Finding Text
2023-003 – U.S. Department of Education, For the Period July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023, Assistance Listing #84.425 Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund
Statement of Condition: Documentation of wage rate requirements in construction contracts and verification of
certified weekly payrolls was not performed.
Criteria: All 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 the locality of the project (prevailing wage rates) by the Department of Labor. Management needs to ensure that all contractors and subcontractors are submitting weekly certified payrolls and verify that they are being paid at least the prevailing wage rates.
Cause: When performing our compliance testing, we discovered that construction contracts did not contain the prevailing wage rate clause and that certified payrolls were not received.
Effect: Employees could potentially not be paid prevailing wage rates which could jeopardize grant funding.
Recommendation: Management needs to ensure that all construction contracts with contractors in excess of $2,000 have a prevailing wage rate clause and that certified payrolls are received and reviewed in a timely manner.
Questioned Costs: None