OFCCP suggested a number of changes to the current scheduling letters in its Proposed Renewal of Information Collection Requirements, which was published in the Federal Register on April 12. Following the release of these proposed revisions, there was a public comment period, during which organizations such as The Institute for Workplace Equality urged the OFCCP to reconsider its requested changes. The Institute’s comments are summarized in a separate blog post.
Concurrently, OFCCP released an update to the proposed revisions on July 2, 2019, and this update rescinds many requirements that were in its previous proposition. OFCCP mostly re-adopted the current scheduling letters by predominantly maintaining the status quo with fewer new requirements. The below table displays an update on the OFCCP’s requested changes. Please refer to DCI’s previous posts summarizing OFCCP’s first draft of revisions (Blogposts: Proposed revisions to scheduling letters, and Institute’s Comments to OFCCP’s Scheduling Letters).
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Proposed Revisions dated April 12th, 2019 |
July 2 update |
DCI notes/comments |
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Item 4: Requirement to identify “three largest subcontractors based on contract value” (11246, 503, VEVRAA) |
Item 4: Requirement to identify “three most recently awarded subcontracts that have a total contract value of $150,000 or more” (11246, 503, VEVRAA) |
OFCCP added time factor (“most recent”) and contract value (>= $150,000) to the subcontractor disclosure requirement |
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Items 3-6: Requirement to submit utilization for specific race/sex subgroups and their intersectionality |
Requirement rescinded; retained 2016 scheduling letter requirements |
Contractors will be required to submit utilization for female and total minority (same as the 2016 scheduling letter) |
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Item 7: Request to submit results of most recent compensation analysis (11246) |
Requirement rescinded |
Contractors will NOT be required to submit their most recent compensation analysis. |
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Items 9, 12, 13, 17: Request to submit additional months of employment data if the contractors are 6 months or more into their AAP year |
Requirement rescinded |
Contractors will no longer be required to submit additional months of data, and the submission requirement will remain the same as the 2016 scheduling letter i.e. 12 or 18 months of data depending on when a contractor audit is scheduled. |
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Item 17c: Request to submit “pools” of promotions by sex and race/ethnicity (11246)
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Requirement rescinded; Added a note to clarify data requirements for promotions: “For internal promotions, provide the workforce representation of women and minorities in the job group from which the person(s) was promoted.” |
Contractors will only be required to submit workforce representation of women and minorities in the job groups from which the promotions happened. |
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Item 17d: No proposed changes in April 12 revisions to termination data request
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Removed the requirement to identify whether a termination was voluntary or involuntary |
Contractors will only be required to submit terminations by race/ethnicity and gender. |
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Compliance Check Item 1: Request to submit affirmative action plan |
OFCCP clarifies the request: Contractors will be required to submit the entire affirmative action plan including both the narrative and the statistical portions of an AAP |
This clarification is noted in the Supporting Statement released by OFCCP along with the recently proposed revisions to the scheduling letters. |
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Request 8, 11 (503 and VEVRAA focus review): Request for applicant and employee level employment activity with unique identifiers (names, IDs) that are consistent across databases |
No changes to April 12 proposed requirements |
Contractors will be required to submit applicant and employee level data including applicants, hires, promotions and terminations and indicating IWD and Veteran status for each record as available. This submission must also include unique identifiers that are consistent across databases. |
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Request 12 (503 and VEVRAA focus review): Request for employee level compensation data (503 and VEVRAA) |
No changes to April 12 proposed requirements |
Contractors will be required to submit employee level compensation data as part of the 503 and VEVRAA initial submission. |
Additional new items –
- For their EEO-1, contractors will now be required to provide only component 1 portion of their EEO-1 reports. This may be because OFCCP expects to receive employee level compensation data separately as part of the item 19 submission of the itemized listing.
- Contractors will have to submit - 1) employee level compensation data (same as the 2016 scheduling letter) as well as 2) “Documentation and policies related to compensation practices of the contractor should also be included in the submission, particularly those that explain the factors and reasoning used to determine compensation.”
- OFCCP added a new requirement (Items 8 and 12:) to the supply and service scheduling letter - ‘Documentation of all actions taken to comply with the audit and reporting system requirements described in 41 CFR § 60-741.44(h) and 41 CFR § 60-300.44(h)’ - to match the requirements in 503 and VEVRAA focused review letters
Public comments to the revised versions of the scheduling letters are due to OFCCP by July 29, 2019. The Institute of Workplace Equality plans to submit comments on these proposed revisions. We (DCI) will update you with a summary of the comments sent to OFCCP. Stay tuned!
By Vinaya Sakpal, M.P.S., Associate Consultant, and Lily Kerr, M.S., HR Analyst at DCI Consulting Group
