Contract Administration

Contract administration is the obligation to ensure that a contract is administered in accordance with the Minnesota Prevailing Wage Act, the Federal Davis-Bacon and Related Acts and the Special Provisions Division A – LABOR.

The contracting agency or its agent, along with the prime contractor are responsible to administer a contract in accordance with its terms and conditions. Failure to do so may result in financial, civil or criminal sanctions.

Documents to incorporate into a proposal or contract

Documents to incorporate into a proposal or contract instructions

These are prevailing wage-related documents that must be incorporated into a state-aid and/or federal-aid construction proposal and contract.

For a complete proposal for a highway construction project

To review a complete proposal for a MnDOT highway construction project.

However, for projects not administered by MnDOT but instead by local units of government, such as a county or city are not available, please contact the local unit of government directly for this information.

Preconstruction Meeting
A preconstruction meeting is necessary to provide a comprehensive overview of the contract prevailing wage and contract requirements.

All Contractors should review

Certified Payroll Overview to become familiar with State and Federal payroll reporting requirements.
Contractor Prevailing Wage Resources links to Prevailing Wage Minnesota Statutes & Rules, Forms, and Contract specifications list.

Requirements for subcontracting portions of the work

Request to Sublet Form (PDF)

Subcontractors MUST submit a signed “Request to Sublet” to their hiring contractor then sent to the Prime.
Prime Contractor MUST enter the Request into AASHTOWare prior to working on the project work site.
This written consent to subcontract, assign, or otherwise dispose of any portion of the contract shall not under any circumstances relieve the prime contractor of liabilities and obligations under the contract and bonds.

Request to Sublet Summary Form (Excel) is a tool used by the Prime Contractor to document the total percentage of the contract that’s been sublet. This document is necessary to ensure compliance with MnDOT Standard Specification 1801.
Use Contractor (Vendor) Lookup (insert the hyperlink) to verify that a subcontractor is listed in MnDOT’s Contractor/Vendor database.

Contractor/Vendor Form (PDF) Fill out and submit to lcusupport.dot@state.mn.us to be added to this Vendor Database.

Interviewing workers on the project

Interviewing workers on the project site of work is necessary to ensure that all workers are compensated appropriately. The information collected should be compared to a certified payroll report to determine if compliance has been demonstrated.

Field Compliance Review on Labor Provisions Form (PDF) to conduct employee interviews
Field Compliance Review on Independent Truck Owner/Operator (PDF) to conduct interviews with truck drivers.
The information collected must be kept confidential.
At any time, the prime contractor must permit representatives from the U.S. DOL, the Federal Highway Administration, or the contracting agency to perform worker interviews on the project; the time for such interviews shall be paid time.

Daily Work Reports

A daily work report is necessary to document the following: contractors that performed work, when the contractors started and finished their work, the number of workers for each contractor, the type of work that each contractor performed and the types of equipment that the contractor utilized. The information collected should be compared to a certified payroll report to determine if compliance has been demonstrated.

Prime Contractor, prior to finalizing the contract

The Prime Contractor shall contact the MnDOT Labor Compliance unit prior to finalizing its contract and request “Final Clearance” of no known Labor Holds. Failure to do so could subject the Prime Contractor to financial sanctions or legal actions.

Non Compliance with the Contract Labor Provisions

If you have a contractor that has not complied with your written requests to resolve issues involving your contract labor provisions (e.g. payrolls issues, wage rates, misclassification, etc.)

Complete the Investigation Request Letter form (PDF).

The letter should be signed, scanned, and submitted by email along with all appropriate documentation and correspondence surrounding the issue(s) to MnDOT's Labor Compliance Unit.
The documents individually scanned and labeled as this information will be uploaded into our electronic Case Management System and used by the investigators in resolving the issues on your contracts. Once the investigation is resolved, the LCU will notify you that the Labor Hold can be removed. Please follow your normal retainage and contract closeout processes but do not final your contract until the Labor Hold in removed.