How to Find and Read the Wage Determination for a Federal Contract on SAM.gov
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Where wage determinations live on SAM.gov, how service and construction versions differ, and how to price a bid around the minimum pay they set.
If you bid on federal janitorial, grounds, guard, food service or construction work, there is a document in the solicitation package that can make or break your price: the wage determination. It sets the minimum hourly pay and fringe benefits you owe the workers on that job, and it is not optional. Small businesses that skip it tend to find out the hard way, either when a competitor's price makes no sense to them or when they win and realize they cannot pay the required rates at the price they quoted. This article shows where wage determinations live on SAM.gov, how the service and construction versions differ, how to read one, and how to build it into a bid.
It pairs with our walkthrough on reading a SAM.gov contract notice, where the wage determination usually sits among the attachments, and with our post on pricing a federal bid. Everything quoted below was read today on acquisition.gov, which showed the Federal Acquisition Regulation at FAC 2026-01, effective March 13, 2026, and on SAM.gov's wage determinations page. This is a plain-language overview, not legal or payroll advice. The Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division enforces these rules, and your local APEX Accelerator can walk through a specific solicitation with you for free.
What a wage determination is
SAM.gov's Wage Determinations page defines one simply: a wage determination is a set of wages, fringe benefits and work rules that the U.S. Department of Labor has ruled to be prevailing for a given labor category in a given locality. In other words, it is the government's floor for what a particular kind of worker gets paid in a particular place. The Department of Labor writes them, SAM.gov publishes them, and contracting officers attach the right one to the solicitation.
There are two families, and the SAM.gov page splits its search the same way. One covers public buildings or works under the Davis-Bacon Act, with wage rates for laborers and mechanics. The other covers service contracts, with wage rates for service employees. Which one applies depends on what the contract buys, not on what the contract is called.
Service contracts: the Service Contract Labor Standards statute
The service side is governed by what the FAR now calls the Service Contract Labor Standards statute, 41 U.S.C. chapter 67, still widely known as the Service Contract Act. FAR 22.1003-1 says that subpart applies to all government contracts whose principal purpose is to furnish services in the United States through the use of service employees, apart from listed exemptions, and to subcontracts at any tier. It also says the nomenclature, type or particular form of contract does not decide coverage. A purchase order for weekly office cleaning can be covered just as surely as a five-year facilities contract.
FAR 22.1007 tells the contracting officer to obtain a wage determination for each new solicitation and contract in excess of $2,500, for modifications that bring a contract above $2,500 and extend it or significantly change its labor requirements, and for multiple-year contracts on their annual anniversary date if the contract is subject to annual appropriations. So once you are past very small purchases, expect to see one.
The clause that puts the obligation on you is FAR 52.222-41, Service Contract Labor Standards. Paragraph (c)(1) says each service employee working on the contract, whether employed by you or a subcontractor, must be paid not less than the minimum monetary wages and furnished fringe benefits as specified in any wage determination attached to the contract. The clause defines a service employee as anyone performing the contract other than people employed in a bona fide executive, administrative or professional capacity under 29 CFR Part 541. Paragraph (l) requires you to put the clause in your covered subcontracts, so the rates follow the work down the chain.
Construction: the Construction Wage Rate Requirements statute
For construction, the FAR uses the name Construction Wage Rate Requirements statute, formerly known as the Davis-Bacon Act. FAR 22.403-1 says contracts in excess of $2,000 for construction, alteration or repair, including painting and decorating, of public buildings or public works within the United States must contain a clause saying no laborer or mechanic employed directly upon the site of the work shall receive less than the prevailing wage rates determined by the Secretary of Labor. That clause is FAR 52.222-6, which requires that laborers and mechanics be paid not less often than once a week, at rates not less than those in the attached wage determination, for the classification of work actually performed.
FAR 22.404-1 describes two kinds. A general wage determination contains prevailing rates for the types of construction it names in a specified geographic area, has no expiration date, and stays valid until the Department of Labor modifies, supersedes or cancels it. The FAR says these are published on the Wage Determinations at SAM.gov website and should be used whenever possible. A project wage determination is issued at an agency's specific request, used only when no general determination applies, and is effective for 180 calendar days from the date of the determination. Either way, once it is incorporated in a contract it normally stays in effect for the life of that contract unless an option extends the term.
Construction also brings paperwork that service contracts do not. FAR 52.222-8, Payrolls and Basic Records, requires the contractor to submit a copy of all payrolls to the contracting officer weekly for each week contract work is performed, with a signed Statement of Compliance. It says the prime is responsible for submitting payrolls from all subcontractors, and it points to Optional Form WH-347 as one acceptable format. If you have never run certified payroll, budget time and possibly payroll-software cost for it before you bid.
How to find the right wage determination on SAM.gov
Start with the solicitation itself. In almost every case the contracting officer has already picked a wage determination and attached it, or listed its number in the contract clauses or attachments section. Open the notice, go to the attachments and links, and download everything, including amendments. Our post on solicitation amendments and deadlines explains why that last part matters, and the next section shows how a revised wage determination can arrive by amendment.
If you have the number, go to the Wage Determinations page and use the option for when you know the WD number. That pulls up the current revision, which is useful because the version in the solicitation may already have been revised. If you do not have a number, for example because you are researching a market before any solicitation is out, the page lets you start by choosing a category, either public buildings or works for construction or service contracts, and then narrow by location and other details.
Remember who is responsible for choosing. FAR 22.1008-1 says contracting officers may obtain most service wage determinations on the SAM.gov site, must use the Department of Labor's e98 process to request one when the database does not contain the applicable determination, and that the contracting agency remains responsible for the wage determination selected. The same section says the officer works out the classes of service employees using the Wage and Hour Division's Service Contract Act Directory of Occupations, which it says can be found on the Wage Determinations at SAM.gov Library page. That directory is a good reference for you too, because it describes what each job title in a wage determination actually covers. If you think the wrong determination or the wrong county was attached, ask the contracting officer in writing during the question period instead of quietly pricing to the one you think is right.
How to read one without getting lost
Wage determinations look dense, but they follow a pattern. Near the top you will find the determination number, the revision number and date, and the states and counties it covers. Check that the area matches the place of performance in the notice. The body lists job classifications, often with an occupation code, and an hourly rate for each. Service determinations then list fringe benefits, typically health and welfare, vacation and holidays, and construction determinations show a base rate and a fringe amount for each classification.
Then look for your actual workers. Map every position you plan to staff to a classification in the determination. If someone you plan to use does not fit any listed classification, both clauses have a conformance process. Under FAR 52.222-41(c)(2), you classify the unlisted job so it bears a reasonable relationship to the listed ones and submit Standard Form 1444, Request for Authorization of Additional Classification and Rate, to the contracting officer no later than 30 days after that employee performs any contract work. SAM.gov lists the SF1444 among the forms on its wage determinations page. FAR 52.222-6(c) has a parallel process for construction classifications.
Fringe benefits deserve their own read. FAR 52.222-41(d) says you can meet the fringe obligation by furnishing equivalent combinations of bona fide fringe benefits or by making equivalent or differential cash payments, but only in accordance with Subpart D of 29 CFR Part 4. That flexibility is real, but it has rules, so do not assume your existing benefits package automatically satisfies the determination.
When the rates change mid-solicitation
Wage determinations get revised, and timing rules decide whether a revision lands in your contract. FAR 22.404-6 covers construction. For sealed bidding, a modification is generally effective if the agency receives it, or it is published on SAM.gov, 10 or more calendar days before bid opening. For negotiated contracts, modifications received by the agency or published before award are effective. If one arrives after award, the contracting officer must modify the contract retroactive to the award date and equitably adjust the price. The same section tells contracting officers to monitor the SAM.gov wage determination site during the solicitation and says this can be done with that site's Alert Service, which is worth knowing about if you track a particular area.
For multi-year service contracts, look for FAR 52.222-43. It says the wage determination current on the anniversary date or at the start of each renewal option period applies, and that the price will be adjusted to reflect your actual increase or decrease in wages and fringe benefits made to comply with it. Read paragraph (e) carefully: the adjustment covers wages, fringe benefits and the related social security, unemployment and workers' compensation costs, but not general and administrative costs, overhead or profit. Paragraph (f) says you must notify the contracting officer of any increase claimed within 30 days after receiving a new wage determination unless that period is extended in writing. The clause also says your prices must not include a contingency for the increases it covers.
A worked example (hypothetical)
Say a small cleaning company is pricing a one-year base period, plus options, for a federal office building. The attached service wage determination is hypothetical here, but suppose it lists a janitor classification at a set hourly rate plus a health and welfare fringe per hour, along with paid holidays and vacation. The company plans six janitors and one working supervisor.
The owner first confirms the counties on the determination match the building's location. Next, she maps her janitors to the janitor classification and checks whether her supervisor, who spends most of the day cleaning, really falls under the executive exemption or should be paid as a listed service classification. She builds her labor cost from the determination's wage and fringe figures, not from what she pays commercial staff, then adds payroll taxes, insurance, supplies, overhead and profit. Because the contract has options and includes FAR 52.222-43, she leaves out any contingency for future wage determination increases and plans to file a timely price adjustment notice if the rates rise at the option. Finally, she calendars a check of the WD number on SAM.gov a few days before the quote is due, in case a revision lands.
None of those steps is exotic. They are what keeps a winning bid from turning into a money-losing contract, and they are the kind of homework that also helps you compete under the limits we cover in our post on limitations on subcontracting, since covered subcontractors owe the same rates.
Where this fits in your bid process
Make the wage determination a standing item on your bid checklist for any services or construction notice. When you are scanning open set-aside opportunities or browsing by state, the place of performance tells you which area's rates you will face before you even open the attachments. Our guide on finding set-aside contracts on SAM.gov covers the search side, and our post on federal contract types explains how fixed-price and labor-hour contracts change who carries the risk when labor costs rise.
Two last habits pay off. Post what the clauses tell you to post: FAR 52.222-41(g) requires notifying each service employee of the required wage and fringe benefits or posting the wage determination, plus Department of Labor poster WH 1313 at the work site, and FAR 52.222-6(b)(4) requires posting the wage determination and poster WH-1321 at the construction site. And keep records. FAR 52.222-41(i) requires service contractors to keep wage and hour records for 3 years from completion of the work, and FAR 52.222-8 sets a 3-year retention period for construction payrolls. If an investigator ever asks, those records are your proof.
Helpful reading. For more on this topic, see prevailing wage compliance guides (Affiliate link) and government contracting for small business books (Affiliate link). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
The Set-Aside Desk is published by SetAside Signal, an independent publication, not a government agency. This article isn't legal advice; rules change, so confirm details with the official sources: SBA (sba.gov), SAM.gov and the FAR at acquisition.gov. Published Nov 13, 2026.