Does Davis-Bacon apply to "clearing and grubbing"? or should it fall under the Service Contract Act?

By Anonymous on Friday, September 28, 2001 - 09:22 pm:

Not familiar with the terms in "construction," only as they relate to deforestation, such as for power lines. If that is the case, try the SCA.  General Services and Support Occupations: 11210 Laborer, Grounds Maintenance.  The other question is: what part is this job out of the entire contract. And is the rest of the contract SCA or D-B?

By Wilford on Wednesday, October 03, 2001 - 12:44 pm:

The term "clearing and Grubbing" is removal of stumps and roots from and existing trail. Therefore, it is part of trail maintenance. Clearing and Grubbing IS the entire contract. It involves laborers and the necessary equipment to remove the stumps, etc. from the trail.

By Dave Barnett on Wednesday, October 03, 2001 - 02:34 pm:

Davis Bacon applies to the construction, alteration, or repair of public builodings and public works. The trail (something built by the government with appropriated funds?) could be considered a "public work" (like a road?) and therefore subject to Davis Bacon provided the clearing and "grubbing" precedes alteration or repair to the trail. For a better feel on this I suggest you investigate 29 CFR Part 4, Subpart C, 4.116. My citation is from an 1986 source so the numbering may have changed but it deals with construction exemptions from the SCA.

Just a thought from the info provided.

By Dave Barnett on Wednesday, October 03, 2001 - 02:57 pm:

My 29 CFR citation is still valid: The applicable portion I saw browsing the cited section:

For example, a contract for clearing timber or brush from land or for the demolition or dismantling of buildings or other structures located thereon may be a contract for construction activity subject to the Davis-Bacon Act where it appears that the clearing of the site is to be followed by the construction of a public building or public work at the same location.
If, however, no further construction activity at the site is contemplated the Davis-Bacon Act is considered inapplicable to such clearing, demolition, or dismantling work. In such event, the exemption in section 7(1) of the McNamara-O'Hara Act has no application and the contract may be subject to the Act in accordance with its general coverage provisions.

By Tom Dickinson on Thursday, October 04, 2001 - 12:19 am:

Dave:
I would be hard-pressed to classify a trail as "public works." Public works involves construction. The trail is a matter of removing current growth to reveal a path, but does not involve the creation of anything. To use the vernacular, you CLEAR a path, not build one.

To cite Sec. 7(1) of the SCA:
Sec. 7. This Act shall not apply to--
(1) any contract of the United States or District of Columbia for construction, alteration and/or repair, including painting and decoration of public buildings or public works.

This work is not exempted from the SCA by Section 7.(1). Therefore, I would apply the SCA.

By Anonymous on Thursday, October 04, 2001 - 08:37 am:

You might look at it as if it were demolition not incidental to construction and therefore subject to SCA not DB

By Dave Barnett on Thursday, October 04, 2001 - 10:56 am:

Tom, I'm inclined to agree with you. I was thinking along the lines of the Appalachian trail where ther are some facilities and manmade improvements made to what is essentially a path. Also some parks do have well groomed and delineated trails (log curbs, foot bridges,drinking fountains, etc.)