EP 1180-1-1
1 Aug 01
CHAPTER 3 - APPLICABILITY AND COVERAGE
3-1. General. The Service Contract Act (SCA) (Appendix A) applies to all Federal and District of
Columbia contracts in excess of ,500 and all subcontracts thereunder, the principal purpose of which is to
furnish services in the United States through the use of service employees. In order to assist Contracting
Officers in their determinations as to whether prospective solicitations are subject to the provisions of the
SCA, the following criteria must be considered:
a. Will the principal purpose of the contract, as a whole, be to furnish services?
b. Will service employees be used in providing such services?
c. Will such services be furnished in the United States?
Each of these criteria will be outlined in further detail below.
3-2. Principal Purpose. As was noted in paragraph 1-5 of this pamphlet, the SCA was enacted after the
passage of both the Davis-Bacon Act and the Walsh-Healey Act, and was intended to fill a void in labor
standards protection for government contracts. The Act therefore defines a service contract as those which
have as their principal purpose the procurement of something other than construction activity (as defined in
the Davis-Bacon Act) or materials, supplies, articles, and equipment (as defined in the Walsh-Healey Act).
The DOL has provided guidance as well as illustrative examples with respect to the term, "principal purpose"
at Sections 4.131 and 4.132 of 29 CFR Part 4.
a. A procurement that requires tangible items (e.g., vehicles or equipment) be supplied as part of the
services being furnished is covered by the SCA, provided that the use of such non-labor items is of
secondary importance to the contract's principal purpose of furnishing services.
b. A single contract which combines both specifications for services and specifications for other different
or unrelated work (i.e., covered by the Davis-Bacon Act or Walsh-Healey) is covered by the SCA if the
contract as a whole is principally to furnish services. Only the specifications which pertain to services,
however, are covered by the SCA. One of the other acts may apply to the non-service specifications.
c. The proportion of the labor cost to the total cost of the contract and the necessity of furnishing or
receiving tangible non-labor items in performing the contract obligations will be considered but are not
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