The Government Accounting Office will release a report today slamming the methods used by the Department of Labor to determine the prevailing wage required by law on government projects. If “prevailing wage rates are too high, they potentially cost the federal government and taxpayers more for publicly funded construction projects,” according to the report. The report criticizes the DOL for using data from projects with six or fewer workers and for not collecting data frequently enough to accurately reflect changes in economic conditions. The GAO also cites a lack of transparency in how the DOL calculates rates.
Representative John Kline, a Minnesota Republican and a member of the workforce protections subcommittee, said lawmakers aren’t sure federally funded projects paid wages that were accurate or fair. “We can no longer accept a system that spends taxpayer dollars without any real accountability, accuracy or transparency,” Kline said. The 2009 stimulus package allocated $300B for projects that must be bid at Davis-Bacon rates. $220B of that was spent in in 2009.
