Review To Determine Whether Davis-Bacon Act Has an Inflationary Impact and Increases Costs on METRO Construction

Preliminary findings are presented of a review of the effect of the use of wage rates issued by the Department of Labor under the Davis-Bacon Act on the construction of the Washington Regional Rapid Rail Transit System (METRO). GAO conducted a wage rate survey in Montgomery County, Maryland, but did not survey areas of northern Virginia because Labor was conducting a wage survey there at the time. The Act requires that minimum wage rates, to be paid to employees on construction contracts of over $2,000, be stated for the various classes of laborers and mechanics. The minimum wage rates must be based on wages determined by the Secretary of Labor to be prevailing for the corresponding classes of laborers and mechanics employed on projects similar to the contract work in the locality in which the contract work is to be performed.