29 C.F.R. § 1.5

(a) General wage determinations. A “general wage determination” contains, among other information, a list of wage and fringe benefit rates determined to be prevailing for various classifications of laborers or mechanics for specified type(s) of construction in a given area. The Department of Labor publishes “general wage determinations” under the Davis-Bacon Act on the DOL-approved website.

(b) Project wage determinations. (1) A “project wage determination” is specific to a particular project. An agency may request a “project wage determination” for an individual project under any of the following circumstances:

(i) The project involves work in more than one county and will employ workers who may work in more than one county;

(ii) There is no general wage determination in effect for the relevant area and type(s) of construction for an upcoming project, or

(iii) All or virtually all of the work on a contract will be performed by a classification that is not listed in the general wage determination that would otherwise apply, and contract award (or bid opening, in contracts entered into using sealed bidding procedures) has not yet taken place.

(2) To request a project wage determination, the agency must submit Standard Form (SF) 308, Request for Wage Determination and Response to Request, to the Department of Labor, either by mailing the form to U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, Branch of Construction Wage Determinations, Washington, DC 20210, or by submitting the form through other means directed by the Administrator.

(3) In completing Form SF-308, the agency must include the following information:

(i) A sufficiently detailed description of the work to indicate the type(s) of construction involved, as well as any additional description or separate attachment, if necessary, for identification of the type(s) of work to be performed. If the project involves multiple types of construction, the requesting agency must attach information indicating the expected cost breakdown by type of construction.

(ii) The location (city, county, state, zip code) or locations in which the proposed project is located.

(iii) The classifications needed for the project. The agency must identify only those classifications that will be needed in the performance of the work. Inserting a note such as “entire schedule” or “all applicable classifications” is not sufficient. Additional classifications needed that are not on the form may be typed in the blank spaces or on a separate list and attached to the form.

(iv) Any other information requested in Form SF-308.

(4) A request for a project wage determination must be accompanied by any pertinent wage information that may be available. When the requesting agency is a State highway department under the Federal-Aid Highway Acts as codified in 23 U.S.C. 113, such agency must also include its recommendations as to the wages which are prevailing for each classification of laborers and mechanics on similar construction in the area.

(5) The time required for processing requests for project wage determinations varies according to the facts and circumstances in each case. An agency should anticipate that such processing by the Department of Labor will take at least 30 days.