OFCCP Sends Flood of Scheduling Letters

Written by Bill Osterndorf | Oct 2, 2023 2:41:21 PM

By: Bill Osterndorf and Joanna Colosimo

During the week of September 25, 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) sent a flood of scheduling letters to federal contractors and subcontractors. It is not clear exactly how many scheduling letters were sent. However, reports received from various employers and other sources suggest that a significant portion of the employers on the most recent Corporate Scheduling Announcement List (CSAL) from September 8, 2023, have already received a scheduling letter.

OFCCP has made no public announcement regarding the rationale for sending a significant number of scheduling letters during the week of September 25. There are two possible reasons that the agency may have sent this quantity of scheduling letters:

The week of September 25 represented the last week of federal fiscal year 2023 (FY 2023). The agency may have wanted to increase the total number of compliance reviews started in FY 2023. As of the end of the third quarter of FY 2023, OFCCP had opened 524 compliance reviews. As a comparison, the agency scheduled more than 1,000 compliance reviews each year during FY 2019, FY 2020, and FY 2021. (See data on OFCCP’s website in this regard.)
OFCCP may have been concerned about the pending government shutdown that was forecast for the start of FY 2024. While the shutdown situation was resolved on September 30, many government agencies and others expected a shutdown to start on October 1 with the beginning of federal fiscal year 2024.

A scheduling letter and the associated itemized listing formally open an affirmative action compliance review by OFCCP. Federal contractors and subcontractors receiving a scheduling letter have 30 days to provide OFCCP with all materials requested in the scheduling letter and itemized listing.

All employers receiving a scheduling letter during the week of September 25 have received the revised scheduling letter that become effective on August 24, 2023. The revised scheduling letter requests much more information than the scheduling letter OFCCP was previously using. Even with these changes, OFCCP has told federal contractors and subcontractors that they should be sure to submit all requested information within the 30 day timeframe found in the scheduling letter.

Federal contractors and subcontractors on the most recent CSAL should remain vigilant in determining whether a scheduling letter has been received. These scheduling letters would have arrived via email. OFCCP may have contacted employers by telephone about the scheduling letter and should be making additional efforts to contact employers about the scheduling letter prior to the 30 day submission date. However, federal contractors and subcontractors will be responsible for making timely submissions of data and other materials to OFCCP.

DCI recently provided a webinar regarding OFCCP’s revised scheduling letter. DCI clients can access the webinar recording in the Client Resource Portal.

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