On February 13, 2019, OFCCP announced a new Directive establishing the Voluntary Enterprise-wide Review Program (VERP). The stated purpose of the VERP Directive establishes a completely voluntary compliance program for high‐performing federal contractors. It is part of a wider effort from OFCCP to provide federal contractors with more resources to be able to comply with equal employment opportunity laws corporate-wide.
VERP is an alternative to OFCCP’s establishment-based evaluations for contractors who want to be recognized for their corporate-wide inclusion and compliance programs. OFCCP plans on removing accepted participants from the process to schedule establishment-based compliance evaluations for up to 5 years. To actually participate in the program, contractors must demonstrate they meet basic OFCCP compliance standards, but also a commitment to EEO corporate-wide. There will be two tiers of the program: the top-tier will be reserved for top-performing contractors, and the second tier will be reserved for compliant contractors.
OFCCP will begin accepting applications in fiscal year 2020, and part of the application process will include a compliance review of the contractor’s headquarters location and a subset of establishments. More information on the application process will be released later this year.
To read more about the VERP directive, click here.
By DCI Consulting Group
