Davis-Bacon Act — Prevailing Wage on Federal Construction
- Record: construction-management-reg-021 — Davis-Bacon Act (40 U.S.C. §§ 3141–3148)
- Issuing body / enforcer: U.S. Congress (statute); Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division (WHD); contracting agencies (enforcement via contract clauses)
- Jurisdiction: United States — federal and federally assisted construction
- Record type / importance: regulation / license
- Last verified: 2026-09-30
What it is
The 1931 prevailing-wage statute: contractors and subcontractors on federal construction contracts must pay laborers and mechanics no less than the locally prevailing wages and fringe benefits, as determined by DOL wage determinations. It is the wage-compliance regime that makes federal construction bidding a specialty — certified payrolls, wage-determination conformance, and fringe-benefit accounting are bid-priced line items, and violations trigger withholding, debarment, and False Claims exposure.
Scope: who/what it applies to, triggers, thresholds
- Trigger: federal construction contracts over $2,000, and federally assisted construction (grants, loans, loan guarantees — the IIJA/BIL infrastructure wave massively expanded the footprint) where the related statute incorporates Davis-Bacon.
- Who: prime contractors and all subcontractors at any tier performing work on the site of the work.
- Wage determinations: DOL issues general and project-specific determinations by locality and trade classification; contractors must classify workers correctly and pay the determination rate including fringe benefits (paid as bona fide benefits or cash equivalent).
- Related acts: the "Davis-Bacon and Related Acts" (DBRA) extend the framework to ~70+ related statutes (highway, housing, water infrastructure).
Key requirements and compliance obligations
- Pay prevailing wages + fringes for all hours on covered work; weekly certified payrolls (WH-347 or equivalent) submitted to the contracting agency/prime.
- Conformance process: when a needed classification isn't on the wage determination, request an additional classification (conformance) from DOL — do not invent rates.
- Fringe-benefit annualization: credit for bona fide benefit plans must be annualized across all hours — a recurring audit failure point.
- Apprenticeship ratios: apprentices must be in approved programs at approved ratios/wage percentages.
- Anti-kickback (Copeland Act): weekly compliance statements; no wage kickbacks.
- Overtime: CWHSSA requires 1.5× for hours over 40 on covered contracts.
- Recordkeeping: 3-year payroll and basic records retention.
Penalties and consequences
- Withholding of contract payments to satisfy wage underpayments; debarment from federal contracts (3 years for aggravated/willful violations); contract termination.
- False Claims Act exposure for false certified payrolls — the treble-damages regime that makes payroll fraud on federal jobs existentially dangerous.
- Criminal penalties under the Copeland Act for kickbacks.
Version/edition status and LIVE changes (verified 2026-09-30)
- The 2023 Modernization Rule (first comprehensive update in ~40 years; effective Oct 23, 2023) remains the operative framework: restored the 30% prevailing-wage definition, updated wage-survey methodology, expanded coverage definitions (including secondary construction sites), and revised fringe-benefit rules.
- 2025–2026 litigation and Trump-DOL review — the live picture:
- ABC's 2023 lawsuit (E.D. Tex.) challenging the rule continued; a federal judge had earlier enjoined portions.
- In August 2026, the Trump DOL concluded its review: it agreed to vacate three provisions (offsite-worker coverage including truck drivers; the material-supplier vs. contractor/subcontractor distinction; and one contract-omission provision) but declined further rulemaking — the remainder of the 2023 rule stands, and DOL asked the court to rule on the remaining challenges (wage calculations, geographic scope, secondary sites, flaggers, survey crews, fringe annualization).
- Practical effect: contractors must comply with the 2023 rule as modified by the vacated provisions — and track the E.D. Tex. ruling on the remaining challenges, which could move again.
- EO 14236 (March 2025) revoked the Biden contractor minimum-wage EO ($17.75/hr) — this affects only the executive-branch minimum-wage overlay, not Davis-Bacon prevailing-wage requirements, which are unchanged by it.
- Legislative watch: Davis-Bacon repeal bills (H.R. 8602/S. 4477, 119th Congress) have not passed; no floor vote as of mid-2026. Plan for continued compliance.
Related certifications (Construction Management flagship/license)
- CCM (construction-management-cert-001): contract-administration and labor-compliance content.
- PMP (construction-management-cert-005): procurement and contract-management domains.
- State contractor licenses (construction-management-cert-011/012/013): public-works contracting content on license exams.
Honest flags
- The litigation picture is genuinely fluid — the E.D. Tex. case status and the exact scope of the three vacated provisions should be confirmed against the court filings/DOL guidance before bid-pricing reliance. Repeal-bill numbers reflect mid-2026 reporting.
Original ETS reference writing, verified against public sources on 2026-09-30. Thin sourcing is flagged inline. Not legal advice — confirm current editions with the issuing body.