Maryland contractors
Certified payroll help for Maryland contractors.
Maryland contractors doing public work can be working under federal Davis-Bacon requirements, Maryland's own state prevailing wage law, local requirements, or some combination — often on the same project.
PrevailingShield helps specialty contractors sort out which layer applies and handles the resulting weekly certified-payroll workflow, so your office isn't re-deriving it project by project.
Doc /CP-MD · Rev 1.0 · Public page
Why Maryland projects are rarely just one rule set
The layers that can apply to a Maryland public project
This is general education, not a project-specific determination or legal advice. Which layer — or combination of layers — applies to a given contract depends on the funding source, awarding agency and contract terms, and should be confirmed against the actual project documents.
Federal Davis-Bacon requirements
Projects that receive covered federal funding or assistance can carry Davis-Bacon and Related Acts requirements — including federal wage determinations and WH-347 or equivalent weekly reporting — regardless of state involvement.
Maryland's state prevailing wage law
Maryland's own prevailing wage law applies to certain state-funded or state-assisted public work contracts above a contract-value threshold set by the state, administered through the Maryland Department of Labor.
Combined state-and-federal projects
Some Maryland public projects carry both federal and state requirements at once. When that happens, the reporting workflow needs to satisfy the stricter or applicable rate and reporting requirement — not just one layer.
County and municipal requirements
Some Maryland counties and municipalities layer additional local prevailing-wage or reporting requirements on top of state and federal rules for locally funded work.
Before the first weekly report
What to confirm on a Maryland project
These are established at project setup for the specific contract — not carried over from a prior Maryland job, since the applicable layer can differ project to project.
- MD-01Which layer applies: federal, Maryland state, local, or a combination
- MD-02The correct wage determination or Maryland prevailing wage schedule for the project
- MD-03Whether the project's apprentices are registered with a Maryland-recognized apprenticeship program
- MD-04The reporting form or system required by the awarding agency (state forms differ from federal WH-347)
- MD-05The submission deadline and channel your prime contractor or agency expects
- MD-06Who at your company is the authorized signer for certification
Official sources to know
Confirm against the source, not a summary
The Maryland Department of Labor administers the state's prevailing wage program; the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division administers Davis-Bacon and related federal programs. The awarding agency for a specific contract is the authoritative source for which rules apply to that project.
Confirm which layer applies to your Maryland project.
A short readiness review helps identify whether your project is federal, state, local, or combined — and what that means for the weekly reporting workflow.
No sensitive employee or payroll information is needed in the public review.
Usually 2–4 minutes. Start with what you know.