Historical Perspective Keeping on the right side of the many regulations governing the wages paid to people working on federally funded construction projects can be challenging. And it’s been challenging since the Davis-Bacon Act, or DBA, was passed in 1931. Nearly a century later, there are approximately 60 legislative acts that collectively are referred to as the Davis-Bacon-Related Acts, or DBRA. The DBA has become an umbrella under which all of the DBRA fall. The DBA requires “payment of locally prevailing wages and fringe benefits to laborers and mechanics” working on construction “contracts that exceed the amount of $2,000 to which the U.S. or District of Columbia is a party.” That turned out to be a more complicated matter than the DBA’s authors anticipated, resulting in the plethora of DBRA that have further explained, elaborated upon, and extended the original DBA. Legislators refined and expanded the meaning of “prevailing wages,” devised rules for wage determinations and job classifications, and expanded DBA coverage to include projects funded by a wider range of federal sources, such as grants, loans, loan guarantees, and other sources of federal assistance. While DBA itself applies to work done on federal government buildings, District of Columbia,...
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