As previously reported, Corporate Scheduling Announcement Letters (CSALs) were released in February, with a wave of scheduling letters from certain offices following in March. The methodology used to develop this scheduling list of establishments was released by OFCCP last week. Although the Federal Contractor Selection System (FCSS) has been in place for over a decade, the methodology of each list has never been made public. This release is another demonstration of the new OFCCP leadership’s stated desire to “increase transparency with contractors.”
The document notes that this is release 1 for FY2018, indicating that there may be more than one release this fiscal year. This is not guaranteed, but historically releases have happened twice in a year – during spring and fall of the calendar year. Also, don’t forget, there are other ways to be scheduled for a compliance review, including those initiated by a complaint or pre-award requirement. Also, as the methodology reminded us, OFCCP does not purge unscheduled cases from prior lists before releasing a new scheduling list, so the new list does not replace lists that were not exhausted, but rather builds upon them.
It should also be noted that the current methodology speaks to the development of the current list and does not address the methodology for past (or future) lists. The OFCCP was keen to remind us through a disclaimer that this disclosure is voluntary and they will revisit the decision to release the methodology each time it is revised. Although past methodologies were not released, we did have an idea of some information sources (e.g., EEO-1 reports) and factors used (e.g., industry, volume per parent company). Given the current methodology, we know for certain that this methodology includes factors not previously used; for example, the removal of establishments with a closed compliance review in the last 5 years or employee counts below 70 employees. Future methodologies may not include these factors either, or could build upon them; as long as the factors are administratively neutral (or inclusion or exclusion), they are fair game. We can only hope that OFCCP continues to share this information.
We encourage you to read the full methodology to understand the sources of information that OFCCP utilized, as well as the factors considered and overall process; however, if the description proves cumbersome, DCI has created a road map.
By Amanda Shapiro, M.S., Associate Principal Consultant at DCI Consulting Group