How to read an SCA wage determination

A Service Contract Act wage determination (WD) is the Department of Labor document that sets the minimum hourly wage for each class of service employee in an area, plus the fringe benefits every one of them must receive. Any covered contract over $2,500 must carry the applicable WD as an attachment (29 CFR 4.5). If you price from the wrong WD, or misread the right one, the error goes straight into every hour you bill.

This guide walks through a real standard WD, top to bottom: WD 2015-5233, revision 35, which covers Harris County, Texas and eight neighboring counties.

1. The header: WD number, revision and date

The top right block reads:

The WD number identifies the area and stays the same for years. The revision number goes up each time DOL modifies the WD, for example when it updates wage rates or the health and welfare rate. DOL notes that the revision date is the date it issued that revision, which is not necessarily the date it takes effect on your contract.

Always quote the number and revision together. "2015-5233 rev 35" and "2015-5233 rev 34" can carry different rates for the same job.

2. State and area

Next come the state and the counties covered: here, Texas counties of Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery and Waller. The area matches the place of performance, not where your office is. Some WDs cover a whole state or several states; most standard WDs cover a metro area or a group of counties.

3. The occupation table

The bulk of the WD is a table with four columns: code, title, footnote and rate.

The five-digit codes come from the Service Contract Act Directory of Occupations (Fifth Edition, Revision 1, September 2015), which the WD names as the source of job duties. Lines ending in 000 are group headings with no rate.

The rate is a minimum hourly wage. You can pay more, never less. Fringe benefits are separate and on top of it.

Match positions by duties, not job titles. Under 29 CFR 4.152(b), the duties an employee actually performs decide the classification and the rate. A "custodial technician" who does janitorial work is a Janitor, 11150, whatever your org chart calls the job.

Footnotes such as "(see 1)"

A number in the footnote column points to a numbered note under "The occupations which have numbered footnotes in parentheses receive the following." In WD 2015-5233, footnote 1 covers computer employees: many computer programmers and systems analysts are exempt professionals, so the WD may list no rate for them. If your contract uses non-exempt employees in those job families, the WD says a conformance is needed.

Below the numbered notes are notes marked with asterisks that apply only in certain cases: a hazardous pay differential of 8% or 4% for work near ordnance and explosives that the agency has designated for it, and a uniform allowance. If employees must wear uniforms, you furnish them, and if they are responsible for cleaning them, this WD sets reimbursement at $3.35 per week (unless the uniforms are wash-and-wear). Read these notes before you price. They are easy to miss and they are real costs.

4. Fringe benefits

After the table, the WD says "All occupations listed above receive the following benefits." In WD 2015-5233 rev 35:

• Health & welfare: $5.92 per hour, up to 40 hours per week, or $236.80 per week or $1,026.13 per month.
• Health & welfare EO 13706: $5.42 per hour, only for contracts also covered by Executive Order 13706 (paid sick leave).
• Vacation: 2 weeks paid after 1 year of service with a contractor or successor, 3 weeks after 5 years, 4 weeks after 15 years. Service includes time with predecessor contractors at the same federal facility.
• Holidays: a minimum of eleven paid holidays per year, which the WD names.

Vacation and holiday rules differ between WDs. The Hawaii WD 2015-5689, for example, gives 3 weeks after 10 years instead of 5. Do not copy the fringe section from one area to another.

How H&W is counted and paid has its own guide: SCA health and welfare rates for 2026.

5. Standard vs non-standard WDs

DOL describes two kinds of area WDs. Standard WDs have been issued since 1994 for specific locations and each lists close to 350 standard occupations. Non-standard WDs are issued for specific contracts or types of contracts, and their area can be narrower or broader than a standard WD's. SAM.gov flags which is which.

A third type is a WD based on a predecessor contractor's collective bargaining agreement (29 CFR 4.50(b)). Its rates come from the CBA, not from a survey.

For bidding, the type matters less than the next rule.

6. Which WD applies: the one in the solicitation

The contracting agency picks the WD, and DOL is blunt that only the WDs inserted into the contract at award or by modification apply. Copies on SAM.gov are for information. Price from the WD number and revision attached to the solicitation, even if you find a different WD for your county.

Two situations to watch:

• A newer revision is published while you bid. Under 29 CFR 4.5(a)(2), a revision the agency receives later than 10 days before bid opening is not effective in a sealed-bid procurement if the agency finds there is not reasonable time to notify bidders. In negotiated procurements, a revision received after award is not effective if performance starts within 30 days. Watch for amendments that swap in a new revision.
• You think the WD is wrong. Raise it with the contracting officer before bids are due, not after award. DOL will not review a WD after bid opening in a sealed-bid procurement, or later than 10 days before the contract starts in a negotiated one (29 CFR 4.56).

Our free SCA wage determination lookup shows the WDs on SAM.gov for any county, so you can read the one named in your solicitation in a clean table.

7. Jobs that are not listed: conformance on SF-1444

If your staffing plan needs a class of employee the WD does not list, you must conform it: set a wage and fringe that bear a reasonable relationship to classes that are listed (29 CFR 4.6(b)(2)). The WD itself describes the process under "Request for Authorization of Additional Classification and Wage Rate, Standard Form 1444 (SF-1444)":

1. When preparing the bid, identify the conformed occupation and compute a proposed rate.
2. After award, submit a written report to the contracting officer: proposed title, federal grade equivalency, job description and rationale for the rate, plus whether the employees or their representative agree. It is due no later than 30 days after the unlisted class first performs contract work.
3. The contracting officer sends it to DOL's Wage and Hour Division, which approves, modifies or disapproves it within 30 days of receipt, or says it needs more time.
4. The final rate is owed retroactively from the first day the class worked on the contract.

Limits apply. You cannot use conformance to split, combine or subdivide listed classes, to create a level below the lowest one listed in a job family, or to create trainee classes (29 CFR 4.152(c)(1)). Price the conformed rate into your bid. If DOL sets it higher, the difference comes out of your margin.

Worked example: the minimum hourly package for a janitor

29 CFR 4.177(c)(5) gives a formula to turn paid holidays and vacation into an hourly cash equivalent: hourly wage × the hours of the benefit ÷ 2,080. Applied to a Janitor (11150) with one year of service on WD 2015-5233 rev 35, using 8-hour days and a 40-hour week:

That $21.85 is what the WD requires, before payroll taxes, workers' compensation, overhead, G&A or profit. Note it is per hour paid. Your price has to be built per hour worked, which is higher. That step is in how to build a burdened labor rate for an SCA bid.

Related guides

• SCA health and welfare rates for 2026
• How to build a burdened labor rate for an SCA bid
• FAR 52.222-43 price adjustment, step by step

Sources

• SAM.gov: Wage Determination 2015-5233, revision 35 (Texas)
• SAM.gov: Wage Determination 2015-5689, revision 30 (Hawaii)
• U.S. Department of Labor: SCA Wage Determinations (Prevailing Wage Resource Book)
• eCFR: 29 CFR part 4, sections 4.5, 4.6, 4.50, 4.56, 4.152 and 4.177

Last reviewed: November 2026. This guide is general information, not legal advice.