November 12, 2003
E-Gov Joint Venture Launches WDOL.gov
Web
Site Provides Easy Access to Wage Determination
Washington, DC
– The Department of Labor’s Wage and
Hour Division announced the official launch of the new Wage
Determination On-line (WDOL) program. The WDOL program at
www.wdol.gov
will provide the federal contracting community and the general
public ready access to the wage determinations required on
most federal or federally funded construction contracts and
on most federal service contracts. WDOL is part of the Integrated
Acquisition Environment, one of the E-Government Initiatives
that makes up President George W. Bush’s Management
Agenda.
WDOL.gov is the product of an Inter-Agency
Task Force that includes the Department of Labor’s Wage
and Hour Division, the Office of Management and Budget, the
General Services Administration, the Department of the Defense,
and the Department of Commerce’s National Technical
Information Service. In May 2002, the Task Force began an
effort to develop a single web site for access to federal
contract labor standards information and wage determinations
issued under the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act
(SCA) and Davis-Bacon Act (DBA). WDOL.gov offers users a number
of unique features in a web-based environment. This site includes:
• Guidance to contracting officers on selecting the
appropriate wage determination for each contract action;
• Access to the most current SCA and DBA wage determinations,
as well as an alert service for notification of future revisions
to particular wage determinations; and,
• Access to databases containing archived wage determinations
under both SCA and DBA.
“As an E-Government initiative, WDOL.gov
combines a number of individual agency-dedicated web sites
into one site, making information available quickly and easily.
There is a streamlined appearance, user-friendly help guide,
and a series of questions to direct the user to the correct
wage determination – all with a single click,”
said Tammy D. McCutchen, Administrator of the Wage and Hour
Division. “We also want to thank and congratulate our
partners in the task force. Their expertise and dedication
made WDOL a reality.”
WDOL is a key step towards accomplishing
President Bush’s E-Government goals of making it easier
for citizens to obtain services from and to interact with
the Federal government, improving government efficiency and
effectiveness, and improving government’s responsiveness
to citizens. Access is open to the entire federal contracting
community (agencies, contractors, labor organizations), and
to the general public.
Contracting agency participants in the
beta test of the new program commented that they now have
a tool that contracting officers will not hesitate to go back
and use again and again. The resources available in the WDOL
Library bring together web sites that many of the contracting
officers may not have known existed. Similar responses came
from the contractors community and labor organizations.
The DBA requires that contractors on most
federal and federally-funded construction projects pay their
construction workers no less than the locally prevailing wage
rate. The SCA requires contractors performing services on
most federal contracts to pay service employees no less than
the wage rates and fringe benefits found prevailing in the
locality. These wage determinations are incorporated by the
contracting agencies into covered contracts.
For more information about the DBA and
the SCA, call the Department of Labor’s toll-free help
line at 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243) or visit the Internet
at www.wagehour.dol.gov.
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