In the spirit of “spooky season,” the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has been “haunting” federal construction contractors with new compliance burdens. With the resurrection of the renewed Form CC-27, covered construction contractors will now face the “chilling” task of collecting and submitting employment data to the agency every month.

Quick Hits

• The approved Form CC-257 revives a version discontinued in 1995 but asks for more information than the pre-1995 version.
• Construction contractors and subcontractors with one or more contracts exceeding $10,000 will be required to submit Form CC-257 to OFCCP monthly.
• Though OMB has approved the new form, OFCCP has not notified contractors of the effective date when the agency expects compliance.

OFCCP recently released a new construction scheduling letter and itemized listing, corresponding frequently asked questions (FAQs), and a renewed and revised Form CC-314, for covered construction contractors to notify OFCCP of new federal or federally assisted contracts or subcontracts in excess of $10,000, also known as the Notification of Construction Contract Award Portal (NCAP). But the agency has more in store for construction contractors. On September 30, 2024, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) gave final approval to Form CC-257, which OFCCP will use to collect monthly employment data from construction contractors and subcontractors with one or more contracts exceeding $10,000. OMB approved the form with a few changes to the proposed version based on public comments responding to OFCCP’s sixty-day notice.

According to OFCCP, the agency reinstated Form CC-257 because “[e]mployment discrimination continues to be a problem in the construction industry.” In the notice proposing to reinstate the form, the agency wrote that the form would “strengthen [OFCCP’s] construction program by using the collected information to inform compliance assistance efforts and track the progress of contractor’s [sic] outreach efforts and the agency’s Megaproject Program.” OFCCP also stated the information would improve compliance-evaluation scheduling, “as the reports … provide relevant information on which projects are currently active and current employee counts.”

Data Collection Information

The form requires covered construction contractors to report general information, such as the following:

• Contractor information. This includes the contractor’s/subcontractor’s name, registered address, Employer Identification Number (EIN), and Unique Entity ID (UEI) (or Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number, if the UEI is unavailable).
• The names of all federal funding agencies. The contractor/subcontractor must provide the name(s) of the U.S. government agency/agencies funding the project, in whole or in part.
• The reporting period (from and to). The contractor/subcontractor must provide employee counts and work hours monthly for each calendar month. The work hours provided must cover the entire month; the employee counts provided must reflect the employee count on the last day of the month.
• The certifying official’s name and contact information. The name, current contact information, signature, and certification of the information’s accuracy must be provided by the company official submitting the report, along with the date of signature.
• Information on each construction project. The contractor/subcontractor must include whether the contractor is a prime contractor or subcontractor and whether the project is an OFCCP Megaproject, defined as a construction project “valued at $35 million or more in funding, some part of which must be federal funding, and [which is] expected to last for at least one year.”
• The number of standard metropolitan statistical areas (SMSA) or economic areas (EA) (“covered areas”) in which the contractor/subcontractor has projects during the reporting period. Contractors must report on work in progress in the geographic area “identified in the notice required under 41 CFR 60-4.2,” which requires contractors to set goals applicable to all construction work in an SMSA or EA.

The form requires construction contractors to report the following for each SMSA or EA:

• The total number of trade employees in each trade, by race, gender, and classification who perform work in each SMSA or EA at the end of the reporting period. The form lists the same race and ethnicity classifications used on the EEO-1 form, but it does not separate “Hispanic” as an ethnicity distinct from race as the EEO-1 reports do, aligning with OMB’s published revisions to the “Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity,” proposed in March 2024.
• The total construction work hours performed in the SMSA or EA for each trade by race, gender, and classification for the entire reporting period (up to one decimal, in six-minute increments).
• Information on nontrade employees. In line with the revised scheduling letter, contractors must now provide information for nontrade employees (forepersons) in addition to trade employees (journey workers, apprentices, trainees, and nonapprenticed laborers or helpers).
• Optional comments. Lastly, the form provides a section for the submitting contractor to provide context for the submission. Following public comments, the form now includes instructions that align with EEO-1 reporting guidance for reporting nonbinary employees who do not self-identify as male or female.

How to Submit the Form

As of October 24, 2024, OFCCP had not announced when contractors must begin submitting Form CC-257. When the form requirements become effective, contractors must send the form on the fifteenth day of the month, unless the fifteenth day falls on a weekend or federal holiday. OFCCP has provided a sample form in spreadsheet and pdf formats, and its instructions provide a placeholder for a website link, indicating that OFCCP may create a portal for submission.

Next Steps

Contractors and subcontractors may want to consider the following steps:

• Review active projects to determine whether they are within a covered area, mandating submission of the form.
• Assess human resources information systems and applicant tracking systems to determine the most efficient way to collect the data necessary to complete Form CC-257. Contractors must report on employees working on all projects in the covered area, not just those working on projects connected to the federal contract. Optimally, contractors will track construction work according to specific geographic areas that align with SMSAs or EAs, and by the trade classifications used in the report.
• Watch for additional guidance and updates regarding the effective date of the reporting requirement. If desired, contractors can subscribe to alerts at OFCCP’s website.