Review of Administration and Enforcement of Minimum Wage Rate Determinations Under the Davis-Bacon Act

GAO is currently reviewing the Department of Labor's and Federal contracting agencies' administration and enforcement of minimum wage rate determinations used for federally-assisted construction projects subject to the labor standard provisions of the Davis-Bacon Act. One project reviewed was the construction of a water well in Farmersville, California, under a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant Program. The HUD San Francisco Area Office in Region IX has primary responsibility for enforcing labor standards, but delegated enforcement to the grantee (city of Farmersville), which contracted with a consulting firm to enforce standards.

In its limited review, GAO found several violations in the areas of conforming wage rates, payroll records, employee interviews, fringe benefits, and certified payroll checks. Inadequate training of the grantee by HUD and the lack of monitoring of the contractor has allowed labor standards violations to occur and go undetected.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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