All Agency Memorandum #213 sets forth new standards for the implementation of the Davis-Bacon Act “conformance” procedure. The conformance process has the limited purpose of establishing a new classification when it is necessary to do so because work needed to perform the contract is not performed by an existing classification on the wage determination. The regulations require that wage rates for additional classifications, when “conformed” to an existing wage determination, bear a “reasonable relationship” to the wage rates in that wage determination.
The new policy states that ” [i]n keeping with the remedial purpose of the [Davis Bacon and Related Acts] and the governing regulations, the wage rate of the lowest skilled craft, laborer, power equipment operator, or truck driver classification on the contract wage determination” will “no longer” be the “automatic benchmark when reviewing conformance requests. ”
In conjunction with the AAM #213, DOL’s Wage & Hour Division has a new website with the new policy directives on it. Below are a few of the new policies and pages.