On Monday this week, OFCCP announced user-friendly updates to the National Pre-Award Registry and a new VEVRAA Hiring Benchmark Database.  Both tools appear to make information access easier for federal contractors, as well as individuals with vision challenges.

The Registry is a useful tool for contractors because it identifies contractor AAP locations that have successfully completed a compliance evaluation and are subject to the Agency’s 24-month audit grace period.  The Registry data is now available at the OFCCP website in Excel® format and, thus, searchable.

OFCCP’s Registry page also includes a Pre-Award Process Guide that federal agency contracting officers use when seeking to contract with a specific supply or service vendor.  This guide may be helpful to contractors who want to see what contracting officers must do before awarding your company a contract.

OFCCP has also launched a VEVRAA benchmark page that tells us what the national benchmark is currently (5.7%) and when the updated benchmark became effective (March 31, 2020).  For those contractors that choose to customize their benchmark, the page provides guidance on how to set your own benchmark in a compliant fashion, including a link to State-specific veteran availability data.

Lastly, the Agency has improved accessibility to these tools for individuals with vision impairments.

As anticipated OFCCP has started scheduling VEVRAA Focused Reviews, the Agency announced today via e-mail.

The announcement highlighted a number of VEVRAA resources available for contractors, including:

OFCCP encourages contractors to contact them directly with questions either by calling OFCCP’s toll-free helpline at 1-800-397-6251 (TTY 1-877-889-5627) or visiting their website to submit a question.

As an aside, and by way of reminder . . . contractors should start using the new Section 503 Disability Self-Id form as of today.

In the next chapter of the EEO pay data collection story, the EEOC announced today it has contracted with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT) to

conduct an independent assessment of the quality and utility of the EEO-1 Component 2 data for FY 2017 and 2018.

This is not an unexpected move and in large part, anticipated, especially after remarks by Commissioner Victoria Lipnic and others after the Agency collected the data as required by court order last year.

In its announcement, the Agency indicated the analysis of the data commenced July 1 and is scheduled to last through calendar year 2021.

EEOC Chair Janet Dhillon believes the study will

not only answer critical questions about the data that was collected, but will give the Commission valuable information as we consider the future of pay data collection.

CNSTAT is no stranger to evaluating pay data reporting as it assessed methods for measuring and collecting pay information for the Agency in 2012 and issued a final report, Collecting Compensation Data from Employers, which has been an insightful reference and guide-book since its issuance.

We look forward to learning the results of CNSTAT’s current assessment.

In another installment of the NILG’s 2020 Virtual Conference Webinar Series, OFCCP’s National Policy team presented updates on the Agency’s directives, regulatory activity, policies and procedure developments.

Director of Policy and Program Development, Tina Williams confirmed “the agency has been busy” and walked attendees through the policy developments and upcoming Agency initiatives.  Highlights of the presentation included:

  1. Announcement that OFCCP will not be extending the COVID-19 National Interest Exemption.  The Agency initiated the exemption in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  2.  Update that the Agency is in the process of developing Religious Exemption and Resolution Procedures final rules.  The recently final rule addressing TRICARE providers was also discussed.
  3. Discussion of focused reviews, including the Agency’s completed Section 503 focused reviews, upcoming VEVRAA reviews and development of promotion and religious accommodation focused reviews.  Ms. Williams explained OFCCP is in the process of developing landing pages for these latter types of focused reviews and acknowledged the promotion reviews “will be slightly tricky.”
  4. Acting Deputy Director of Policy, Christopher Seely provided a recap of the Directives OFCCP released in FY 2020
  5. OFCCP intends to continue its Town Hall programs with the introduction of virtual Town Halls on “yet to be determined topics” by the end of the calendar year
  6. The Agency is working on new recognition programs and initiatives, including Closure Letters with Distinction.
  7. Ms. Williams echoed Director Leen’s comments from the webseries Opening Remarks regarding support for the Indian and Native American Employment Rights Program (INAERP)
  8. The Agency is also working on finalizing scheduling letters and audit procedures for construction contractors.
  9. As a final point, the presentation touched on the Agency’s work on  publishing additional technical assistance guides, including a guide for Supply & Service contractors.

To conclude the webinar, Ombusman Marcus Stergio presented on the OFCCP’s Ombuds Service.  To date, the Ombuds Service has handled 85 referrals and is looking forward to handling more.

The NILG’s 2020 Virtual Conference continues in the coming weeks and we will be sure to keep you updated along the way.

During the opening remarks of the 2020 NILG Annual Conference – this year being held virtually as the NILG 2020 Webinar Series – OFCCP Director Craig Leen announced the Agency will initiate VEVRAA Focused Reviews in as little as two weeks.  Prefacing that the Agency will be giving consideration for the COVID-19 pandemic, Director Leen announced OFCCP will soon start sending out scheduling letters to those companies previously identified by the Agency in the VEVRAA Focused Review supplemental scheduling list.  As we previously reported, OFCCP recently received approval of its VEVRAA Focused Review Scheduling Letter.

As a reminder, OFCCP has published a number of Technical Assistance resources on its VEVRAA landing page to assist contractors prepare for these reviews.  During his remarks, Director Leen confirmed the VEVRAA Focused Reviews will include evaluation of contractors’ treatment of veteran spouses.  Additionally, according to OFCCP’s FAQs, the Agency will be conducting virtual on-site reviews as part of the VEVRAA Focused Review process.

We will continue to monitor this development and provide an update with any new information.

OFCCP has finalized its rule making to officially confirm the Agency does not, and should not, exert authority over TRICARE providers.  OFCCP first took this position in a proposed rule making in November 2019.  In the final rule, OFCCP concluded it does not have jurisdiction over healthcare providers based solely on TRICARE provider network agreements.  In addition, OFCCP instituted a national interest exemption for TRICARE providers.  This rule finally provides legal certainty and formal regulatory guidance to organizations that provide TRICARE services.

With that said, it is critical to understand that both the proposed and final rule make it clear that

OFCCP will retain authority over a health care provider participating in such a network arrangement if the health care provider holds a separate covered Federal contract or subcontract.

Notably, OFCCP’s Final Rule does not affect its jurisdiction over healthcare providers participating in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), or Veterans Administration health benefit provider (VAHBP) agreements.  Thus, while the Final Rule does not affect jurisdiction in these areas, OFCCP states in the Final Rule that it

will consider additional subregulatory guidance as necessary to provide certainty and clarity

to the status of FEHBP and VAHBP providers.

For now, at least, this story seems to have finally reached a conclusion.

So, it has begun.  The confirmation process for now OFCCP Director Craig Leen‘s move out of OFCCP and into the Inspector General of Office of Personnel Management initiated with a hearing before the full committee of the Department of Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs.  In an unexpected turn of events, Director Leen was nominated by President Donald Trump for the Inspector General position earlier this year.

While the confirmation process will need to play out, and the timing is still unknown, this is certainly the first step towards Director Leen’s exit from OFCCP.

There has been no formal announcement of a potential replacement or identification of who might assume an Acting Director role after Director Leen leaves the agency.

Stay tuned for future developments.

OFCCP announced today it has received approval of a modified Self-Identification form for individuals with disabilities.  One of the biggest changes is the form is now one page, instead of two.

OFCCP requested approval of the modified form from Office of Management and Budget (OMB) last year.

With this approval, OFCCP is giving contractors until August 4, 2020 to implement use of the new form in its applicant tracking and employee processes. The Agency has posted an update to their Frequently Asked Questions to assist with implementation.

As a reminder, contractors are required to solicit the voluntary self-identification of disability (and veteran) status of individuals at the application AND post-offer stages.  Employers must also re-survey their incumbent populations at least once every 5 years.

EEOC has announced there will be no EEO-1 reporting obligation in 2020.

In a press release, EEOC acknowledged it

will delay the anticipated opening of the 2019 EEO-1 Component 1 data collection and the 2020 EEO-3 and EEO-5 data collections because of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health emergency.

The announcement stated that

[p]ending approval from the Office of Management and Budget under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) the EEOC would expect to begin collecting the 2019 and 2020 EEO-1 Component 1 in March 2021 and will notify filers of the precise date the surveys will open as soon as it is available.

Stay tuned for additional updates.

As anticipated, but with little fanfare, OFCCP has published a VEVRAA Focused Review landing page.  Much like the page it created for Section 503 Individuals with Disabilities Focused Reviews, the Agency’s veterans technical assistance page provides FAQs and Best Practices.

With the recent approval of the VEVRAA Scheduling Letter and the release of this technical assistance we can likely anticipate OFCCP will in the near future start initiating the VEVRAA Focused Reviews from the November 2019 CSAL list.  Although the Agency continues to work through the March 2019 CSAL, including Section 503 focused reviews, it is now poised to begin sending VEVRAA focused review scheduling letters.

Important things to note from the FAQs:

  • Contrary to information we had previously heard, all VEVRAA focused reviews on the supplemental scheduling list issued in November 2019 will include an on-site review. The FAQ notes OFCCP may or may not retain this requirement for future scheduling lists.
  • VEVRAA focused reviews will take place at contractors’ corporate headquarters and/or establishment locations.

As a reminder, OFCCP recently re-evaluated the veteran hiring benchmark. A contractor’s work towards this benchmark will undoubtedly be a part of the VEVRAA Focused reviews, as will the company’s compliance with the Agency’s veteran spouse directive.

We will continue to monitor the landing page and provide information as new updates are posted.