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Spotlight PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 The EU e-invoicing mandate is here — France Sept 2026, Belgium Jan 2026, Germany 2025.

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X12 287 — Wage Determination

The 287 transmits a wage determination — hourly rate and fringe benefits per classification for a US federal contract — from the Department of Labor to a contractor.

Purpose

The 287 documents Davis-Bacon Act and Service Contract Act (SCA) requirements: minimum hourly rate per job classification, fringe benefits, working conditions, exceptions. It is issued by the DOL Wage and Hour Division to federal contractors.

It is a mandatory contractual input before a contractor bids on a federal construction or services contract. Acknowledged by 997. Wage determinations are publicly available on sam.gov / beta.SAM.

Envelope structure

The 287 travels within the three X12 envelope levels (ISA/IEA, GS/GE with functional group WD, and ST/SE). Didactic example in release 004010:

x12 example-287.x12 
ISA*00*          *00*          *ZZ*DOLWHD        *ZZ*FEDCONTRACTOR *260515*1700*U*00401*000000287*0*P*>~
GS*WD*DOLWHD*FEDCONTRACTOR*20260515*1700*1*X*004010~
ST*287*0001~
BGN*00*WD-TX-2026-0042*20260515~
N1*RA*US DEPT OF LABOR WHD*24*EIN-DOL~
REF*ZZ*ACT-DAVIS-BACON~
REF*ZZ*WD-NUMBER-TX20260042~
DTM*090*20260601~
LX*1~
NTE*ZZ*CLASSIFICATION-CARPENTER~
AMT*ZZ*38.50~
AMT*FB*12.20~
SE*10*0001~
GE*1*1~
IEA*1*000000287~

Common segments

  • Header — ST, BGN.
  • DOL — N1*RA (Reporting Agency).
  • Act — REF*ZZ (Davis-Bacon, SCA), REF*ZZ (wage determination number).
  • Effective date — DTM*090.
  • Classifications — repeated LX loop: NTE (job class), AMT*ZZ (base wage), AMT*FB (fringe benefit), AMT*ZZ (other).
  • Summary — SE.

Common pitfalls

  • Strict effective date: a wage determination is bound to a date; applying a prior WD to a current project violates Davis-Bacon and exposes to back wages.
  • Geographic specificity: WDs are per county/MSA; importing a national WD instead of the local one causes underpayment.
  • Conformance requests: for a classification missing from the WD, a conformance request is required — do not invent a rate by interpolation.

Documentation

The code 287 and the name Wage Determination are public and listed on x12.org/products/transaction-sets. The complete structure of loops, qualifiers and code lists is distributed by DISA via the proprietary Implementation Guides (TR3). ediverse.io covers only public concepts, the envelope and didactic examples.