OFCCP Releases New Supply & Service Scheduling List of 500 Establishments

As we reported last week, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs published a new Corporate Scheduling Announcement List (CSAL) for supply & service contractors on Friday.

The new scheduling list includes 500 federal contractor and subcontractor establishments. Of the 500 audits, 24 are Corporate Management Compliance Evaluations (CMCEs) and 24 are Functional Affirmative Action Program (FAAP) reviews - both double the number of each type of review from the FY2022 scheduling list. The list does not contain any universities or colleges.

As widely anticipated, the list is comprised of federal contractors and subcontractors that “did not complete their mandatory annual certification in the OFCCP Contractor Portal as of December 1, 2022.” However, we are already aware of companies who were selected for review who did certify compliance in the Contractor Portal on a timely basis.

Continuing a Trump-era policy, OFCCP published the methodology it used to develop the new scheduling list. According to the agency, OFCCP created the list by first identifying federal contracts and subcontracts valued at over $50,000 from the USAspending database, removing any contracts expiring on or before March 31, 2023, as well as TriCare and Veterans Affairs Health Benefits Program Provider contracts, among others.

The agency only scheduled establishments with at least 200 employees, as reported on a company’s 2020 EEO-1 filings; for CMCE reviews, the minimum employee count was 1000 employees. The agency then removed “contractors and subcontractors that certified in the OFCCP Contractor Portal.” Next, OFCPC cross-referenced the list and removed those (1) currently under review, (2) under monitoring pursuant to a conciliation agreement or within the exemption period after the close of monitoring, (3) pending review form a prior scheduling list, and (4) those with a separate facilities waiver. OFCCP set a limit of four compliance reviews per parent company, not counting establishments on earlier lists. Following an approach from the last scheduling list, companies with two or more reviews were assigned to the same OFCCP region “so that both the agency and the contractor can engage in these reviews in a coordinated manner.”

OFCCP also released frequently asked questions. If a contractor believes it should not be selected for evaluation, it should send an email to the OFCCP Scheduling Mailbox at ofccp-dpo-scheduling@dol.gov.

The agency did not say when it would begin using this new scheduling list, although it did note establishments on prior scheduling lists were not purged and would still be scheduled. Some early reports suggested that OFCCP would not begin scheduling from this new list until the proposed changes to the scheduling letter were finalized, but we don’t believe those reports are accurate since it often takes several months, if not years, for OMB to approve such changes.

Contractors should review the list carefully to see if any of their establishments are included. Next, if the contractor certified compliance in the OFCCP Contractor Portal, the contractor should request administrative closure of the review. Most importantly, any contractors on the list should take immediate steps to begin to prepare, including by timely preparing annual and update AAPs, reviewing the pay data to be submitted and gathering other requested items. Waiting for the Scheduling Letter to arrive wastes valuable time contractors can use to be better prepared for their upcoming audit.

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.