Northwest Forest Workers Association, B-218193
| Decision Date | 13 March 1985 |
| Docket Number | B-218193 |
| Parties | NORTHWEST FOREST WORKERS ASSOCIATION: No. 85-1 CPD 309 |
| Court | Comptroller General of the United States |
General accounting office - jurisdiction - labor stipulations - service contract act of 1965 digest: the general accounting office will not review legal authority or procedures under the service contract act by which the department of labor wage and hour division administrator rescinded a published wage determination, since this is a matter within the jurisdiction of the department of labor board of service contract appeals.
Northwest Forest Workers Association (nwfwa) (a trade association) and two potential bidders protest that certain solicitations issued by the United States forest service and the bureau of land management are defective in that they include, or will include, improper service contract act (41 U.S.C. Sec. 351 et seq. (1982)) wage determinations.
The protesters contend that the alleged defects in these solicitations resulted when the department of labor wage and hour division administrator improperly and illegally rescinded revised wage determinations that the department had published following its review of certain forestry labor wage determinations. (the review of the previously established wage determinations had been requested by nwfwa in accordance with service contract act (SCA) regulations, 29 C.F.R. Sec 4.55 (1984).) According to nwfwa, the rescission action was taken by the wage and hour administrator to allow the contracting agencies 30 45 days to gather evidence to support their position that the prevailing wage is lower than the wage rate established by the department of labor following its most recent review.
The protester contends that because of the rescission of the "currently effective" wage determination, the subject solicitations will contain-- and the season's work will be performed at-- the previous lower wage determination and will result in irreparable harm to its members, including the two potential bidders who have joined in the protest. The protester requests that the general accounting office "review the legality of procedures and the reasonableness of government actions" in this case.
The service contract act places the responsibility for enforcing its provisions on the contracting agency head and the secretary of labor. U.S.C. Sec. 352(b). Thus, as the protester notes in its submission, our office does not review wage rate...
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