How are Federal Contractors Selected for an Affirmative Action Audit

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) published its FY 2024 Corporate Scheduling Announcement List (CSAL) for federal contractors and subcontractors on June 7, 2024. The published CSAL contains 500 compliance evaluations for federal contractors and subcontractors covering establishment-based reviews (including financial institutions, colleges and universities), Corporate Management Compliance Evaluation (CMCE) reviews, and Functional Affirmative Action Program (FAAP) reviews. OFCCP describes the CSAL as ‘a courtesy notification to contractors selected to undergo a compliance evaluation’. The actual audit begins when the contractor receives the scheduling letter, at which point the contractor has 30 days to submit their affirmative action plan (AAP) and supporting data to OFCCP.

FY 2024 CSAL Listing

The OFCCP ‘s selection methodology for the FY 2024 CSAL shifted slightly from last year. The FY 2024 CSAL focused on federal contractors with larger AAPs as compared to FY 2023’s methodology which focused on low-wage industries.

Per the OFCCP, the FY 2024 CSAL was developed by the following process:

• OFCCP downloaded a list of federal contractors with contracts valued at $50,000 or more from the USAspending database.
• The agency removed the following contracts from this list: Contracts awarded to federal, state, local, municipal, tribal, city, and foreign governments, school districts, and construction companies; Healthcare contracts that fall under OFCCP’s Final Rule: Affirmative Action and Nondiscrimination Obligations of Federal Contractors and Subcontractors: TRICARE Providers, 85 FR 39834 (July 2, 2020), and OFCCP’s Extending the Scheduling Moratorium for Veterans Affairs Health Benefits Program Providers Directive (DIR 2021-01) and contract records expiring on or before December 31, 2024. Contractors’ and subcontractors’ establishments with the highest employee counts in each OFCCP district office’s jurisdiction were prioritized. This was accomplished by matching company names and addresses from the district offices list to the 2021 EEO‐1 filings to obtain the names and addresses of federal contractors and subcontractors with the highest employee counts.
  
  For each parent company on this list with at least one contract of $50,000 anywhere in the organization, all U.S. establishments with at least 500 employees, establishments in U.S. territories with at least 150 employees, and FAAP units with at least 300 employees that meet the scheduling list’s other criteria below were included.
  
  Financial institutions in the CSAL list were developed by downloading FDIC-insured banks, addresses, and employee counts from the FDIC’s publicly available database.

OFCCP cross-referenced all eligible establishments and FAAP units with the agency’s case management system and removed those that were:

• Currently under review
• Currently in a monitoring period pursuant to a conciliation agreement
• Currently within the exemption period following a closed review
• Currently pending scheduling for review from a prior scheduling list
• Have an active separate facilities waiver.

The FY 2024 process culminated in developing the final criteria for the CSAL with:

• 5 CMCE reviews per OFCCP region, prioritizing those with the highest employee count in a district office’s jurisdiction
• Establishments with the highest employee count within each district office’s jurisdiction were selected for establishment reviews and did not include more than 2 establishments of any parent company
• 4 FAAP units per OFCCP region, prioritizing those with the highest employee count in each district office’s jurisdiction and did not select more than two FAAP units of any parent company
• 2 Financial institutions for review per OFCCP region, prioritizing those with the highest employee count in each region
• 1 College/university review per OFCCP region, prioritizing those with the highest employee count in each region.

The methodology used to develop the CSAL is publicly available, along with FAQs. If a contractor believes it has been incorrectly selected for evaluation, they are advised to contact the OFCCP Scheduling Mailbox at ofccp-dpo-scheduling@dol.gov for a prompt response.

If you find that your company does appear on this list, visit our audit page to learn how Berkshire can support you through this process.