Changes to Washington State Prevailing Wage Forms

The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries announced three changes to the required "Statement of Intent to Pay Prevailing Wages" and the "Affidavit of Wages Paid Form":

1. All Intents and Affidavits must have the following two fields completed: "Agency Contact Name" and "Agency Contact Phone."  Completion of these fields will become mandatory for all contractors and subcontractors, effective the evening of January 21, 2010.
   
   
2. The "Industrial Insurance Acct ID" field must be completed when employees and/or apprentices are used and referenced on the Intents and Affidavits.  Industrial Insurance is another term for Workers Compensation premiums.
   
   
3. The Intent and Affidavit forms now includes the following question about federal funding from stimulus or recovery money:  "Does this project utilize American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds?"  

As a reminder, if ARRA funds are involved, the contractor will need to pay either State prevailing wages or federal Davis-Bacon prevailing wages, whichever is higher for an applicable classification.  Federally funded projects also require the contractor to submit weekly payrolls for their firm and all subcontractors, which the public agency is required to review and monitor.

Most contractors are now filing the Intents and Affidavits online with L&I.  Anyone can check the online database to see if an Intent or Affidavit has been filed and approved by L&I.  To view the database, which is searchable by a number of fields, visit L&I's website at https://fortress.wa.gov/lni/pwiapub/SearchFor.asp.

The Intent form is required prior to work being performed by the contractor or subcontractor, or at the latest before the public agency makes any payment for the work.  The Affidavit must be filed before the public agency may release retainage to the contractor.