PWC-100 — is your public works project registered?

Every California public works project must be registered with the DIR by the awarding body — the agency letting the work — on form PWC-100. You don't file it, but you live with it: the registration is what mints the DIR project ID your certified payroll submits against. A sub who discovers at first-CPR time that the project was never registered has a compliance obligation with nowhere to send it — and the clock doesn't care whose paperwork was late.

What the PWC-100 is

• Filed by the awarding body (city, district, agency) when a public works contract is awarded — it registers the project: awarding body, project name and location, bid and award dates, the prime, and the funding.
• Distinct from your own contractor registration — that's an annual, per-contractor requirement covered in DIR registration & renewal. You need both sides in place: a registered contractor, on a registered project.

Verify it during setup — not at the first CPR

1. When the job books, search DIR's public Public Works Projects database (dir.ca.gov) by project name, awarding body, or county.
2. Confirm the listing matches your contract — right awarding body, right location — and record the DIR project ID on the project in STrOp with the rest of the compliance setup.
3. Can't find it? Ask the GC or awarding body for the DIR project number in writing, before payroll starts accruing. "It's being filed" is a fine answer with a date on it.

If it's missing

• The awarding body is late, not you — but your CPRs still can't be submitted to the DIR portal without the project ID. Escalate through the prime in writing, keep generating and retaining your weekly CPRs, and submit the backlog the day the registration lands.
• Don't sit on it silently. The paper trail showing you asked early is what separates "their filing was late" from "your payroll reporting was."

Common mistakes

• Assuming a government client means the paperwork happened. Small awarding bodies miss their own filings. Verify; don't infer.
• Confusing the two registrations. Your annual DIR registration being current does nothing for an unregistered project — and vice versa.
• Discovering it in week one of payroll. This check costs five minutes at setup. At first CPR it costs a scramble with your name on the delay.

See also

• DIR registration & renewal — California public works
• Certified payroll — weekly cadence and DIR submission
• Import a DIR wage determination