OFCCP Stepping Up Efforts To Analyze Appropriate Data

By Danielle Yokoi, Analyst, Biddle Consulting Group

The Office of Federal Contract and Compliance Programs (OFCCP) recently conducted a webinar to update the Federal contracting community on their operations. During the update OFCCP announced they are conducting 4,000-5,000 desk audits per year. Approximately 10-15% of the audits that ended in conciliation agreement and 70% of the conciliation agreements resulted in some type of financial penalty. Federal contractors should be aware the OFCCP is concentrating on finding statistically significant differences between comparison groups (i.e. Males v. Females), particularly in the hiring process.

In regards to analyzing the hiring process, Biddle Consulting Group participated in an audit recently where OFCCP did something that we rarely see. They utilized the Final Rule on "Obligation To Solicit Race and Gender Data for Agency Enforcement Purposes" (Also known as the Definition of an Internet Applicant) to refine the data themselves.

With the revised definition of the Internet Applicant now in full effect, contractors are expected to apply the rule to their applicant data at all times, and especially in the event of an audit. During a recent audit, OFCCP found potential adverse impact in a job group where the selection rate of hires differed greatly from the applicant pool. OFCCP requested to come on-site and review applications for these positions. The compliance officer then contacted applicants directly in order to revise the data based on the four criteria from the definition of an internet applicant to the contractors’ applicant log. This resulted in a smaller, more appropriate applicant log. Be aware that not every region of the OFFCP may take this approach, and it should be mandatory to ensure your data is accurate before submittal to OFCCP during an audit, but it was nice to see a compliance officer making the effort to analyze the most appropriate data.