Employer Update: Yesterday, March 2, 2021, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) announced that it has revised its Fiscal Year 2020 Supply and Service Scheduling List by removing all establishments that were previously selected to receive a focused review and/or compliance check. The revisions drastically reduce the number of establishments that will be evaluated pursuant to the 2020 Corporate Scheduling Announcement List (CSAL) from 2,250 to only 500 establishments. The evaluations that the OFCCP will proceed with include establishment-based compliance reviews, Corporate Management Compliance Evaluation (CMCE) reviews, Functional Affirmative Action Program (FAAP) reviews and university compliance reviews.
By way of background, the OFCCP publishes the CSAL a minimum of 45 days before it begins to issue the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)-approved Scheduling Letter to neutrally selected establishments on the list. The establishment’s eventual receipt of the Scheduling Letter begins the compliance evaluation process, and covered contractors then have 30 days to submit to OFCCP their Affirmative Action Programs (AAPs) and records responsive to the itemized listing included as part of the Scheduling Letter. By releasing the CSAL through its website, OFCCP provides contractors with a period of time to prepare for their compliance evaluation and seek guidance from legal counsel or review OFCCP’s compliance assistance offerings on its website before the clock starts ticking upon receipt of the Scheduling Letter.
The amended CSAL and amended methodology have been posted on the OFCCP’s website. The OFCCP has also released an amended FAQs page regarding the 2020 Supply and Service CSAL and its recent revisions. In the FAQ, the OFCCP clarifies that compliance checks and focused reviews that are presently in progress from prior lists will continue as scheduled for those establishments. Likewise, Construction Compliance Checks will proceed as planned with no changes.
Employers’ Bottom Line: Covered contractors should review the updated CSAL to confirm whether their establishment is still slated for audit pursuant to the 2020 Supply and Service CSAL, and consider reviewing the FAQs page for additional information. If your establishment is one of the remaining 500 selected for an evaluation, we recommend proactively reviewing your establishment’s current AAPs, related compliance efforts, and Item 19 compensation data in order to prepare for the compliance review and reduce the risk of any OFCCP findings of noncompliance. With the vast reduction in the number of reviews on the updated September 2020 CSAL, we anticipate the OFCCP may issue a 2021 CSAL in the near future.
If you have any questions regarding this Alert, please contact the authors, Nancy Van der Veer Holt, partner in our D.C. office at nholt@fordharrison.com, or Cymoril M. White, associate in our Tampa Area office at cwhite@fordharrison.com. Of course, you can also contact the FordHarrison attorney with whom you usually work.