Over the past 60 days, SMACNA has urged its members to supply comments to the Department of Labor to support a proposed revision to the Davis-Bacon Act. This law requires the payment of locally prevailing wages and fringe benefits on federal construction contracts. The proposed Biden administration revision would have restored the 30 percent rule to the determination process along with other steps such as modernizing the definition of “building or work,” requiring the use of the most recent version of a wage determination, and mandating federal agencies to report planned construction for an additional two years. SMACNA believes that these revisions will allow skilled union contractors to be better able to compete for federal construction contracts.
Since the comment period began on March 31, over 37,000 comments have been received regarding the regulation. A vast majority of them were from groups such as SMACNA and the Construction Employers Association (CEA), who were actively supporting the measure. With the comment period concluding, the regulatory change now enters a review period before the Department of Labor decides whether to enact the proposed change.
Please visit the Government Affairs section of our website to keep abreast of any developments regarding the Davis-Bacon revisions. If you have any questions, please email Jason Watson or Stan Kolbe.
