The Contractor OFCCP Portal Registration Deadline:
The deadline to register is March 30th, 2022
Where to register?
Contractors can register at ContractorPortal.DOL.GOV.
Who registers?
Federal supply and service prime contractors and subcontractors who are required to prepare Affirmative Action Programs (AAPs) or Functional Affirmative Action Plans (FAAPs). For the time being, construction contractors are exempt from registration and certification.
If one establishment holds a covered federal contract, all affiliated establishments are subject to the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) jurisdiction.
This means that the OFCCP perceives all affiliated entities and locations of a covered contractor as a single entity. Contractors who are unsure if all locations and entities are required to certify should contact their counsel before registering.
Many times employers don’t know that they’re a covered federal subcontractors. Employers should look at their contracts for the required EEO/Affirmative Action flow down clause. If the clause is included, employers should seek legal counsel to verify whether they are a covered subcontractor.
What do you need to register?
Contractors need their Employer Identification Number, establishment figures, and 2018 EEO-1 headquarters to complete the registration process.
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) registrations portal will be prepopulated with information from contractors’ 2018 EEO-1 filings. If your business has experienced major changes in the past three years, consider manually entering establishment information instead of relying on prepopulated information.
Organizations that have FAAPs, in addition to or instead of establishment-based AAPs must manually enter their information. Also, if the OFCCP does not have a 2018 EEO-1 on file for your organization, you will have to manually enter your information.
If you run into any issues, check out the OFCCP Contractor Portal FAQ.
When to start registration?
Current contractors have to register by March 30th, 2022. The registration process can vary depending on the number of covered establishments and/or FAAPs. Due to the large volume of registrations and the chance that the process could take a long time. It is advised that contractors begin the process as soon as possible.
What if you fail to register by the deadlines?
Contractors that fail to register are more likely to be reviewed by the OFCCP. If an employer is unsure if it is a covered prime or subcontractor, seek legal counsel before registering.
Why is this happening?
A 2016 report by the General Accounting Office (GAO) found areas for improvement on how the OFCCP selects contractor establishments for review. The areas of concern were:
- OFCCP did not have a comprehensive list of covered prime and subcontractors;
- the majority of contractors scheduled for review required extensions to submit a response to the standard scheduling letter indicating that they were not preparing AAPs for all establishments annually;
- OFCCP reviewed only a small fraction of covered contractor establishments each year and; of the limited number of establishments reviewed, only 2 percent of audits resulted in adverse findings.
In reaction to the findings, GAO recommended that “OFCCP develop a mechanism to monitor AAPs from covered federal contractors on a regular basis. Such a mechanism could include electronically collecting AAPs and contractor certification of annual updates.” The new Compliance Verification process is a direct response to GAO’s recommendation.
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