On July 1, 2021, OFCCP issued its Corporate Scheduling Announcement List (CSAL) scheduling 750 federal contractor and subcontractor establishments for compliance evaluations in fiscal year 2021.  The CSAL identifies contractors and subcontractors that will receive a Scheduling Letter formally initiating an OFCCP audit.  Scheduling Letters are typically issued about 45 days after the CSAL’s publication. 

The FY2021 CSAL is limited to supply and service contractors, and does not include construction contractors, whose audits will presumably be scheduled pursuant to a separate announcement.  With OFCCP’s elimination of focused reviews and compliance checks earlier this year, significantly fewer contractors will be subject to OFCCP audits in fiscal year 2021 than in recent years.  Overall, the FY2021 CSAL schedules 668 contractor establishment for establishment-based reviews, 57 for functional affirmative action plan (FAAP) reviews, 19 for corporate management compliance evaluations (CMCE) focused on the contractor’s headquarters, and six (6) for university reviews.  In prior years, OFCCP has identified over 2,000 contractors for audits.

The CSAL’s publication provides contractors with a valuable opportunity to prepare for the upcoming audit.  OFCCP’s Scheduling Letter requests over 22 categories of data and documents, including full employee-level compensation data, with a relatively short timeframe for response.  Contractors named in the CSAL can begin working immediately, in advance of receipt of the Scheduling Letter, to collect and analyze the requested data and documents in order to identify and, if possible, resolve any potential compliance vulnerabilities before they become more significant issues in the audit process. 

By identifying potential compliance vulnerabilities now prior to the issuance of a Scheduling Letter, contractors can ensure they are not caught flat-footed by OFCCP allegations arising from the contractor’s initial submission of documents and data.  Although contractors should take this opportunity to ensure that all aspects of their OFCCP compliance are in order, we anticipate that pay equity and gender pay gaps, as well as potential race or gender based disparities in reductions in force undertaken during the COVID-19 pandemic, will be areas of focus for OFCCP.