Finding Text
Title 29, U. S. Code of Federal Regulations, Part 5, Sub-Part A Davis Bacon and Related Acts
Provisions and Procedures (the “Davis-Bacon Act”), requires that any construction contract in
excess of $2,000 that is funded wholly or in part by federal funds include prevailing wage rate
clauses. The laborers and mechanics employed by contractors or subcontractors to work on
construction contracts in excess of $2,000 financed by federal assistance funds must be paid wages
not less than those established for locality of project (prevailing wage rates) by the Department of
Labor (DOL) and the contractor or subcontractor must submit to the nonfederal entity weekly, for
each week in which any contract work is performed, a copy of the payroll and a statement of
compliance (certified payrolls). The Barbour County Board of Education (the “Board”) entered
into a construction project contract totaling $2,642,387.00 that did not include prevailing wage rate
clauses. During the current fiscal year, the project was completed and payments totaling
$2,642,387.00 were made from Education Stabilization Funds. The Board did not have controls in
place to ensure the Davis-Bacon Act wage rate requirements were included in construction
contracts; therefore, prevailing wage rate clauses were not included in this contract nor did the
contractors submit weekly certified payrolls to the Board. As a result, the Board is not in
compliance with the Davis-Bacon Act as it pertains to wage rate requirements.
Recommendation
The Board should comply with Title 29, U. S. Code of Federal Regulations, Part 5, Sub-Part A
Davis Bacon and Related Acts Provisions and Procedures (the “Davis-Bacon Act”) when using
COVID-19 Education Stabilization Funds to fund construction contracts in excess of $2,000.00
with the use of mechanics and laborers.