Service Contract Act (SCA) Guides for Contractors
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On a federal service contract covered by the Service Contract Act (FAR 52.222-41, Service Contract Labor Standards), the wage determination in the contract sets the minimum wage for each classification and the fringe benefits: health and welfare, vacation and holidays. A new wage determination comes in when an option is exercised and at the anniversaries of a multiyear contract, and FAR 52.222-43 adjusts the contract price for the increase it makes you pay, measured from the rates you actually paid, on the hours in your payroll.
These guides take it one question at a time and name the clause, regulation or decision behind each answer: reading a wage determination, health and welfare, holidays and vacation, the payroll mistakes that come up most, successor contracts, conformance, the executive order minimum wage, how the SCA differs from Davis-Bacon, and the 52.222-43 price adjustment and the letter that asks for it.
FAR 52.222-43 price adjustments
What the adjustment covers (no overhead or profit), why payroll hours decide it, the 30-day notice, and what to send the contracting officer
SCA health and welfare
The 2026 rates, the hours that earn them, no averaging, and cash in lieu
The price adjustment letter
What a 52.222-43 notice says: its elements, the dates, what it leaves out, the attachments, and a skeleton
Reading a wage determination
The number and revision, the area, the occupation table, health and welfare, vacation, holidays and the footnotes, part by part
Common SCA payroll mistakes
What Wage and Hour finds most, from averaged health and welfare to the wrong occupation, and how to check for each
SCA holiday pay
Who earns a named holiday, how much, part-time shares, and a holiday worked
SCA vacation
Service with predecessor contractors, vesting on the anniversary, and the deadline to give or pay it
Successor contractors and CBA rates
Section 4(c): the predecessor’s union wages as a floor, your own successor at each option, and CBA increases in the price
Conformance and SF-1444
When an occupation is not on the wage determination: the steps, the 30 days, the retroactive rate and indexing at an option
SCA vs. Davis-Bacon
Which law applies to a contract, and how the two differ on fringe benefits, payroll records and wage determinations
Executive order minimum wage and sick leave
EO 14026 revoked, EO 13658 for older contracts only, EO 13706 sick leave and the two health and welfare rates
EG SCA Wage Pack (52.222-43)
An Excel workbook that prepares and checks the numbers for a 52.222-43 request from your own payroll export, with a draft letter and backup workbook for you to review and send. 30-day free trial.