The A-1-131 and the DIR eCPR XML from one weekly payroll, wage checks against your determination, and a California readiness check before you certify. We build the file in the DIR's eCPR format; you upload it in your own DIR account.
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If you're working California public works, you answer to the DIR. Their rules are separate from federal Davis-Bacon, and usually stricter. Here's what you need to know.
Active PWCR
You need Public Works Contractor Registration. $400/year, renew every July, no exceptions.
eCPR submission, at least monthly
XML upload through the DIR portal at least monthly, or more often if the awarding body's contract requires it (Labor Code 1771.4). Many contracts say weekly, so check yours.
Pay the DIR prevailing wage
Workers get the DIR's rate for their craft, county, and project type. It's usually higher than federal rates.
DAS-140 and DAS-142 forms
Send the DAS-140 (contract award information) to the apprenticeship committees for each craft, the DAS-142 when you request apprentices, and keep the apprentice-to-journeyman hour ratio your program sets (one to five unless it says otherwise).
Break out fringes
Health, pension, training: report them separately from the base hourly rate.
Skilled & Trained Workforce rules
Some CA projects need graduated apprentice percentages under AB 3018 and SB 54. Check your contract.
Everything you need for DIR eCPR reports without the spreadsheet headache.
Both are certified payroll. Different jurisdictions, different formats.
| Feature | Federal WH-347 | California eCPR |
|---|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | Federal (DOL) | California (DIR) |
| Format | PDF form | XML file |
| Submission | To contracting agency | DIR online portal |
| Wage rates | Davis-Bacon | California prevailing wage |
| Typical rates | Lower | Often higher |
| Registration required | SAM.gov | PWCR ($400/yr) |
| Apprentice forms | Optional | DAS-140 / DAS-142 required |
| Applies to | Federal projects over $2,000 | CA public works over $1,000 |
PWCR is the DIR registration every contractor and sub on a California public works job has to keep active. No PWCR, no bidding, no working, no certified payroll. Period.
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Start Free TrialIt's the eCPR you send to the California DIR on public works jobs, at least monthly and more often if your contract says so (Labor Code 1771.4). Proves your guys got paid the DIR's prevailing wage. Miss it and payments get held up.
eCPR stands for electronic Certified Payroll Record. It's California's digital version, submitted as an XML file through the DIR portal. You don't mail paper anymore on CA public works. The format tracks California's classification codes, fringes, and apprentice hours.
Yes. PWCR registration is required to bid or work public works in California. It's $400 a year and you have to renew every July. Without an active PWCR you can't submit certified payroll, and you shouldn't be on the job in the first place.
WH-347 is the feds' form for Davis-Bacon jobs. eCPR is California's state version, submitted electronically as XML to the DIR. CA prevailing wages tend to run higher than federal Davis-Bacon. If your project is both federal AND California public works, you file both.
No. We produce the eCPR XML file in the DIR's format, ready for you to upload in your own DIR account; nothing is submitted by us. The A-1-131 and the eCPR XML are on the Pro and Enterprise plans, and the free reports you start with include both.
DIR publishes CA prevailing wages by craft, county, and project type. You find them on the DIR website, and they reissue the sheets twice a year. Load the right rate sheet into CertifiedPayrollPro once and we check every week's payroll against it.
No. California's apprentice ratio (one apprentice hour to five journeyman hours unless your program sets another) and the DAS-140 and DAS-142 paperwork stay with you and the apprenticeship committee. What we do: mark apprentices on the payroll with their program and level, and treat an apprentice's rate as advisory in the wage check instead of flagging it as an underpayment.
DIR can hold your progress payments, hit you with penalties ($200+ per worker per day), and if it's bad enough, yank your PWCR. Our compliance checks catch problems before you submit so you don't end up there.
Next step
You know what California adds. The weekly federal payroll underneath it is the same everywhere, and it is the part most people are handed without training.
Go Pro for the A-1-131, filled from the same weekly payroll as your WH-347.
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California DIR Certified Payroll: eCPR Rules and Penalties
eCPR XML, PWCR registration, determinations, and fringe rules.
Prevailing Wage Calculator
Free tool: base rate, fringe, and overtime math done for you.
Fringe Benefit Calculator
California is strict on fringe credits; check yours.
Certified Payroll Software
Generate WH-347 and state reports in minutes.
Illinois Certified Payroll
IDOL transcript filing requirements.
New York Prevailing Wage
Article 8 and NYC Comptroller requirements.