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(b) TYPE OF BONDS REQUIRED.-Before any contract of more than $100,000 is awarded for the construction, alteration, or repair of any public building or public work of the Federal Government, a person must furnish to the Government the following bonds, which become binding when the contract is awarded:

(1) PERFORMANCE BOND.-A performance bond with a surety satisfactory to the officer awarding the contract, and in an amount the officer considers adequate, for the protection of the Government.

(2) PAYMENT BOND.-A payment bond with a surety satisfactory to the officer for the protection of all persons supplying labor and material in carrying out the work provided for in the contract for the use of each person. The amount of the payment bond shall equal the total amount payable by the terms of the contract unless the officer awarding the contract determines, in a writing supported by specific findings, that a payment bond in that amount is impractical, in which case the contracting officer shall set the amount of the payment bond. The amount of the payment bond shall not be less than the amount of the performance bond.

(c) COVERAGE FOR TAXES IN PERFORMANCE BOND.—

(1) IN GENERAL.-Every performance bond required under this section specifically shall provide coverage for taxes the Government imposes which are collected, deducted, or withheld from wages the contractor pays in carrying out the contract with respect to which the bond is furnished.

(2) NOTICE.-The Government shall give the surety on the bond written notice, with respect to any unpaid taxes attributable to any period, within 90 days after the date when the contractor files a return for the period, except that notice must be given no later than 180 days from the date when a return for the period was required to be filed under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 1 et seq.).

(3) CIVIL ACTION.-The Government may not bring a civil action on the bond for the taxes

(A) unless notice is given as provided in this subsection; and

(B) more than one year after the day on which notice is given.

(d) WAIVER OF BONDS FOR CONTRACTS PERFORMED IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. A contracting officer may waive the requirement of a performance bond and payment bond for work under a contract that is to be performed in a foreign country if the officer finds that it is impracticable for the contractor to furnish the bonds.

(e) AUTHORITY TO REQUIRE ADDITIONAL BONDS.-This section does not limit the authority of a contracting officer to require a performance bond or other security in addition to those, or in cases other than the cases, specified in subsection (b).

§ 3132. Alternatives to payment bonds provided by Federal Acquisition Regulation

(a) IN GENERAL.-The Federal Acquisition Regulation shall provide alternatives to payment bonds as payment protections for suppliers of labor and materials under contracts referred to in section

3131(a) of this title that are more than $25,000 and not more than $100,000.

(b) RESPONSIBILITIES OF CONTRACTING OFFICER.-The contracting officer for a contract shall

(1) select, from among the payment protections provided for in the Federal Acquisition Regulation pursuant to subsection (a), one or more payment protections which the offeror awarded the contract is to submit to the Federal Government for the protection of suppliers of labor and materials for the contract; and

(2) specify in the solicitation of offers for the contract the payment protections selected.

§ 3133. Rights of persons furnishing labor or material 2

(a) RIGHT OF PERSON FURNISHING LABOR OR MATERIAL TO COPY OF BOND.-The department secretary or agency head of the contracting agency shall furnish a certified copy of a payment bond and the contract for which it was given to any person applying for a copy who submits an affidavit that the person has supplied labor or material for work described in the contract and payment for the work has not been made or that the person is being sued on the bond. The copy is prima facie evidence of the contents, execution, and delivery of the original. Applicants shall pay any fees the department secretary or agency head of the contracting agency fixes to cover the cost of preparing the certified copy.

(b) RIGHT TO BRING A CIVIL ACTION.

(1) IN GENERAL.-Every person that has furnished labor or material in carrying out work provided for in a contract for which a payment bond is furnished under section 3131 of this title and that has not been paid in full within 90 days after the day on which the person did or performed the last of the labor or furnished or supplied the material for which the claim is made may bring a civil action on the payment bond for the amount unpaid at the time the civil action is brought and may prosecute the action to final execution and judgment for the amount due.

(2) PERSON HAVING DIRECT CONTRACTUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH A SUBCONTRACTOR.-A person having a direct contractual relationship with a subcontractor but no contractual relationship, express or implied, with the contractor furnishing the payment bond may bring a civil action on the payment bond on giving written notice to the contractor within 90 days from the date on which the person did or performed the last of the labor or furnished or supplied the last of the material for which the claim is made. The action must state with substantial accuracy the amount claimed and the name of the party to whom the material was furnished or supplied or for whom the labor was done or performed. The notice shall be served

(A) by any means that provides written, third-party verification of delivery to the contractor at any place the contractor maintains an office or conducts business or at the contractor's residence; or

2 See footnote 1.

(B) in any manner in which the United States marshal of the district in which the public improvement is situated by law may serve summons.

(3) VENUE.-A civil action brought under this subsection must be brought

(A) in the name of the United States for the use of the person bringing the action; and

(B) in the United States District Court for any district in which the contract was to be performed and executed, regardless of the amount in controversy.

(4) PERIOD IN WHICH ACTION MUST BE BROUGHT.-An action brought under this subsection must be brought no later than one year after the day on which the last of the labor was performed or material was supplied by the person bringing the action.

(5) LIABILITY OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.—The Government is not liable for the payment of any costs or expenses of any civil action brought under this subsection.

(c) A waiver of the right to bring a civil action on a payment bond required under this subchapter is void unless the waiver is— (1) in writing;

(2) signed by the person whose right is waived; and

(3) executed after the person whose right is waived has furnished labor or material for use in the performance of the contract.

§ 3134. Waivers for certain contracts

(a) MILITARY.-The Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Navy, the Secretary of the Air Force, or the Secretary of Transportation may waive this subchapter with respect to cost-plus-a-fixed fee and other cost-type contracts for the construction, alteration, or repair of any public building or public work of the Federal Government and with respect to contracts for manufacturing, producing, furnishing, constructing, altering, repairing, processing, or assembling vessels, aircraft, munitions, materiel, or supplies for the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Coast Guard, respectively, regardless of the terms of the contracts as to payment or title.

(b) TRANSPORTATION.-The Secretary of Transportation may waive this subchapter with respect to contracts for the construction, alteration, or repair of vessels when the contract is made under sections 1535 and 1536 of title 31, the Merchant Marine Act, 1936 (46 App. U.S.C. 1101 et seq.), or the Merchant Ship Sales Act of 1946 (50 App. U.S.C. 1735 et seq.), regardless of the terms of the contracts as to payment or title.

SUBCHAPTER IV-WAGE RATE REQUIREMENTS 3

§3141. Definitions

In this subchapter, the following definitions apply:

(1) FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.-The term "Federal Government" has the same meaning that the term "United States" had in

3 Sections 3141-3144, 3146, and 3147 were contained in the Act of March 3, 1931, known as the "Davis-Bacon Act", before being revised, codified, and reenacted without substantive change as such sections by Public Law 107-217.

the Act of March 3, 1931 (ch. 411, 46 Stat. 1494 (known as the Davis-Bacon Act).

(2) WAGES, SCALE OF WAGES, WAGE RATES, MINIMUM WAGES, AND PREVAILING WAGES.-The terms "wages", "scale of wages", "wage rates", "minimum wages", and "prevailing wages" include

(A) the basic hourly rate of pay; and

(B) for medical or hospital care, pensions on retirement or death, compensation for injuries or illness resulting from occupational activity, or insurance to provide any of the forgoing, for unemployment benefits, life insurance, disability and sickness insurance, or accident insurance, for vacation and holiday pay, for defraying the costs of apprenticeship or other similar programs, or for other bona fide fringe benefits, but only where the contractor or subcontractor is not required by other federal, state, or local law to provide any of those benefits, the amount of

(i) the rate of contribution irrevocably made by a contractor or subcontractor to a trustee or to a third person under a fund, plan, or program; and

(ii) the rate of costs to the contractor or subcontractor that may be reasonably anticipated in providing benefits to laborers and mechanics pursuant to an enforceable commitment to carry out a financially responsible plan or program which was communicated in writing to the laborers and mechanics affected.

§ 3142. Rate of wages for laborers and mechanics

(a) APPLICATION.-The advertised specifications for every contract in excess of $2,000, to which the Federal Government or the District of Columbia is a party, for construction, alteration, or repair, including painting and decorating, of public buildings and public works of the Government or the District of Columbia that are located in a State or the District of Columbia and which requires or involves the employment of mechanics or laborers shall contain a provision stating the minimum wages to be paid various classes of laborers and mechanics.

(b) BASED ON PREVAILING WAGE.-The minimum wages shall be based on the wages the Secretary of Labor determines to be prevailing for the corresponding classes of laborers and mechanics employed on projects of a character similar to the contract work in the civil subdivision of the State in which the work is to be performed, or in the District of Columbia if the work is to be performed there. (c) STIPULATIONS REQUIRED IN CONTRACT.-Every contract based upon the specifications referred to in subsection (a) must contain stipulations that

(1) the contractor or subcontractor shall pay all mechanics and laborers employed directly on the site of the work, unconditionally and at least once a week, and without subsequent deduction or rebate on any account, the full amounts accrued at time of payment, computed at wage rates not less than those stated in the advertised specifications, regardless of any contractual relationship which may be alleged to exist between the contractor or subcontractor and the laborers and mechan

(2) the contractor will post the scale of wages to be paid in a prominent and easily accessible place at the site of the work; and

(3) there may be withheld from the contractor so much of accrued payments as the contracting officer considers necessary to pay to laborers and mechanics employed by the contractor or any subcontractor on the work the difference between the rates of wages required by the contract to be paid laborers and mechanics on the work and the rates of wages received by the laborers and mechanics and not refunded to the contractor or subcontractors or their agents.

(d) DISCHARGE OF OBLIGATION.-The obligation of a contractor or subcontractor to make payment in accordance with the prevailing wage determinations of the Secretary of Labor, under this subchapter and other laws incorporating this subchapter by reference, may be discharged by making payments in cash, by making contributions described in section 3141(2)(B)(i) of this title, by assuming an enforceable commitment to bear the costs of a plan or program referred to in section 3141(2)(B)(ii) of this title, or by any combination of payment, contribution, and assumption, where the aggregate of the payments, contributions, and costs is not less than the basic hourly rate of pay plus the amount referred to in section 3141(2)(B).

(e) OVERTIME PAY.-In determining the overtime pay to which a laborer or mechanic is entitled under any federal law, the regular or basic hourly rate of pay (or other alternative rate on which premium rate of overtime compensation is computed) of the laborer or mechanic is deemed to be the rate computed under section 3141(2)(A) of this title, except that where the amount of payments, contributions, or costs incurred with respect to the laborer or mechanic exceeds the applicable prevailing wage, the regular or basic hourly rate of pay (or other alternative rate) is the amount of payments, contributions, or costs actually incurred with respect to the laborer or mechanic minus the greater of the amount of contributions or costs of the types described in section 3141(2)(B) of this title actually incurred with respect to the laborer or mechanic or the amount determined under section 3141(2)(B) but not actually paid.

§ 3143. Termination of work on failure to pay agreed wages Every contract within the scope of this subchapter shall contain a provision that if the contracting officer finds that any laborer or mechanic employed by the contractor or any subcontractor directly on the site of the work covered by the contract has been or is being paid a rate of wages less than the rate of wages required by the contract to be paid, the Federal Government by written notice to the contractor may terminate the contractor's right to proceed with the work or the part of the work as to which there has been a failure to pay the required wages. The Government may have the work completed, by contract or otherwise, and the contractor and the contractor's sureties shall be liable to the Government for any excess costs the Government incurs.

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