Davis-Bacon, Copeland, and Service Contract Act

Enact legislation to simplify acquisition labor laws.

The DavisBacon Act should be amended to:

-- apply the new simplified acquisition threshold to federally funded
and assisted contracts,

-- authorize the Secretary of Labor to debar individuals and firms for
violations and to disburse payments to employees directly from payments
withheld under the terms of contracts, and

-- use the listing of persons or firms debarred on the List of Parties
Excluded from Federal Procurement or Nonprocurement Programs maintained
by GSA to eliminate the current duplications.

The Copeland Act should be amended to:

-- eliminate the requirement for submission of certified payrolls and
substitute a requirement that the contractor submit, along with each
request for a progress or final payment, a certification that all
persons employed on the project have been paid the full wages earned
without unauthorized deductions;

-- require the contractor to maintain payroll and other basic records
relating to payroll for a period of three years after completion of the
work, submit them to the contracting officer if instructed to do so, and
make them available for inspection by authorized representatives of the
Department of Labor or the contracting agency;

-- require the contracting agency to suspend all payments to the
contractor if the contractor fails to respond to a request for payrolls;
and

-- authorize the Secretary of Labor to debar contractors who fail to
submit payrolls when requested to do so or who otherwise refuse to make
records available for inspection. The certification would be submitted
as a part of the normal progress and final payment request to avoid an
additional submission and certification. The contractor would be
required to maintain records for each employee on hours worked daily and
during the payroll period, hourly rates of wages paid (including rate of
contributions or costs anticipated for bona fide fringe benefits), all
deductions made, and actual wages paid.

The Service Contract Act should be amended to:

-- eliminate the fiveyear limitation on the term of contracts but retain
the requirement for adjustment of wages and benefits under multiyear
contracts at a minimum every two years, and

-- provide for a listing of persons or firms debarred for violations of
the Act to be included on GSA's List of Parties Excluded from Federal
Procurement or Nonprocurement Programs.

The Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act should be amended to
provide for a listing of names of persons or firms debarred for
violations of the Act to be included on GSA's List of Parties Excluded
from Federal Procurement or Nonprocurement Programs.

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