Secretary of Labor's Wage Rate Determinations Not Reviewable

A bidder protested the refusal by the General Services Administration to delete from a solicitation the minimum wage rates determined by the Department of Labor (DOL) under the Service Contract Act. The protester alleged that the specified wage rates effectively precluded it from competing under the procurement because it was not paying those "high rates" at the time. The protester further alleged that the imposition of Service Contract Act minimum wage rates was contrary to public policy because of their inflationary impact and because they allegedly violated wage-price guidelines. The fact that a particular contractor may pay higher or lower wages than those stipulated in a wage rate determination made pursuant to statute does not affect either the validity of the rates established by DOL or the contractor's legal duty to comply with those wage rates in the performance of the contract. The wage and price standards promulgated by the President on October 24, 1978 are intended to deny Federal contracts of $5 million or more to firms which are found not to be in compliance with those standards under solicitations issued after February 15, 1979. This procurement was not affected by the guidelines as the solicitation was issued prior to that date and, from the facts presented, it appeared that the contract would not be of the $5 million magnitude. The protest was summarily denied.