President Biden issued an Executive Order on February 4, 2022 that will require contractors to enter into project labor agreements for large scale federal construction projects. Although PLAs have been “encouraged” for some time, this order will transform this preference into an absolute requirement.
Read MoreDOL wants to annualize fringe benefit contributions, especially pension monies, to get contractors to pay Davis-Bacon Act fringe benefits even for non-Davis-Bacon Act work. This is variously called the annualization rule or the effective annual rate calculation. But some courts have refused to enforce the DOL annualization requirment.
Read MoreThe Department of Labor publishes a webpage hoping to educate the public about which types of projects under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will be covered by the Davis-Bacon Act.
Read MoreThe Department of Labor announced yesterday the Wage and Hour Division plans to hire 100 investigators this year. For sure, they’ll be earnest and energized. That’s why a solid grounding in the wage and hour laws affecting the government contractor community will be a powerful tool to ensure you get a fair shake.
Read MoreThe $15 Minimum Wage Executive Order (“MW EO”) only applies on or after January 30, 2022, and then only to new contracts. It doesn’t apply to the time period worked in the prior contract under the old MW EO. For that period in 2022, all that is legally due is the $11.25 MW or any higher prevailing wage. While DOL is specifying the new $15 MW was intended to apply to hours spent performing on that new contract in 2022, that just means the new contract hours. Service and construction contractors should wait patiently for the new option year, or when the new MW EO clause is added to the contract ,and get a price adjustment for any extra costs.
Read MoreGovernment contractors tend to have a “book” of existing multi-year fixed priced contracts. This means many government contractors are locked into fixed price contracts for up to the next five or so years. Those contracts were largely bid on in a low inflation world, with modest annual price escalations built-in. It is quickly becoming apparent we live in a new paradigm of higher inflation. Thus, those fixed price contractors face the prospect of either reduced profits or even losses, as inflation takes off,
Read MoreThere’s a new rule in town that kicks the definition of “commercial item” out of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (“FAR”) and replaces it with separate definitions for “commercial product” and “commercial service.” While this is not a substantive change, it should make life easier.
Read MoreOn November 18, 2021, President Joe Biden resurrected the Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers Under Service Contract Executive Order after President Trump revoked the Obama administration’s prior Executive Order on the same subject.
Read MoreThe Service Contract Act price adjustment clause prohibits an adjustment for changes to the contract in the base year of performance. However, in some situations, the contractor is entitled to an adjustment through the Changes clause of their contract.
Read MoreStobil appealed a Civilian Board of Contract Appeals decision to the Federal Circuit but could not show it was entitled to all of their wage rate increases were due to the new wage determination.
Read MoreThe ASBCA holds that FAR 22.404-12(c) does not require that notice be given to offers that they have the opportunity to escalate labor rates into their bid pricing even when the offers will not receive a price adjustment after a new Wage Determination is incorporated into the contract.
Read MoreMany federal contractors are being asked to accept contract modifications to implement President Biden’s vaccine mandate. So, what will compliance look like? For now, things are a bit vague; however, we hope the roll-out of this mandate will be reasonable. Contractors should be allowed some flexibility if they’re making good-faith efforts to cajole their workforces into being fully vaccinated.
Read MoreThe Tenth Circuit holds that the Union in this case cannot compel the Contractor to arbitrate Davis-Bacon job classifications. However, the court did not hold that Davis-Bacon job classifications are not arbitrable. This article was written by our very own Kirby Rousseau for The Government Contractor publication.
Read MoreThe evolving COVID-19 vaccine mandates for federal employees and contractor employees are a work in progress. New Executive Orders that will require near universal vaccination of employees are replacing the vaccine-or-test mandate issued mere weeks ago. Read on for more about the new requirements and the confusion that may ensue in the meantime.
Read MoreWhen bidding on and pricing US government extended term fixed price contracts, contractors need to price in the possibility that state minimum wages will exceed the SCA or DBA wage levels, and require an escalation be paid, but the contracting agency will not adjust the contract price for that occurrence.
Read MoreThe District of Columbia is allowing workers to bring a prevailing wage claim under the guise of a municipal statute, thereby eroding the rule that only DOL enforces the federal prevailing wage laws and there is no private cause of action.
Read MoreUPDATE: President Biden is expected to announce executive orders that will mandate universal vaccination for federal workers and contractor employees with no testing option. We will post an update when the expected orders are issued. Federal contractor employees who work on Government sites must comply with President Biden’s vaccine or test policy. Must contractors pay employees for their time to get tested if they refuse to get a vaccine? Must contractors foot the bill for the tests? So far, these questions are going unanswered.
Read MoreAfter being frozen for two years, the SCA H&W rates were modestly adjusted upwards by DOL effective July 16, 2021.
Read MorePer Bloomberg News, President Biden is reviewing his options with regard to updating President Obama’s Executive Order encouraging Project Labor Agreements.
Read MoreGovernment Contract claims for monetary relief under the Contract Disputes Act must demand “the payment of money in a sum certain.” Read on to consider the pitfalls that can arise when you have more than one way of framing your claim.
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