Sneak Preview: Comments Sought on Davis-Bacon Proposed Rule
(The following was excerpted from a recent Thompson Grants Compliance Expert article.) The Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued a proposed rule to update its regulations implementing requirements under the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts (DBRA) (40 U.S.C. 3142), which pertain to the administration and enforcement of labor standards that apply to federal and federally assisted construction projects. Amendments under the proposal are designed to create efficiencies in the prevailing wage update system and ensure prevailing wage rates keep up with actual wages, according to DOL.
Stakeholders may comment on the proposed rule through Regulations.gov by May 17, and should refer to Docket No. WHD-2022-0001.
There are 71 DBRA laws applicable to federal and federally assisted construction projects that require the payment of locally prevailing wages and fringe benefits. DOL regulations related to these laws are listed at 29 C.F.R. Parts 1, 3 and 5.
Appendix II of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) uniform grant guidance includes provisions that must be included in nonfederal entity contracts under federal awards. Davis-Bacon Act provisions are included in Appendix II.D. This provision states that a nonfederal entity must report all suspected or reported Davis-Bacon Act violations to the federal awarding agency, and that contracts must also include a provision for compliance with the Copeland “Anti-Kickback” Act (40 U.S.C. 3145). This act provides that each contractor or subrecipient must be prohibited from inducing, by any means, any person employed in the construction, completion or repair of public work to give up any part of the compensation to which he or she is otherwise entitled. The nonfederal entity must report all suspected or reported violations to the federal awarding agency.
The proposed rule, issued in the March 18 Federal Register, if promulgated, would be the first major update to the Davis-Bacon regulations in 40 years. A 2011 Government Accountability Office report evaluated DOL’s wage survey and wage determination process and found that the agency was often behind schedule in completing wage surveys, leading to a backlog of wage determinations and the use of out-of-date wage determinations in some areas. A 2019 DOL Office of Inspector General audit found similar results.
(The full version of this story has now been made available to all for a limited time here.)
Join us for our following Thompson Grants event:
Federal Grants Forum | May 11-13, 2022 | Portland, Ore.
Federal Grants Forum | June 15-17, 2022 | Denver, Colo.
