Wages, bonds and the rulebook
What is the Davis-Bacon Act?
Wage Rate Requirements (Construction)
The Davis-Bacon Act, implemented in the FAR as Construction Wage Rate Requirements, requires laborers and mechanics on federal construction contracts in excess of $2,000 to be paid no less than the prevailing wage determined by the Secretary of Labor for the locality.
Also written as: davis bacon, prevailing wage construction, certified payroll.
FAR 22.403-1 states the rule: contracts in excess of $2,000 to which the United States or the District of Columbia is a party, for construction, alteration or repair including painting and decorating of public buildings or public works within the United States, must require that no laborer or mechanic employed directly upon the site of the work receive less than the prevailing wage rates determined by the Secretary of Labor.
The applicable rates arrive as a wage determination attached to the solicitation, listing a rate and fringe benefit amount for each labour classification. Those are floors, not suggestions, and they frequently exceed what the same crew is paid on private work in the same town.
Compliance is a payroll obligation as well as a pricing one: weekly certified payroll, correct classification of each worker, and posting requirements at the site. Misclassifying a worker into a cheaper category is the most common violation and produces back-wage liability.
What this means when you bid
Price from the wage determination in the solicitation, classification by classification. A bid built on your commercial labour rates will be underwater before the first pay period.
Davis-Bacon Act: the published figures
Each figure below was read from the regulation cited beside it on 2026-08-04. Thresholds are adjusted for inflation and changed by statute — follow the citation and confirm the figure in effect on your solicitation's date before you rely on it.
Davis-Bacon Act compared with the terms it gets confused with
Davis-Bacon Act vs Service Contract Act
Davis-Bacon covers construction, alteration and repair above $2,000; the Service Contract Act covers service contracts above $2,500. Which one applies is decided by the nature of the work.
What Service Contract Actmeans →Where this definition comes from
Federal contracting is one of the few fields where the authoritative answer is free, public and one click away. These are the sources this page is built from — go and read them.
- FAR 22.403-1→
Construction Wage Rate Requirements statute.
- 40 U.S.C. ch. 31, subch. IV→
Wage Rate Requirements (Construction) — the Davis-Bacon Act.
- U.S. Department of Labor — wage determinations→
This page explains a term in plain English and cites the authority it comes from. It is not legal advice, and the regulation governs where this page and the regulation differ.
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Davis-Bacon Act— common questions
- What is the Davis-Bacon Act?
- The Davis-Bacon Act, implemented in the FAR as Construction Wage Rate Requirements, requires laborers and mechanics on federal construction contracts in excess of $2,000 to be paid no less than the prevailing wage determined by the Secretary of Labor for the locality.
- What is the difference between Davis-Bacon Act and Service Contract Act?
- Davis-Bacon covers construction, alteration and repair above $2,000; the Service Contract Act covers service contracts above $2,500. Which one applies is decided by the nature of the work.
- What is the applies to federal construction contracts in excess of for Davis-Bacon Act?
- $2,000, per FAR 22.403-1 This figure was read from that source on 2026-08-04; thresholds are revised, so check the citation before relying on it in a bid.
- Why does the Davis-Bacon Act matter when you are bidding?
- Price from the wage determination in the solicitation, classification by classification. A bid built on your commercial labour rates will be underwater before the first pay period.
Related terms
- Wage determination
- Service Contract Act — Service Contract Labor Standards
- Miller Act
- Micro-purchase threshold
NAICS industries where this comes up most
An editorial pointer, not a measurement. These are the codes whose work most often involves the Davis-Bacon Act. Each page carries the official Census title, the SBA size standard where one is published for those exact digits, and whatever federal award history the record here holds for the code — which may be none, and says so when it is.