What is contract administration?

For the purposes of prevailing wage, contract administration is an obligation to ensure that a contract is administered in accordance with the Minnesota Prevailing Wage Act, the Federal Davis-Bacon and Related Acts and the Special Provisions Division A – LABOR.

Who is responsible for contract administration?

The contracting agency or its agent, along with the prime contractor is responsible to administer a contract in accordance with its terms and conditions.  Failure to do so may result in financial, civil or criminal sanctions.

What documents must be incorporated into a proposal or contract?

The following prevailing wage related documents must be incorporated into a state-aid and/or federal-aid construction proposal and contract and apply to all contractors performing work under the contract. The prime contractor must provide copies of these documents to all subcontractors that perform work under a contract.

 

Proposal/Contract Labor Provisions and Specification Documents	Funded By
State Funded Construction Contracts, Special Provisions Division A - Labor (PDF, 51 KB)	State
Federally Funded Construction Contracts, Special Provisions Division A - Labor (PDF, 57 KB)	State and Federal
Federally Funded "ONLY" Construction Contracts Special Provisions Division A - Labor (PDF, 46 KB) - The contracting agency shall incorporate these provisions into federal-aid "ONLY" contracts. Contracting agencies that may utilize these provisions include, but are not limited to the following: MnDOT Office of Aeronautics, MnDOT Office of Environmental Services and MnDOT Office of Freight, Railroads and Waterways. Please note: These provisions are NOT applicable to federal-aid contracts that include state funds such as: DCP (Delegated Contract Process) projects for local contracting agencies.	Federal
Required Contract Provisions, Federal-Aid Construction Contracts, Form-1273 (PDF, 130 KB)	Federal State and Federal
Suspension/Debarment Notice (PDF, 22 KB) For contract administration purposes, the Minnesota Department of Administration, Material Management Division provides a master list of contractors currently suspended or debarred, or have a suspension or debarment end date within the past three years. In addition, a database list of contractors/vendors currently suspended or debarred by the federal government is also available.	State Federal State and Federal
Traffic Control Notice (PDF, 68 KB)	Federal State and Federal
Federal Wage Decision - The contracting agency shall incorporate the applicable federal wage decision(s) into a contract proposal pursuant to the following wage determination and truck rental rate requirements (PDF, 22 KB).	Federal State and Federal
State Highway & Heavy Wage Decision - The contracting agency shall incorporate the applicable highway and heavy wage decision(s) into a contract for the construction or maintenance of highways, or other public works and includes roads, highways, streets, airport runways, bridges, power plants, dams and utilities.  Furthermore, the contracting authority shall incorporate pursuant to the following wage determination and truck rental rate requirements (PDF, 22 KB).	State State and Federal
State Truck Rental Rate Decision - The contracting agency shall incorporate the applicable truck rental rate decision(s) into a contract for the construction or maintenance of highways, or other public works and includes roads, highways, streets, airport runways, bridges, power plants, dams and utilities. Furthermore, the contracting agency shall incorporate pursuant to the following wage determination and truck rental rate requirements (PDF, 22 KB).	State State and Federal
State Commercial Wage Decision - The contracting agency shall incorporate the commercial wage decision(s) into a contract for all building construction projects exclusive of residential construction.	State State and Federal

 

The documents provided above are specific to the state and/or federal prevailing wage regulations. Please refer to the links below for other provisions and specifications that are to be incorporated into a proposal and contract.

• Proposal Sequence Table - MnDOT Contracts
• Proposal Sequence Table - State Aid (County/City) Contracts

What are the requirements for subcontracting portions of the work?

• The prime contractor shall not subcontract any portion of the work under a contract unless a Request to Sublet Form (Word, 183 KB) is submitted and approved by the contracting agency or project engineer 10 days prior to the subcontractor commencing work. Written consent to subcontract, assign, or otherwise dispose of any portion of the contract shall not under any circumstances relieve the prime contractor of liabilities and obligations under the contract and bonds.
• The contracting agency and the prime contractor shall utilize the Request to Sublet Summary Form (Excel, 84 KB) to document the total percentage of the contract that’s been sublet. This document is necessary to ensure compliance with MnDOT Standard Specification 1801.
• In order for a subcontractor to receive approval to perform work under a MnDOT contract, the contractor must be listed in MnDOT’s Contractor/Vendor database. To be added to this database the contractor is must submit a Contractor/Vendor Form (Word, 49 KB) to MnDOT’s Office of Construction and Innovative Contracting.

Why is a preconstruction meeting important for Prevailing Wage?

A preconstruction meeting is necessary to provide contractors with a comprehensive overview of the contract prevailing wage requirements. The MnDOT Labor Compliance Unit suggests that the contracting agency show and discuss the prevailing wage video and agendas. Once the presentation is completed, the contracting agency or the project engineer should record it in the meeting minutes. The LCU has estimated the presentation time to be 15 minutes.

 

A sub-contractor care package containing all pertinent information and forms is available.

Why is interviewing workers on a project important?

Interviewing workers on the project site of work is necessary to ensure that all workers are compensated appropriately. The information collected should be compared to a certified payroll report to determine if compliance has been demonstrated.

 

The contracting agency and the prime contractor shall utilize the Field Compliance Review on Labor Provisions Form (PDF, 59 KB) to conduct employee interviews and the Field Compliance Review on Independent Truck Owner/Operator (PDF, 52 KB) to conduct interviews with truck drivers. The information collected must be kept confidential.

 

At any time, the prime contractor must permit representatives from the U.S. DOL, the Federal Highway Administration, or the contracting agency to perform worker interviews on the project; the time for such interviews shall be paid time.

 

Why should daily work reports be kept?

A daily work report is necessary to document the following: contractors that performed work, when the contractors started and finished their work, the number of workers for each contractor, the type of work that each contractor performed and the types of equipment that the contractor utilized. The information collected should be compared to a certified payroll report to determine if compliance has been demonstrated.

 

Why should the contracting agency call Labor Compliance prior to finalizing a contract?

The contracting agency shall contact the MnDOT Labor Compliance unit prior to finalizing its contract to ensure that no labor issues are associated with the contract. Failure to do so could subject the contracting agency to financial sanctions or legal actions.

 

What is the Contract Administration Manual?

The Contract Administration Manual provides guidance to contracting agencies on how to administer a contract. In regards to prevailing wage, the contracting agency shall refer sections 5-591.310, 5-591.320 and 5-591.360. However, the guidance provided does not necessarily represent all contract administration strategies, nor does it cover all federal, state, and local labor laws, ordinances, rules and regulations. It is the responsibility of the contracting agency to inform itself about other regulations that may be applicable to a contract.

 

Can I view a complete proposal for a highway construction project?

Yes. A contractor can view a complete proposal for a MnDOT highway construction project. However, projects not administered by MnDOT but instead by local units of government, such as a county or city are not available, please contact the local unit of government directly for this information.

 

As the contracting authority, what do I do when the contractor will not comply with the Contract Labor Provisions?
If you have a contractor that has not complied with your written requests to resolve issues involving your contract labor provisions (e.g. payrolls issues, wage rates, misclassification, etc.), you should complete the Investigation Request Letter form (PDF, 110 KB). The letter should be signed, scanned, and submitted by email along with all appropriate documentation and correspondence surrounding the issue(s) to MnDOT's Labor Compliance Unit (LCU). The LCU would like the documents individually scanned and labeled as this information will be uploaded into our electronic Case Management System and used by the investigators in resolving the issues on your contracts.  Once the investigation is resolved, the LCU will notify you that the Labor Hold can be removed.  Please follow your normal retainage and contract closeout processes but do not final your contract until the Labor Hold in removed.