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TR Circular E-C058_9th LRT Conference_2003.pdf - Florida ...

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Liggett and Lewis 615<br />

critical feature of the project in its entirety. Failure to comply with federal regulations, such as<br />

prevailing wage, may jeopardize the budget and opening date of a light rail endeavor. TriMet<br />

believes this risk can be avoided through planning, clear understanding, training, mentoring, and<br />

partnering with contractors, and enforcement of the applicable regulations. In addition,<br />

understanding the DBA is critical to contractors because the act may increase project and<br />

contractor costs.<br />

Multiple layers of laws, rules, regulations, and requirements govern federally funded or<br />

federally assisted light rail construction. The DBA and its implementing regulations set forth the<br />

federal prevailing wage laws which have been and will continue to play a key role in all federally<br />

funded light rail transit projects. Federally funded light rail construction infuses the community<br />

with an enormous amount of construction jobs and dollars that positively impact the local<br />

economy. Prevailing wage evens the playing field in bidding for contracts, ideally reflects local<br />

wages for experienced workers, and provides a training ground for apprentice workers. Large<br />

contractors have the opportunity to hone their expertise in dealing with prevailing wage issues.<br />

Small contractors have a unique opportunity to participate in building large public works<br />

projects, such as <strong>LRT</strong>. The experience they gain from participating in one federally funded or<br />

federally assisted construction project may benefit them on future projects, and enable them to<br />

grow their businesses so that they can continue to participate in rail expansion projects.<br />

Some of TriMet’s goals relating to prevailing wage requirements have been the<br />

following:<br />

1. To embrace the benefits of federal prevailing wage in light rail transit construction<br />

by:<br />

− Leveling the playing field for contractors to bid public works projects, and<br />

− Conveying to participants that payment of prevailing wage is mandated by law,<br />

while helping them to understand the complexities of compliance, including the need<br />

to consider the impact to their bottom line in accurately bidding a project (sometimes<br />

learned through experience and correcting past mistakes).<br />

2. To fairly interpret complex laws and regulations by:<br />

− Spotting and resolving issues with the aid of contemporaneous contractor<br />

documentation (for example, reviewing trucker logs and truck tickets to monitor<br />

prevailing wage paid to truckers for on-site work in excess of the de minimis<br />

threshold); and<br />

− Avoiding getting bogged down in uncertainty, and finding an accurate decision<br />

path for tough issues.<br />

3. To apply practical methods and disseminate understandable information, so that all<br />

stakeholders can comprehend prevailing wage requirements, thereby making compliance and<br />

enforcement easier through hands-on resources and techniques (such as printed guidelines,<br />

checklists and other resources). See Table 1.

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