Summary: This testimony discusses the Department of Labor's (Labor) procedures for determining prevailing wage rates under the Davis-Bacon Act. Davis-Bacon wages must be paid to workers on certain federally funded construction projects, and their vulnerability to the use of inaccurate data has long been an issue for Congress, employers, and workers. More recently, the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, focused attention on the need for accurate and timely wage determinations, with more than $300 billion estimated to provide substantial funding for, among other things, federally funded building and infrastructure work potentially subject to Davis-Bacon wage rates. In the 1990s, we issued two reports that found process changes were needed to increase confidence that wage rates were based on accurate data. A third report found that changes then planned by Labor, if successfully implemented, had the potential to improve the wage determination process. However, in 2004, Labor's Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that wage data errors and the timeliness of surveys used to gather wage information from contractors and others, continued to be issues. The testimony will discuss (1) the extent to which Labor has addressed concerns regarding the quality of the Davis-Bacon wage determination process and (2) additional issues identified by stakeholders regarding the wage determination process. This testimony is based on our recently issued report, titled "Davis-Bacon Act: Methodological Changes Needed to Improve Wage Survey."
In summary, we found that recent efforts to improve the Davis-Bacon wage survey have not yet addressed key issues with survey quality, such as the representativeness and sufficiency of survey data collected. Labor has made some data collection and processing changes; however, we found some surveys initiated under these changes were behind Labor's processing schedule. Stakeholders said contractors may not participate in the survey because they do not understand its purpose or do not believe the resultant prevailing wages are fully accurate. In addition, they said addressing a lack of transparency in how the published wage rates are set could result in a better understanding of the process and greater participation in the survey. We suggest Congress consider amending its requirement that Labor issue wage rates by civil subdivision to allow more flexibility. To improve the quality and timeliness of the Davis-Bacon wage surveys, we recommend Labor obtain objective expert advice on its survey design and methodology. We also recommend Labor take steps to improve the transparency of its wage determinations.
