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). During the fiscal year 2024, the Henry County Board of Education (the “Board”) expended $1,270,487.00 of COVID-19 Education Stabilization Funds (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) on construction projects. The Board’s contracts did not include the required prevailing wage rate clauses nor were certified payrolls submitted by the contractors. The Board did not ensure the Davis-Bacon Act wage rate requirements were included in construction contracts; therefore, COVID-19 Education Stabilization Funds (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funds were used to pay contracts that did not include prevailing wage rate clauses, nor did the Board ensure that contractors submitted weekly certified payrolls. As a result, the Board is not in compliance with the Davis-Bacon Act as it pertains to wage rate requirements. This finding was originally reported as Finding 2023-001.