American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Audits

By Mike Bostick

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), companies that receive bailout money from the government are now subject to the same guidelines as federal contractors, which could make them subject to an evaluation of their EEO activities to ensure compliance. A large portion of the ARRA funding is going to the construction industry for new construction projects. Please visit www.recovery.gov for more information. Construction companies face the same procedures as non-construction companies. A certified letter is sent to the company informing them of the compliance evaluation in regards to having received American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for a particular project.

Traditionally, onsite audits are only conducted if OFCCP suspects further investigation is necessary based on their preliminary review of a federal contractors’ AAP; onsite audits are also conducted on every 50th compliance evaluation. Active Case Management (ACM), which is a procedure used by the OFCCP to determine if there is enough cause to warrant the continuation of the audit, does not apply to ARRA funded companies under an audit. Companies who receive bailout money will be subject to a full compliance evaluation that will include an onsite visit by a compliance officer. Companies are required to present the compliance officer (CO) with a sufficient working area along with an authorized official that is available to answer any questions or to discuss company policies. The ARRA construction letter also includes an attachment labeled Documentation of Contractor’s Compliance Efforts. This is a list of all the records and information that will need to be available for the CO upon request.

Please see the following link for a sample construction audit letter: http://www.dol.gov/esa/ofccp/arra_data/arra_construction_letter.htm. Also available are the frequently asked questions about ARRA, ACM, and other audit procedures: http://www.dol.gov/esa/ofccp/arra_data/arra_faqs.htm.