By Haley Fisk
The deadline to certify compliance with the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program’s (OFCCP) affirmative action program requirements at OFCCP’s Contractor Portal was June 30, 2022. OFCCP commended the federal contractors and subcontractors that registered and certified their AAP compliance by the deadline.
As was indicated in DCI’s last blog, ‘Lessons learned from OFCCP’s Contractor Portal Initiative’, some contractors faced technical issues during the certification process that delayed their ability to certify prior to the June 30 deadline. Many of these technical issues were brought to the attention of OFCCP’s technical help desk. However, some contractors who requested assistance did not receive responses in time to register and certify compliance at the Contractor Portal.
OFCCP previously stated that existing contractors that certified after the June 30 deadline were more likely to appear on OFCCP’s audit scheduling list. On July 28, 2022, OFCCP released an announcement that the agency will consider contractors who have not completed certification or registration due to a pending request for technical assistance to have met the deadline. This should mean these contractors will be less likely to appear on an upcoming scheduling list than contractors that failed to attempt to certify. Contractors with pending assistance requests should expect their registration and/or certification needs to be met as the Contractor Portal Technical Help Desk continues to address pending help desk tickets. Contractors should maintain documentation of their correspondence with the Contractor Portal technical help desk.
The Contractor Portal is still open and OFCCP has stated that contractors that have not registered and certified do so as soon as possible. The OFCCP Contractor Portal technical help desk is still open and available to provide assistance where needed.
OFCCP’s July 28 announcement states that contractors remaining uncertified by September 1, 2022 will appear on a list sent to federal agency contracting officers. Failure to certify may result in the inability to acquire new federal contracts.
