Davis Bacon Related Acts

If you are doing a project with the Montana federal government, you should take note of your responsibilities:

• Displaying the Montana prevailing wage rates in an accessible and prominent spot at the location of the project.
• Classifying the workers according to their craft or trade and pay them with the determined prevailing wage for their line of work.
• Providing prevailing wage adjustments for contracts that last for more than 30 months.
• Documenting the hours and wages that the workers receive.
• Ensuring that the payroll records are always available for inspection by the Department of Labor and Industry and the contracting agency.
• Allocating at least 50% of the positions for Montana residents.
  For contracting agents: · Requesting the schedule of prevailing wage rate to the Department of Labor and Industry
• Giving the schedule of prevailing wage rate for bidding
• Providing prevailing wage adjustments for contracts that last for more than 30 months.
• Requesting that a provision be made in the contract which prioritizes Montana residents for hiring.

The prevailing wage is determined based on the following:

• Surveys for wages performed by the Department of Labor
• Prevailing wage rates utilized during the previous year
• Valid CBA
• Rates established by the federal government in compliance with the Federal Services Act and Davis-Bacon Act

You can contact the Labor Standards Bureau regarding the rates you can use for your project at (406) 444-5600. You can also check them online at http://erd.dli.mt.gov/labor-standards/state-prevailing-wage-rates.

Prevailing wage rates are being surveyed every June and adjusted in January every year. Participating in the survey is voluntary. The degree of change in Montana prevailing wage depends on the amount of responses and their value. For more information on Montana multi-year contracts, click here.

Withholding funds

The county, state, municipality or district that executed the contract will retain $1000 to serve as liquidated damages for violation of the provisions indicated in the contract. The money will be allocated to the proper fund it belongs to.

Non-compliance due to gross negligence

The commissioner is allowed to retain an additional amount of at most $10,000 on top of the $1000 retained due to withholding funds. The money will be allocated to the proper fund it belongs to.

• Aggravated or willful violations

The contractor may be debarred from taking any Davis-Bacon Act projects for a period of 3 years.

An apprentice must receive the required percentage of the basic rate per hour and/or fringe benefits, based on the total time he spent at work. Apprentices that perform labor should have a higher prevailing wage rate as compared to what is indicated in the apprenticeship standards. The contractor should pay the higher prevailing wage rate.

Contractors are also required to add costs for paying apprenticeship programs to the hourly fringe amount. You can check out the requirements for apprenticeships here and the wages that should be paid to apprentices here.