May 5, 2022

In tomorrow’s Federal Register, the General Services Administration (GSA) is seeking comments on a new information collection request (ICR) regarding electronic submission of “Construction Payrolls and Basic Records.” Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Clause 52.222-8 (“Payrolls and Basic Records”) requires United States construction contracts in excess of $2,000 to submit weekly (for each week in which any contract work is performed) a copy of all payrolls to the contracting officer.  The clause allows contractors to submit the required weekly payroll information using the DOL WH-347 form (that already exists to submit weekly payrolls for contracts subject to the Davis-Bacon and related Acts) or any other form desired. 

Per this notice, GSA is proposing to deviate from the Clause 52.222-8 to require these construction contractors to use the GSA Electronic Payroll Template and its portal to submit the required weekly payroll data.  GSA states that the current manual process for reviewing weekly certified payroll data requires an enormous amount of labor hours and has a large probability of human error (i.e., nonidentification or delayed identification of errors in pay for covered workers).  GSA adds that delays in identifying payroll errors are costly to the contractor who will need to pay retroactive wage adjustments and the employee will have suffered reduced economic purchase power due to the error in wages.

Comments are due by July 5, 2022 and can be submitted here by searching for “Information Collection 3090-XXXX; Payrolls and Basic Records Clause.” 

© 2024 Signatory Wall and Ceiling Contractors Alliance (SWACCA). All rights reserved.