FY 2013
The request for OFCCP is $106,415,000 and 755 FTE (full-time employees) to focus on three strategies:Strategy One:
Ensuring quality evaluations by compliance officers (while increasing the overall number of evaluations)- At this funding level, OFCCP will complete 4,530 thorough compliance evaluations - a 12 percent increase over FY 2012 levels.
- To increase the thoroughness and breadth of its investigative efforts, OFCCP continues to use its Active Case Enforcement (ACE) system by requiring OFCCP compliance officers to conduct thorough desk audits of all cases, increase onsite activity, and increase compliance evaluations focused specifically on Sections 503 and VEVRAA compliance. To help address the high level of unemployment among the nation’s veterans and individuals with disabilities, OFCCP will devote considerable resources to ensure that contractors recruit, hire, and retain veterans and individuals with disabilities.
- In 2013, OFCCP anticipates continuing the effort to combat pay discrimination through increasing the number and quality of its investigations of contractor pay practices. Narrowing the persistent pay gap between men and women is a key priority for OFCCP and reflects its commitment to the work of the President’s National Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force. OFCCP will continue to refine its enforcement practices by implementing the guidance and protocols currently under development that are expected to launch in FY 2012, as well as by continuing the agency’s significant training program for compliance officers in compensation enforcement.
- Reflecting OFCCP’s commitment to enforcing the rights of women and under-represented groups in the construction trades, OFCCP will monitor gender, racial and ethnicity-based discrimination in the construction industry. In FY 2013, OFCCP will conduct 450 construction reviews, with particular enforcement efforts directed toward Mega Projects - an 11 percent increase over FY 2012 levels. Mega Projects are defined as federal or federally-assisted construction projects that last longer than one year, and are likely to have a major employment or economic impact on a community.
Strategy Two:
Increasing the technical proficiency of OFCCP staff- Although OFCCP does not currently possess empirical evidence showing the causal relationship between their proposed strategies and their outcome goals, the agency has begun tracking the quality of its case audits to indicate whether investigations are timely completed and whether quality audit deficiencies decrease over time.
- …OFCCP will focus on identifying deficiencies found in routine quality audits of closed cases as major or technical. This will allow the agency to better inform and prioritize training needs to improve the quality and consistency of compliance evaluations. OFCCP is proposing six continuing education and skills development training courses during FY 2013.
- Eight training courses in support of the agency’s regulatory agenda will be offered in FY 2013. This training will focus on the following regulatory changes and their impact on the compliance evaluation process:
Two courses will be offered in each of the aforementioned areas to ensure that all OFCCP personnel are well grounded in substantive program areas.
- Section 503;
- VEVRAA;
- construction; and
- sex discrimination.
- Lastly, OFCCP will offer one course aimed at managers. Potential topics include performance management, efficient use of resources, and budget-performance integration.
Strategy Three:
Expanding the knowledge base of workers and federal contractors through education and outreach- In FY 2013, OFCCP proposes to target its compliance assistance to achieve the greatest impact by:
- Emphasizing the importance of providing compliance assistance as an integral part of the compliance officer’s enforcement activities;
- Leveraging existing contractor networks such as Industry Liaison Groups (ILGs) and multi-establishment corporations to promote corporate-wide compliance;
- Focusing on contractors that largely employ at-risk populations identified through OFCCP enforcement activities;
- Assisting new and small contractors;
- Creating synergy between their rulemaking and their training and staff development agendum.
Irrespective of regulatory changes, large Federal Contractors should pay special attention to what the OFCCP refers to as, “Strategic Case Selection.” These potential enterprise-wide investigations will also be a focus in 2013.
“Strategic Case Selection – OFCCP will improve the effectiveness of the way in which the agency conducts compliance evaluations by implementing a strategic case selection process to address programmatic priorities. Under this process, OFCCP will focus its enforcement efforts on a strategic mix of compensation, hiring, VEVRAA, Section 503, and other investigations. Based on the strength of the evidence of a potential violation, the agency will identify priority cases in each of the aforementioned areas and allocate resources accordingly to resolve them.
This process will also be used to identify similar issues that arise within corporations and industries, and to identify potential cases for enterprise-wide investigations. It will also improve the effectiveness of compliance evaluations by ensuring that the agency identifies patterns of violations and non-compliance within a corporation. Enterprise-wide investigations, based on patterns of violations and identification of egregious violators, will enable the OFCCP to remedy deficiencies across an entire corporate structure, rather than one facility at a time. Coupled with a renewed collaborative enforcement approach with the Office of the Solicitor (SOL) and other Departmental agencies, this enforcement strategy will increase the rate of compliance for contractors who engage in egregious violations.”
DETAILED WORKLOAD AND PERFORMANCE – The OFCCP estimates that it will increase the number of Service and Supply audits in FY 2013 but has not asked for additional staff in their budget. In light of the pending regulatory changes in 2012/2013 and the potential additional steps the OFCCP will be required to take to satisfy their ACE procedures, it will be interesting to see how effective the OFCCP will be in achieving their goal of completing 4,000 audits in 2013.
FY 2011
Enacted
|
FY 2012
Enacted
|
FY 2013
Request
|
||
| Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs |
Target
|
Result
|
Target
|
Target
|
| Total Number of Compliance Evaluations Completed |
3,550
|
4,014
|
3,980
|
4,530
|
| Supply and Service Evaluations Completed |
3,225
|
3,382
|
3,500
|
4,000
|
| FAAP Supply and Service Evaluations Completed |
50
|
82
|
80
|
80
|
| Number of Construction Evaluations Completed |
275
|
550
|
400
|
450
|
| Percent of cases with major deficiencies (Quality Case Audits) |
--
|
--
|
19.00%
|
15.00%
|
| Percent of cases with technical deficiencies (Quality Case Audits) |
--
|
--
|
40.00%
|
30.00%
|
| Percent of Discrimination Cases Closed within 730 Days of Opening |
--
|
--
|
55.00%
|
65.00%
|
To read the entire budget request and learn more about the strategic directives of the OFCCP, click on the following link:
http://www.dol.gov/dol/budget/2013/PDF/CBJ-2013-V2-10.pdf
Related Resource:
BCGi Webinar: 2011 in Review and OFCCP's 2013 Proposed Budget
BCGi (Biddle Consulting Group's Institute for Workforce Development) will be hosting a webinar highlighting and summarizing all of the changes and proposed changes made by the OFCCP in 2011.These include potential changes to compensation analyses, proposed changes to the audit letter, VEVRAA (Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act; Section 4212) NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rulemaking), and proposed hiring goals for individual's with disabilities.
Please join Dr. Patrick Nooren and John Piatt, Wednesday March 7th for this free webinar.
For registration information, please visit the BCGi website today.
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