Effective Date for Prevailing Wages on GC/CM Projects

Washington State law and regulations do not address the effective date for prevailing wages on General Contractor/Construction Manager (GC/CM) projects, an alternative public works delivery method authorized by chapter 39.10 RCW.

The existing regulations only address traditional Design-Bid-Build projects, stating that the prevailing wages are those in effect on the bid submittal deadline. Of course, under GC/CM, there is no bid submittal deadline as the GC/CM is selected based on a combination of qualifications, interview, and prices for overhead and profit (Percent Fee) and Specified General Conditions costs.

I recently proposed language to the Department of Labor and Industries to amend the Washington Administrative Code to recognize GC/CM contracts and provide guidance on the effective date of prevailing wages for these contracts.

My suggestion, and my practice over the years, has been that the effective date of prevailing wages on GC/CM projects should be the bid submittal deadline for each of the subcontract bid packages.

Thus, for any one GC/CM projects, in theory, there could be multiple state prevailing wages, depending on when the subcontract bid package bids are due. The Department of Labor and Industries updates prevailing wage rates twice a year, in March and August.

I have developed language that I have included in Requests for Final Proposals from GC/CM firms that states the following: "As a matter of information, the Owner has included a copy of the most recent prevailing wage rates issued by the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries. The prevailing wages in effect on the bid submittal deadline for each subcontract bid package will be the wages applicable for that subcontract bid package."

Please contact me by e-mail or call me at (206) 295-1464 if you have any questions about how to apply prevailing wages on a GC/CM project.