Audit 403175

FINDING: The District did not comply with the Davis-Bacon Act contracting and payment requirements for construction contracts totaling $1.2 million financed by the Federal Education Stabilization (ES) Fund. As a result, the District incurred questioned costs of that amount. CRITERIA: The ES Fund provides Federal funds for school facility repairs and improvements. Title 29, Section 5.5, Code of Federal Regulations (Davis-Bacon Act), requires the District to include prevailing wage rate clauses in any construction contract exceeding $2,000 that is financed either wholly or in part by Federal funds and ensure that contractors pay workers the prevailing wage rates established by the United States Department of Labor. This includes a requirement for the contractor to submit to the District weekly, for each week in which any contract work is performed, a copy of the payroll and a statement of compliance (certified payrolls). The United States Department of Labor established "prevailing wages" by geographic area and interprets the Davis-Bacon Act to apply to construction, alteration, or repair of a public building or public work. CONDITION: For the 2024-25 fiscal year, the District expended ES Fund moneys totaling $17,669,706.08, including $1,248,993 for a contract exceeding $2,000 related to playground equipment installation. We noted that the purchase orders, requests for proposals, and contracts for those services did not contain clauses that required compliance with the Davis-Bacon Act provision and the contractors did not submit required weekly certified payrolls to the District. CAUSE: District personnel indicated that they were not aware of the Davis-Bacon Act applied to these Federally funded projects and, therefore, did not include the appropriate wage rate clauses in the applicable procurement documents or verify that the prevailing wage rates were paid. EFFECT: Absent the required contract clauses and weekly certified payrolls, there is an increased risk that construction contractors paid with Federal moneys will not pay workers the prevailing wage rates established by the United States Department of Labor. Although we requested, the District did not provide certified payrolls from the contractors demonstrating that the prevailing wage rates were paid for the services, resulting in questioned costs totaling $1,248,993. RECOMMENDATION: The District should enhance procedures to ensure compliance with all Davis-Bacon Act requirements. Such enhancements should ensure that applicable Federally funded facility contracts require submittal of weekly certified payrolls and that District personnel verify the payrolls were received. In addition, the District should document to the FDOE the allowability of the questioned costs or contact the FDOE regarding necessary corrective action. DISTRICT RESPONSE: The District is in the process of reviewing procedures for construction services and will ensure that the future use of Federal funds for these projects meet contracting and payment requirements.