On June 7, 2024, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) published its FY 2024 Corporate Scheduling Announcement List (CSAL) for Supply and Service Contractors. The CSAL is a courtesy notification, and the review will start once the establishment receives OFCCP's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved scheduling letter. OFCCP has further curtailed the granting of extensions in connection with audits. Contractors should keep an eye on their mail (regular and email) and be prepared to submit full responses to an audit request within 30 days of receiving the scheduling letter.
The FY 2024 CSAL includes 440 establishment reviews, 30 Corporate Management Compliance Evaluation reviews, 24 Functional Affirmative Action Program (FAAP) reviews, and 6 University reviews. OFCCP has stated that it will begin to send out scheduling letters to some of the contractors on the new list immediately, though it often also takes OFCCP a couple years to complete a CSAL.
OFCCP also published its methodology for selecting contractors for audits. OFCCP states it created this 2024 CSAL by downloading federal contracts valued at $50,000 or more from the USAspending database. OFCCP states it removed:
- Contracts awarded to federal, state, local, municipal, tribal, city, and foreign governments, school districts, and construction companies.
- Healthcare contracts that fall under OFCCP's Final Rule: Affirmative Action and Nondiscrimination Obligations of Federal Contractors and Subcontractors: TRICARE Providers, 85 FR 39834 (July 2, 2020), and OFCCP's Extending the Scheduling Moratorium for Veterans Affairs Health Benefits Program Providers Directive (DIR 2021-01).
- Contract records expiring on or before December 31, 2024.
OFCCP states it "prioritized" contractor and subcontractor establishments with the highest employee count in each district office's jurisdiction. OFCCP matched company names and addresses against the 2021 EEO‐1 filings to obtain employee counts. For each parent company with at least one contract of $50,000 anywhere in the organization, all U.S. establishments with at least 500 employees, establishments in U.S. territories with at least 150 employees, and FAAP units with at least 300 employees that meet the scheduling list's other criteria were included in the eligible pool of contractors.
OFCCP further cross-referenced all eligible establishments and functional units with the agency's compliance management system to remove: (a) establishments currently under review; (b) establishments currently in a monitoring period pursuant to a conciliation agreement; (c) establishments currently within the exemption period following a closed review; (d) establishments currently pending scheduling for review from a prior scheduling list; and (e) establishments that have an active separate facilities waiver.
In finalizing the CSAL, OFCCP used the following criteria:
- OFCCP selected up to five CMCE reviews per region;
- OFCCP selected establishments by district office and did not include more than two establishments of any parent company;
- OFCCP selected four FAAP units per OFCCP region and did not select more than two FAAP units of any parent company;
- OFCCP selected two financial institutions for review per OFCCP region; and
- OFCCP selected one college/university for review per OFCCP region.
For each criteria listed above, OFCCP prioritized those with the highest employee count in each district or region. OFCCP's focus on employee count speaks to OFCCP's objective to allocate its resources for reviews that are more likely, based merely on employee size, to yield the highest financial settlements.
The published methodology also discusses the agency's intention to coordinate multiple audits. Initially, OFCCP assigned District Office and Regional Codes to each establishment or FAAP unit based on the postal address. The number of reviews were then proportionally distributed across regions and their district offices based on available staff, measured in full-time equivalents. Where a parent company has two or more establishments on the scheduling list, OFCCP reassigned these compliance reviews to the same region so that both the agency and the contractor can engage in these reviews in a coordinated manner.
Federal contractors and subcontractors should carefully review the CSAL for facilities and subsidiaries within their organizations and confirm affirmative action plans for those facilities are prepared promptly with extra care. In addition, federal contractors should review the compliance practices at those facilities and log and assess recruitment and outreach practices for year-over-year efficacy.
Companies that believe that they have been included on the CSAL by mistake are advised to contact OFCCP immediately to try to correct the error rather than wait until they receive a scheduling letter. Because the best approach may vary depending on the circumstances, however, this is an issue that should be discussed with legal counsel.
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