§ 4.116 Contracts for construction activity.

(a) General scope of exemption. The Act, in paragraph (1) of section 7, exempts from its provisions “any contract of the United States or District of Columbia for construction, alteration and/or repair, including painting and decorating of public buildings or public works.” This language corresponds to the language used in the Davis-Bacon Act to describe its coverage (40 U.S.C. 276a). The legislative history of the McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act indicates that the purpose of the provision is to avoid overlapping coverage of the two acts by excluding from the application of the McNamara-O'Hara Act those contracts to which the Davis-Bacon Act is applicable and in the performance of which the labor standards of that Act are intended to govern the compensation payable to the employees of contractors and subcontractors on the work. (See H. Rept. 798, pp. 2, 5, and H. Rept. 948, pp. 1, 5, also Hearing, Special Subcommittee on Labor, House Committee on Education and Labor, p. 9 (89th Cong., 1st sess.).) The intent of section 7(1) is simply to exclude from the provisions of the Act those construction contracts which involve the employment of persons whose wage rates and fringe benefits are determinable under the Davis-Bacon Act.