Free tool
Wage Determination Lookup
Wondering what you must pay your workers on a government contract? Tell Sam what the contract covers and where, and you'll get the right law, the exact steps, and a direct link to the official wage determination — in plain English, no login.
What is a wage determination?
On most federal contracts you are legally required to pay your workers a prevailing wageset by the U.S. Department of Labor for the work's location and labor category. The official rate schedule for a contract is called a wage determination. Two laws decide which one applies — the Service Contract Act for services and the Davis-Bacon Act for construction. This tool tells you which law governs your contract and walks you to the exact official rates; it does not publish or estimate the dollar amounts itself, because they change by county and category.
- When does the Service Contract Act (SCA) apply?
- Applies when the main purpose of your federal contract is to provide services through service employees — janitorial, security, grounds, IT support, staffing, food service. SCA wage determinations set a minimum hourly rate plus a health & welfare fringe benefit for each labor category. It covers federal service contracts over $2,500.
- When does the Davis-Bacon Act (DBA) apply?
- Applies to the construction, alteration, or repair (including painting and decorating) of public buildings or public works. Davis-Bacon determinations are published by construction type — building, residential, highway, or heavy — and list a rate for each trade classification. It covers federal construction contracts over $2,000.
Find your wage determination
Answer two quick questions and Sam will point you to the right official source. Nothing is submitted until you ask to track matching bids.
Common questions
- On an SCA wage determination, is the health & welfare (fringe) rate part of the hourly wage or on top of it?
- On top of it. A Service Contract Act wage determination lists two separate numbers for each labor category: a minimum hourly wage and a health & welfare (H&W) fringe benefit rate. The fringe is required separate from and in addition to the hourly wage, not folded into it. You can satisfy the H&W obligation by furnishing bona fide fringe benefits (such as health insurance, retirement, or paid leave), by paying the cash equivalent on the employee's regular payday, or by a mix of the two. The Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division sets the H&W rate and adjusts it — so read the exact current figure straight off the determination for your contract rather than relying on a number you saw elsewhere. This tool links you to that official determination. We're an independent service and not affiliated with the Department of Labor; the wage determination on SAM.gov is the authority.
- The wage determination doesn't list the job my worker does. What do I do?
- If a labor category you need isn't on the applicable Service Contract Act wage determination, you don't skip it or guess a rate — you request a conformance, and this process is free. As the contractor, you classify the unlisted worker and prepare Standard Form 1444 (Request for Authorization of Additional Classification and Rate), proposing a wage and fringe benefits that bear a reasonable relationship to the classes already listed on the determination. You submit the SF 1444 to your contracting officer, who reviews it and forwards it to the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division, which approves, modifies, or disapproves the rate. Do it early: under the SCA contract clause, you must report the conformed classification no later than 30 days after the unlisted class first performs any contract work. Davis-Bacon construction contracts use a parallel conformance process, also initiated with an SF 1444, for trades not listed on the applicable determination. Note: we're an independent service and not affiliated with the Department of Labor; confirm the specifics for your contract with your contracting officer.
Go deeper
The terms behind this tool
Each one is defined in plain English with the FAR or SBA section it comes from, so you can check the rule rather than take our word for it.
- Government contracting glossary 50 terms a solicitation assumes you already know, each with the FAR or SBA citation it comes from.
- Government contracts by state State by state: federal award history and the bids open there now.
- The free government bid list Open solicitations by state — no login, nothing blurred, each page listing the rows closing soonest.