Published date: 01/22/2026
Aliecia Taormina, CCEP, MCA has over 20 years of experience in construction (including a role as a Senior Compliance Manager of a Fortune 300 contractor), accumulating extensive prevailing wage and Davis-Bacon knowledge over her career.
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Please Note: For January’s installment of ‘Ask the Expert’, we’re taking a moment to address a few of the most common software-related questions we’ve been asked.
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Question
Hi Aliecia, I’ve always wondered why LCPtracker Pro doesn’t automatically calculate certain fields on certified payroll reports…. For example, after I enter the wage rates and hours worked, why isn’t something like total pay calculated automatically?
Answer: This might just be THE most common question we get at LCPtracker Pro, and understandably so. The shortest answer possible is this: LCPtracker Pro is designed to help you identify mistakes, and it cannot do that adequately if it is performing calculations that may or may not have been done correctly in the first place when a company initially paid its employees.
There is a very important distinction that needs to be made here. LCPtracker Pro is not a payroll provider. It is a compliance platform. When used as intended, an employee should have already been paid by a contractor well before the data even gets entered onto a certified payroll report. If the system were to make a calculation like suggested, we would all need to operate under the assumption that everything was done correctly when the payroll was initially distributed. This could potentially create situations where a certified payroll report makes it appear as if a contractor is compliant when, in actuality, it is not.
For additional context, LCPtracker Pro leaves some CPR fields for contractors to calculate because compliance requirements vary significantly across jurisdictions. Many fields require employer-specific calculations or human judgment, and the platform is designed to validate payroll data, not assume. This approach safeguards accuracy, minimizes liability, and ensures agencies and prime contractors receive compliant, contractor-verified information.
Question
If our company processes payroll bi‑weekly, what’s the best way to submit in LCPtracker Pro, since it tracks certified payroll reports by week?
Answer: LCPtracker Pro is designed to collect weekly Certified Payroll Reports (CPRs) because the federal Davis-Bacon Act regulations require employees to be paid on a weekly basis. If your company operates on a bi-weekly payroll schedule, you would need to separate each week according to the payroll system’s data and enter hours, classifications, and pay details into two weekly CPRs in the system.
Please note, however, that if you are working on a federal project, all contractors are required to use a weekly payroll, which means that if you are following Davis-Bacon regulation correctly, this process splitting your payroll up into two reports would be unnecessary.
Question
Does LCPtracker support weighted‑average overtime calculations, and how can users ensure compliance when using it?
Answer: Great question! The answer is yes, LCPtracker Pro supports reporting weighted-average overtime, but it does not calculate the blended rate for you. Contractors must compute the correct FLSA/state required blended OT rate in their payroll system first, then enter that rate into each applicable classification line. The system accepts the blended OT rate, and it will be the contractor’s responsibility to validate that it is legally accurate and internally consistent. If there are any validations that a blended rate triggers, the contractor will be required to get in touch with the database administrator (an individual employed by the project owner or prime contractor) to allow these to get pushed through.
Please note that LCPtracker does not provide guidance or opinions on how contractors should calculate or apply their overtime methodology. For questions regarding overtime rules or pay practices, contractors should consult their company’s legal and payroll professionals.
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Have a burning question about labor compliance that you’ve been eager to ask? Submit it anonymously to our live submission form and you might just see it answered in a future entry of our monthly Ask the Expert series! You can also check out our past entries here.
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These materials are being issued with the understanding that LCPtracker is not engaged in rendering legal or other professional services and is providing these for informational purposes only. If legal, accounting, or tax expert assistance is required, the services of a competent legal, accounting or tax professional should be sought.
