Effective with the October 2017 publications the State Prevailing Wage Rate Schedules for Parking Lot, Road, Highway, Bridge and Airport Construction will have a new look.
Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of Michigan’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs has informed MITA that they will no longer publish the prevailing wage in a two component “WAGE” and “FRINGE” format (see “Old Way” example below).
Instead, WHD will now publish the prevailing wage in a single number total package (wage plus fringe) format (see “New Way” example below).
This change to the “Road Builders” prevailing wage rate schedule will make it consistent in format with the “Commercial” prevailing wage rate schedules where WHD has been using this single number total package format for many years.
Since prevailing wage compliance is really about the “total package”, publishing a single number total package should minimize contractor concerns about how much is wage and how much is fringe as they simply focus on paying the total package through any combination of wages and “bona fide fringes” (contact MITA for further detail).
MITA reminds and encourages all members to be attentive in your pre-bid efforts to any prevailing wages, state or federal, that are incorporated into the bid documents. If you notice something that doesn’t seem right, give us a call immediately as our best opportunity to affect a correction is during the pre-bid phase. Post-bid corrections of published prevailing wages incorporated into a project are nearly impossible to get corrected for that project.
If you have any questions or comments contact Glenn Bukoski at glennbukoski@mi-ita.com or Rachelle VanDeventer at rachellevandeventer@mi-ita.com or call them at the MITA office at 517-347-8336.
