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The Service Contract Act

2008 Dates and Locations:

March 12-13
Marvin Conference Center
Washington, DC
REGISTER ONLINE


September 24-25
Marvin Conference Center
Washington, DC
REGISTER ONLINE


November 13-14
Flamingo Las Vegas
Las Vegas, NV
REGISTER ONLINE


Registration Fee
$995
Daily Schedule
9:00a.m.-4:00p.m.
Course ends
12:00 noon
the second day
CLE Hours
This Course is Eligible for
8.25(60 minute)
9.9(50 minute)
More CLE Info
CPE Hours
This Course is Eligible for
9.0(CPE)
hours of credit.
Program Level: Basic
Program Prerequisite: None
Advance Preparation: None
Method: Group-Live
More CPE Info

For those who perform services for the Government:

  • The applicable labor requirements - from wage rates and fringe benefits to health plans and overtime issues.
  • When they are applied.
  • How they are enforced.
  • Efficiently incorporating them into your contract activities.

Government contracting is tough enough without labor problems on your home ground. Even so, contractors who perform a wide range of services for the Government must comply with a sweeping range of special labor requirements. Chief among these labor requirements are those contained in the Service Contract Act—provisions continually presenting contractors with a large number of difficult questions and problem areas, and ones that are being more aggressively reviewed and enforced by the Government than ever before-with increasingly severe penalties.

This special two-day program will teach you what the Service Contract Act's labor requirements are, when they are applicable, and how to efficiently incorporate them into your daily contracting activities. The special Course Curriculum has been designed to offer maximum benefits to personnel professionals, contract managers, legal counsel, project managers, and others who are involved with a contract's labor requirements. Further, the course offers practical guidance on your rights, options and remedies.

NOTE: A one day course on the Davis-Bacon Act precedes this class in the Washington, DC location. Please call for more information.

Included in the program are analyses of:

  • When the Act applies.
  • The Act's coverage; exemptions to the provisions.
  • Wage determination procedures; prevailing labor rate issues.
  • Determining prevailing fringe benefits.
  • Measuring health and safety benefits; compliance with the requirements; the problem of self–insured benefit plans.
  • Applications to subcontracts.
  • Special problems of off-site contracts.
  • Multi–year contracts and contracts with options.
  • The effect of change orders and wage escalations.
  • The Successor Contractor rule.
  • Debarment absent "unusual circumstances" rule.
  • Applicable overtime compensation laws.
  • Special overtime problems.
  • Interrelationship of the Service Contract Act with other labor laws.


Course Curriculum

  1. Introduction to the Service Contract Act
    1. Prevailing Wages and Labor Rates
    2. Bona Fide Fringe Benefits
    3. Administrative and Recordkeeping Requirements
    4. Relationship to Other Federal and State Wage and Hour Laws
  2. Exemptions
    1. Executive
    2. Administrative
    3. Professional
    4. Contracts Not "Primarily for Services"
    5. Construction Contracts
    6. Supply Contracts
    7. "Remanufacturing" Contracts
    8. Transportation, Communication, Direct Employment and Postal Station Contracts
    9. ADP and High Technology Equipment Maintenance Contract
    10. Office/Business Machines Repair Contracts
  3. Coverage of The Act
    1. Definition of Service Employees
    2. Subcontractors
    3. State and Municipal Employees
    4. Indefinite Quantity Contracts
    5. Part-Time Employees
    6. Geographical Coverage
    7. Mixed Supply and Service Contracts
  4. Wage Determination (WD) Procedures
    1. Contents of a WD
    2. Requesting a WD
    3. Conforming Wage Rates
    4. WD Received Before Bid Opening
    5. WD After Bid Opening
    6. WD After Date for Receipt of Proposals
    7. Multi-Region and Nationwide WDs
    8. "Due Consideration" of Wage Board Rates
    9. FAR Procedures Where Place of Performance Uncertain
    10. Administrative Review by Wage and Hour Administrator
    11. Review by Board of Service Contract Appeals
  5. Determining Fringe Benefits
    1. Types of Acceptable Fringes
    2. Focus on Vacation Benefits
    3. Hourly Health and Welfare Benefits
    4. Average Health & Welfare Benefits
    5. Self-Insurance Programs
  6. Application of the Service Contract Act
    1. Without a Contract Provision
    2. Without a Wage Determination
    3. Application and Preemption of State Wage and Hour Laws
  7. Change Orders and Escalation
    1. SCA Pricing of Adjustment Claims
    2. ASBCA and Claims Court Interpretations
    3. Effect of FLSA Increases in Minimum Wages
  8. The Successor Contractor Rule
    1. In General
    2. Defining the Locality
    3. "Successor Contractor" Defined
    4. Benefits Covered
    5. Exceptions
  9. Monetary Penalties for Violation
    1. Back Pay Liability
    2. Withholding of Contract Funds
    3. Judicial Review
    4. Private Right of Action for Retaliatory Discharge
    5. Priority of Unpaid Workers to Contract Funds
    6. Statute of Limitations
    7. Contract Cancellation
  10. Three Year Debarment Penalty
    1. "Unusual Circumstances" Defined
    2. Debarment Procedures
    3. Administrative and Judicial Review
    4. "Substantial Interest" Defined
  11. Overtime Compensation Issues
    1. Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for White Collar Workers
    2. Contract Work Hours Safety Standards Act (CWHSSA) and Liquidated Damages for Blue Collar Workers
    3. Determining Working Time
    4. Calculating Regular Rate and Overtime
    5. Half-Time
    6. Belo Plans
    7. Compensatory Time and Time Off
  12. Special Overtime Problems
    1. Wage Busting of Professional Employees-OMB Policy Letter 78-2
    2. Uncompensated Overtime


Course Director

Kenneth M. Bruntel Partner in the Washington, D.C. law offices of Crowell & Moring • Concentrates his practice on Government procurement matters, especially in the area of service contracting • His areas of expertise include contract formation and performance disputes, cost allowability and cost accounting counseling and litigation, criminal fraud investigations, and civil False Claims Act cases (both direct Government and qui tam actions) • He practices before Federal district courts, the United States Court of Federal Claims, a majority of the agency boards of contract appeals, as well as other administrative tribunals • Author and co-author of a number of articles on contracting subjects, including a number of articles for the Briefing Papers series and for the Costs, Pricing & Accounting Report • Lectured and written extensively on a variety of government contract issues such as procurement fraud, claims preparation and litigation, the Truth in Negotiations Act, the Service Contract Act, and procurement integrity • He has taught Government Contract Law at the University of Virginia Law School and at SUNY-Binghamton • Lectured on Government Contract Costs and Accounting for National Contract Management Association National Education Seminar Series • Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College; Juris Doctor degree from The George Washington University.