The Industry Liaison Group’s National Conference was held August 1-4th in San Antonio, Texas. This conference brings together federal contractors, Office of Federal Contract Compliance (OFCCP), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and others to support affirmative action and equal opportunity compliance. Additionally, the conference had a strong government presence, including Acting Director Thomas Dowd, and Acting Chair of the EEOC, Victoria Lipnic. All six OFCCP Regional Directors were also in attendance, which was a demonstration of a renewed partnership with the contractor community.
To kick off the conference, Thomas Dowd gave a refreshing keynote address with an overall optimistic and constructive attitude. During his speech, Mr. Dowd proposed two innovative action items that fall in line with the agency’s effort to be more transparent and collaborative:
- The OFCCP plans to offer compliance assistance seminars/trainings for contractors. Dowd pitched a concept to incentivize contractors to attend: upon completion of the training, the contractor will not be scheduled for compliance evaluation for 2-3 years.
- Contractors with audits at multiple locations may have the opportunity to provide the OFCCP with data for the entire company. Using a statistical sample, OFCCP will review and determine if there are statistical indicators. If there are no concerns, the entire company could be removed from the federal contractor selection system (FCSS) for 2 years.
These ideas are not finalized policy changes, but ideas Dowd outlined to the contractor community as evidence of increasing partnership and transparency.
DCI will share updates on these proposed programs as soon as they are officially announced.
DCI Consulting Group staff attended many sessions of interest, and David Cohen and Dr. Eric Dunleavy presented on topics related to OFCCP enforcement, big data, and pay equity. DCI also sent out live video updates on Day 1 and Day 2 summarizing surprising news and events.
By Rachel Monroe, HR Analyst; Macy Cheeks, HR Analyst; and Yesenia Avila, Consultant, at DCI Consulting Group
