Your certified payroll just became a bounty.
DOJ's FOCUS initiative turns employees and subs into paid informants. Plus the fixed-price EO deadline, ACA penalty increases, and a SAM.gov data quality flag.
Welcome to Part 31, the prevailing wage newsletter that helps federal SCA contractors protect their margins and stay compliant on post-award operations.
This week: DOJ launched a program that pays your people to find your payroll mistakes. We break down the FOCUS initiative, what it targets, and what to fix before the first qui tam lands.
TL;DR:
FOCUS goes live: DOJ is actively recruiting qui tam relators to mine contractor data for False Claims Act violations, with financial incentives for tips that lead to recoveries.
Fixed-price EO clock ticking: OMB guidance due June 14; FAR amendments follow August 28. If FAR 52.222-43 isn’t in your multi-year bids, your margin absorbs every WD increase.
ACA penalties up: The 4980H(a) no-coverage penalty rises to $3,340/employee/year; 4980H(b) hits $5,010. Cash-in-lieu contractors face dual exposure from WHD and IRS.
SAM.gov WD flag: Some April 29 Wage Determinations may have incomplete location data. Cross-reference before you price.
LEAD STORY
Your certified payroll is now a qui tam target. DOJ just hired the data miners.
We flagged the FOCUS initiative last week. Here’s why it warrants the full breakdown. The Department of Justice launched FOCUS on April 30, explicitly recruiting qui tam relators to mine contractor data for False Claims Act violations and file on DOJ’s behalf. Every SCA payroll submission is a certification that wages and fringe were paid correctly; under FOCUS, the person sitting next to you on the job site now has a financial reason to notice if yours aren’t.
WHD enforcement data confirms the trend: EO-covered back wages jumped 77% to $563,326 in FY2025, workers receiving back wages rose from 709 to 1,070, and the audits that are happening are targeted. FOCUS adds a crowdsourced intake layer on top.
By the numbers
$563,326 in EO-covered back wages, FY2025, up 77% (DOL WHD)
1,070 workers received EO back wages, up from 709
$0 needed to file an FCA complaint. DOJ supplies the lawyers.
What to do now
Audit certified payroll end-to-end. Timekeeping, payroll output, and submitted certifications must match for every covered labor category.
Audit H&W fringe documentation. Every deduction needs a bona fide plan. Cash-in-lieu requires a documented calculation and rate.
Brief subcontract managers. Primes inherit liability for sub-tier certified payroll violations.
Review voluntary disclosure posture. Documented compliance programs and prompt corrections put you in a materially different settlement position.
Flag open conformance requests. Unresolved labor category conformances are a chronic audit entry point and an easy qui tam target.
In Brief
Fixed-price EO deadline: June 14.
We covered the April 30 EO in depth (Issue 008). The next milestone is OMB implementation guidance due June 14, followed by FAR amendments August 28. If you haven't pulled your multi-year pipeline and confirmed FAR 52.222-43 is in every solicitation and subcontract, do it before the guidance drops. (PilieroMazza analysis)
ACA penalties up, dual exposure for cash-in-lieu:
IRS confirmed 2026 penalties: 4980H(a) rises to $3,340/employee/year, up from $2,900; 4980H(b) hits $5,010, up from $4,350. If your H&W cash-in-lieu doesn't fund ACA-compliant coverage, you're exposed on two separate enforcement tracks: SCA back wages from WHD and ACA penalties from IRS. These are different agencies with different penalty stacks, and both can hit the same contract.
SAM.gov WD data quality flag, April 29 batch:
SAM.gov issued a May 8 advisory that some Wage Determinations published April 29 may have incomplete location data. If you priced a bid using an April 29 WD, cross-reference against the prior revision now. Missing locations can mean missing covered classifications baked into your contract from day one. Discrepancies go to scasfe98@dol.gov; the SAM.gov e98 portal remains down since January 30.
Know the Reg
31 USC 3730(b)
Qui tam relator
The provision that lets private citizens sue on behalf of the government for fraud. Under 31 USC 3730(b), any person with evidence of a false claim against the federal government can file a civil action in the government’s name. The filer, called a “relator,” submits the complaint under seal to DOJ, which has 60 days (extendable) to decide whether to intervene. If DOJ intervenes, the relator receives 15-25% of any recovery. If DOJ declines, the relator can proceed independently and collect 25-30%.
Key detail: The relator does not need to be a victim. An employee, subcontractor, competitor, or data analyst who identifies a pattern of false certifications has standing to file. The complaint is filed under seal, meaning the target company may not know it exists until DOJ acts.
Why it matters now: DOJ’s FOCUS initiative is actively recruiting relators with data-mining capabilities to build automated detection tools and file qui tam suits. For SCA contractors, every certified payroll is a certification. A relator who cross-references your submissions against WD rates can build a case without a whistleblower or a WHD audit. The FCA’s qui tam mechanism is the enforcement engine behind FOCUS, and the bounty structure is the incentive. (Cornell LII)
Dates to remember
Jun 10. Biggest Shifts in GovCon Law Conference. Labor, FAR changes, and enforcement trends.
Jun 14. OMB Fixed-Price EO Guidance Deadline. Not a webinar. A hard date. Your pipeline review should be done before this lands.
Jun 24. Labor Rules & Regulations: Federal Market Compliance. SCA and DOL regulatory update.
Jul 24. FAR 52.222-90 DEI Clause Modification Deadline. Existing contracts must be modified; subcontract flowdowns updated. Noncompliance triggers FCA exposure. (Thompson Hine)
Sep 23–24. DOL WHD Free Prevailing Wage Seminar. Virtual, free. Essential for teams new to SCA/DBA compliance.
P31 takes its name from FAR Part 31, the Cost Principles, the part of the FAR that governs every dollar on every federal contract.
This newsletter is for informational purposes only and is not legal, compliance, or financial advice. For contract-specific guidance, consult qualified labor counsel.
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