EP 1180-1-1
1 Aug 01
a. Prior to 10 days before contract award, if an advertised contract; or
b. Prior to the contract or option period start date, if a negotiated contract, or existing contract with
an option or extension period.
Requests for DOL determinations under these regulations should be forwarded to the District Labor
Advisor for coordination with CECC-C.
4-10. DOL Responsiveness. The issue of DOL responsiveness to contracting agency wage requests has
received considerable attention in recent years. Information furnished by the DOL indicates that the
Branch of Service Contract Act Wage Determination receives in excess of 55,000 requests for SCA
wage determinations annually. These requests are processed by a DOL staff of less than 20 employees.
Thus, there is a considerable demand upon the DOL to process these requests notwithstanding either the
complexities or the urgency of such requests. In this regard, the DOL has furnished data which indicates
that contracting agencies fail to comply with the time and notice requirements (see Section 4-3) for over
50% of all SCA wage requests. Moreover, delays in DOL responses are frequently the result of the
failure to properly complete the SF 98/98a.
a. DOL's Wage Determination Automated Tracking System. In order to track the status of its SCA
wage request processing, the DOL established a Wage Determination Automated Tracking System
(WD-ATS) which provides information with regard to the date the DOL has received the individual
request, the date it is due back to the requesting contracting agency and its current status within the
DOL's system. COs are encouraged to contact the DOL's status line (202-219-7096) in order to
confirm that the request has been received. Such action is particularly appropriate in view of the notice
requirements noted previously (see paragraph 4-3).
b. The WD-ATS is operated and maintained by contract personnel rather than DOL staff. The
WD-ATS contract personnel are not authorized to either answer questions with respect to the
applicability of the Act or to expedite particular wage requests. All questions concerning the applicability
of the Act, requests for immediate wage determination responses for emergency acquisitions and all
notifications concerning solicitations adversely affected, i.e., delayed due to the lack of a DOL response,
are to be coordinated with CECC-C (see FAR 22.1003-7, 22.1011-2, 22-1012 as well as DFARS
222.1003-7 and 222.1008). Inquiries may be directed to the HQUSACE Labor Advisor by means of e-
mail (gregory.m.noonan@usace.army.mil) or by Fax (202-761-4123). Such inquiries should be
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