Employment Standards Administration
Service Contract Act-Labor Standards for Federal Service Contracts Gao ID: OGC-97-14 January 16, 1997Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Department of Labor's new rule on labor standards for federal service contracts. GAO found that: (1) the rule would adopt a new methodology for establishing minimum health and welfare benefits requirements under the McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act; (2) the fringe benefit rate will based on nationwide Bureau of Labor Statistics' Employment Cost Index data for all employees in private industry and will include all benefits; (3) the rule would also contain a variance to reflect Labor's practice of issuing prevailing fringe benefit determinations on a nationwide basis, rather than separately for classes of employees and localities; and (4) Labor complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule.