Contractor Concern Submitted to the OFCCP re: Audits

To BCG Blog community:

In the most recent OFCCP listening session, a caller presented a question to the OFCCP about the seemingly lengthy duration of audits. While OFCCP did not commit to anything in regards to changing how they run their desk audits, the concern from the contractor was one that was shared by many in the EEO community. The caller made several good points regarding the lack of information available regarding the status of open audits. Some of the concerns stated (and not stated) are:

[*]Audits frequently last as long as six months and even more in some cases years
[*]Oftentimes the contractor has no idea if/when they may receive a call from OFCCP regarding their audit. It is not uncommon for six months or a year to go buy with no contact at all
[*]Contractors are hesitant to call and ask about the status of an audit for fear of "opening a can of worms"
[*]Audits that stay open for a long period of time can often allow OFCCP to request updated data or even a new plan if enough time has passed. This does not seem fair to the contractor
[*]At times contractors do call OFCCP only to learn that their audit has been passed to another OFCCP office without notice
[*]Sometimes audits are closed without notice being given to the contractor, and the contractor learns of the closure through the Pre-Award list

The caller suggested that it would seem reasonable for the OFCCP to provide an administrative closure to an audit that is open for an extended period of time without any communication from OFCCP. There was also some discussion about how it would be useful if OFCCP had more detailed protocols surrounding how audits are handled.

It should be noted that OFCCP can provide plenty of reasons why audits stay open and why they have to ask a lot of questions because it is common for contractors to struggle to respond to detailed questions about their data and OFCCP often has to wait for data to be resubmitted and therefore reviewed in detail. However, I view this as a separate issue than desk audits where audit status is unknown for long periods of time.

Regardless, it seems reasonable that contractors should want to close a desk audit as soon as possible. In today's business world, EEO professionals and HR staff have many duties to carry out, and when OFCCP extends audit activity, it can be a significant strain on a contractor's resources.

BCG would very much like to hear more from the contractor community about their experiences with extended audits and about the level of interest there is in pushing for more transparency/accountability from OFCCP. We have posted this discussion in the BCGi Forum under EEO Regulations. If you have not joined the Forum community please go to this free site and select Register in the uppoer right portion of the screen. If you need any help please e-mail staff@biddle.com for assistance.

www.bcginstitute.org/forums

Chris Lindholm
Director
Biddle Consulting Group