Lumber Acquires Pivla, Launches Agentic Compliance Platform
New combined platform introduces construction’s first AI-powered funding agent – to improve project profitability and minimize penalties
%201.webp)
Lumber, the AI-powered construction workforce management platform, today announced the acquisition of Pivla, an AI company built for the construction industry that specializes in prevailing wage and apprenticeship (PW&A) compliance, tax credit optimization, and regulatory automation.
This strategic acquisition marks Lumber’s entry into agentic compliance – a new category of AI-driven systems that not only ensures regulatory adherence but also actively uses labor data to surface funding opportunities that improve project profitability.
At the center of this launch is Lumber's funding agent - this is agentic AI built into payroll and workforce workflows that identifies which federal and state incentive programs a company qualifies for on each eligible project and what's needed to claim them. Because qualifying for funding depends on accurate labor data, it continuously analyzes prevailing wage rates, apprenticeship utilization, fringe contributions, and certified payroll data.
This launch comes as federally funded construction in the United States is scaling at an unprecedented rate. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), the CHIPS and Science Act, and the federal AI Action Plan have collectively committed over $500 billion to construction — from semiconductor fabs and energy infrastructure to the accelerating wave of data centers driven by federal permitting fast-tracks and DOE financing. Nearly all of this funding is gated by Davis-Bacon prevailing wage and registered apprenticeship (PW&A) requirements.
Contractors who meet these requirements unlock dramatically higher incentives. Those who don’t leave money on the table – or worse, face clawbacks and penalties. Yet, most contractors still manage compliance through spreadsheets and disconnected tools, making it nearly impossible to connect payroll data to incentive eligibility in real time. Lumber’s funding agent closes that gap.
By combining Pivla’s compliance intelligence engine with Lumber’s payroll and workforce data, the platform automatically:
- Identifies eligible incentives at the pre-bid stage so contractors can factor funding into their price, submit more competitive bids, and win more work without sacrificing margin
- Maps active projects to eligible federally funded programs along with IRA, IIJA, and CHIPS Act incentive programs in real time
- Tracks prevailing wage and apprenticeship compliance status against program-specific thresholds
- Flags gaps in apprenticeship ratios, fringe contributions, or wage determinations before they become audit findings or disqualification events
- Generates audit-ready documentation tied directly to incentive applications
- Surfaces net-new funding opportunities by analyzing labor data patterns across a company’s project portfolio
The platform serves owners, developers, and contractors across all major federally funded construction sectors, including:
Data Center Construction – where the federal AI Action Plan’s push for accelerated permitting, federal land leases, and DOE (Department of Energy)-financed energy infrastructure is triggering Davis-Bacon requirements on a growing wave of mission-critical builds
Energy Infrastructure (Solar, Wind, Battery Storage) – where IRA §48E and §45Y credits offer a 5x multiplier for contractors who meet prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements
Semiconductor and Advanced Manufacturing – where the $52.7 billion CHIPS Act requires Davis-Bacon compliance and detailed workforce plans on mega-project builds
Highway, Bridge, Water, and Grid Infrastructure – where over $400 billion in IIJA funding carries mandatory Davis-Bacon requirements across all 50 states
Broadband and Telecom – where the $42.5 billion BEAD program is bringing thousands of contractors under Davis-Bacon prevailing wage requirements for the first time
Commercial Buildings and Energy Retrofits – where IRA §179D deductions of up to $5.94 per square foot require prevailing wage compliance to claim the full amount
Industrial/Power Facilities – where §45Q credits of up to $85 per ton are gated by prevailing wage and apprenticeship compliance
Federal Public Works & Government Facilities – where billions in annual spend through GSA, VA, DOD, USACE, FEMA, and HUD creates a massive pipeline of Davis-Bacon-covered work for GCs and subs alike, with prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements flowing down to every subcontractor tier
“We built Lumber to be the operating system for construction workforce management. With Pivla, we’re adding an intelligence layer that turns Davis-Bacon compliance into a profit center for every federally funded project. Our funding agent doesn’t just tell you whether you’re compliant – it tells you how much money that compliance is worth and how to capture it. That’s a fundamentally new capability for this industry,” said Shreesha Ramdas, CEO and Co-Founder of Lumber.
For an industry where margins run thin and penalties for non-compliance can erase entire project profits, this platform is the difference between compliance as a cost and compliance as a competitive advantage.
See the Funding Agent in Action
Join our live webinar on June 17 to discover how contractors can unlock $500B+ in federal funding opportunities with Lumber’s Funding Agent.
Save your seat