Federal Contractors Soon to Be Required to Verify They Have Affirmative Action Plans

In general, companies that do business with the federal government are required to have affirmative action plans. Such plans address how contractors recruit and employ women, minorities, certain veterans, workers with disabilities, and set goals for recruitment. Under the prior policy, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) would not review such affirmative action plans unless an employer was being audited.  In a policy announced in early December, the OFCCP announced an online portal known as the Affirmative Action Plan Verification Interface (AHP), for contractors to attest that they have developed and maintained their plans. Registration for this portal is scheduled to begin February 1, 2022, with a certification period planned to run from March 31 to June 30,2022. The OFCCP plans to use this annual certification response as an additional criterion for the agency to schedule compliance reviews. In other words, contractors that do not develop or maintain an AHP will be cited by the OFCCP for a violation and may be referred for an audit and enforcement. The OFCCP may also recommend that procurement officers check this new data base before awarding a contract.

This is part of our January 2022 Newsletter.

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