Wage adjustments under the Brooks Act

[buddyandme]

After starting with a new agency I was given one of several A&E type task orders subject to the Brooks Act that required a one year time extension. For this particular Task Order, it was the 5th request for an extension of one year. Apparently the delay was due to the governments delay in providing data files to the contractor necessary for him to complete his tasking.

I noticed the contractor never requested a wage adjustment with any of the extensions and just assumed SCA was applicable. Being new to A&E and the Brooks Act I conducted some research regarding the Brooks Act and wage adjustments but did not find any reference to the contractor being able to request a wage adjustments as is the case with SCA.

Can a contractor under the Brooks Act request a wage adjustment and if so where can I find more information about this topic?

[ji20874]

If you can't find it, it's probably not there.

Don't assume SCA is applicable -- either it is or it isn't, and a key will be whether the contract has a wage determination attached. If not, then SCA probably doesn't apply. If so, then it almost certainly does.

But don't worry -- if the contractor is entitled to request an adjustment in the contract, it will know how to do so -- you can let the contractor worry about its own problem -- after it makes a request, if any, with proper citations to authority, you can pass judgment on the validity of the request.

[Guest Vern Edwards]

The Service Contract Act applies to contracts awarded for the principle purpose of obtaining services performed by "service employees." See FAR 22.1003-1 and 22.1001. The Brooks Act you're talking about applies to architect-engineer contracts. Architects and engineers are professionals. They are not service employees, and the Service Contract Act does not apply to them. The Brooks Act is not a wage law and does not provide for contract wage adjustments.