Service Contract Act (SCA)
The McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act of 1965, codified as Service Contract Labor Standards at 41 U.S.C. chapter 67, requires federal service contracts over $2,500 to pay service employees at least the prevailing wages and fringe benefits set by Department of Labor wage determinations.
Coverage turns on principal purpose: a federal contract over $2,500 whose principal purpose is furnishing services in the United States through service employees. Construction has its own labor standards, and the statute exempts categories such as regulated transportation and public utilities. The Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division administers the Act under 29 CFR part 4.
The contracting officer pulls the applicable wage determination from SAM.gov and incorporates it with the clause at 52.222-41; the contractor owes each service employee at least the listed wages and fringe benefits for the locality. FAR 22.1002-3 adds the successorship rule: a successor performing substantially the same services in the same locality must pay at least the rates in the predecessor's collective bargaining agreement. Covered contracts carry a five-year statutory cap.
The recurring failure is pricing. Bids built on a stale wage determination revision, or on recompete labor rates that ignore the incumbent's CBA, understate a wage floor the contract will enforce anyway, and the difference comes out of margin.
Regulatory Reference
41 U.S.C. ch. 67; FAR subpart 22.10; FAR 52.222-41; 29 CFR part 4
RFO Status
The RFO Part 22 model deviation (first posted October 9, 2025) keeps subpart 22.10 — the requirements are statutory — while cutting non-statutory material elsewhere in the part.
Category
Regulations & Policy
How AcqBot Helps
AcqBot checks service solicitations for 52.222-41 coverage, confirms the incorporated wage determination is the current SAM.gov revision, and flags recompetes where a predecessor CBA triggers the successorship rule before pricing locks in.
Related glossary entries
Class Deviation
A class deviation authorizes an agency to depart from specific FAR or supplement provisions for a category of contract actions rather than a single case — the mechanism agencies are using to implement the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul ahead of formal rulemaking.
Commercial Products and Services (FAR Part 12)
Commercial products and commercial services are items of a type sold, leased, licensed, or offered in the commercial marketplace, defined at FAR 2.101. FAR Part 12 implements the statutory preference for buying them whenever market research shows they can meet the agency's need.
Rule of Two
The rule of two directs a contracting officer to set aside an acquisition for small business when there is a reasonable expectation of receiving offers from at least two responsible small business concerns and making award at fair market prices, per FAR 19.502-2.
Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI)
Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) is information the government creates or possesses, or that an entity handles on its behalf, that a law, regulation, or governmentwide policy requires safeguarding or dissemination controls for — sensitive but not classified, governed by 32 CFR Part 2002.