The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) put a Notice in the Federal Register on September 14, 2020 seeking public comments on their proposed online certification process for federal contractors. They are looking to seek “…authorization for an annual Affirmative Action Program online certification process for federal contractors and for a secure method for federal contractors to submit AAPs electronically to the OFCCP when they are scheduled for a compliance evaluation.” An online certification process would be new, since in the past, they would only check to see if contractors completed their annual AAPs by auditing them. The new process would require all government contractors to certify annually that their AAPs are completed, but the AAPs would only need to be submitted electronically to the OFCCP when the company is audited. A recent Government Accountability Office report found that 85% of contractors do not submit their AAPs by the due date in audits. They want to require contractors to certify the AAPs are done to increase compliance and timeliness in audits. The Notice in the Federal Register asks for comments on whether the verification should be conducted annually and if it has practical utility in enforcement and compliance. They are also seeking comments on minimizing the burden for contractors to comply. Comments are due November 13, 2020.
