. If DOL responds with an approved rate that is higher than the rate proposed by the contractor, the contractor must pay such rate retroactive to the start of performance of that craft. The contracting officer should request written confirmation from the contractor that this liability has been paid in full.