On the eve of the Fourth of July holiday, and just in time for the start of the final quarter of the Agency’s fiscal year, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) announced it had received approval of its revised Scheduling Letter and Itemized Listing.  The revised letter, which, when received by a contractor initiates an Agency compliance review, was initially proposed by the Agency in October 2015 and under review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) since April 2016

While not as sweeping as the changes that revamped the letter at the end of 2014, this version of the letter contains a couple of modifications worth noting.  One of the most significant changes to the letter is the Agency’s statement around confidentiality. In the previous version of the letter, OFCCP informed recipients that the Agency considered information provided in response to the letter “sensitive and confidential” and any disclosures will be made consistent with the Freedom of Information Act.  In the current version, OFCCP informs contractors that

OFCCP may use the information you provide during a compliance evaluation in an enforcement action. We may also share that information with other enforcement agencies within DOL, as well as with other federal civil rights enforcement agencies with which we have information sharing agreements.

This language is modified slightly from the Agency’s initial proposal which more broadly allowed OFCCP to share information with “other federal government agencies.”

The letter goes on to states that the Agency is “required to comply with the Freedom of Information Act, the Trade Secrets Act, the Privacy Act, and the 1987 Executive Order governing the disclosure of confidential commercial information.”

Additionally, the revised letter clarifies OFCCP’s request with respect to the Veterans Benchmark, requesting

[i]f you are six months or more into your current AAP year on the date you receive this listing, please also submit current year hiring data to measure against your benchmark.

The previous version simply requested “information that reflects current year results.”

The agency has posted FAQs addressing questions involving the renewed letter.