In budget measures last week both the U.S. Senate and House signaled the proposed merger between OFCCP and EEOC will soon be nothing but a distant memory.  This action comes on the heels of a recent letter from OFCCP Acting Director Tom Dowd who also questioned the efficiency of the proposed merger in light of available alternatives.

In its approval of the U.S. Department of Labor’s appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2018, the Appropriations Committee Report from the U.S. Senate reported the following: 

 The Committee rejects the budget’s proposal to begin plans to merge the OFCCP with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The Committee strongly urges OFCCP to find efficiencies and cost savings, including the consolidation of offices, within its current budget structure. This should include a review of the current OFCCP office locations and infrastructure across the country and whether these offices align with current workload needs.

The committee directed OFCCP to report to the Committee with an inventory of current infrastructure and a plan to consolidate and right-size the agency 180 days after enactment of the Act.

On the House of Representative side of things, its recent appropriations bill does not directly address the merger but instead directs “OFCCP to submit a report to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate within 160 days of enactment of this Act on its efforts and the status of implementing each of the GAO recommendations.”

As we previously shared, a September 2016 General Accounting Office report made six recommendations for OFCCP improvements, including to the audit-selection process.

While the wrangling over the OFCCP budget continues, it is important to note that pursuant to an ultimate resolution of proposals, OFCCP’s budget could be significantly reduced from the FY 2017 figure of $105 million.  President Trump proposed a budget of $88 million; the Senate currently proposes a budget of $103.5 million; and the House proposes $94.5 million.

Stay tuned as we continue to monitor the OFCCP/EEOC merger proposal and OFCCP’s budget.