On November 20, 2024, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) published a new Corporate Scheduling Announcement List (CSAL) for Supply and Service Contractors designated as “Fiscal Year 2025 Release 1.” The CSAL provides contractors with notice of locations that are in line to be audited. The actual audit, however, will not begin until the contractor receives a scheduling letter from OFCCP. Some locations are likely to receive their letters immediately while others may not receive them for many months or sometimes even years. Since OFCCP rarely grants extensions, contractors should keep an eye on their mail (regular and email) and be prepared to submit full responses to an audit request within 30 days of receiving the scheduling letter.
The FY 2025 CSAL includes 1,880 establishment reviews, 60 Corporate Management Compliance Evaluation reviews, 48 Functional Affirmative Action Program (FAAP) reviews, and 12 University reviews. This is an unusually large list. The list is also unusual with regard to the number of contractors that have had five to 10 different locations designated for an audit. This may reflect OFCCP’s relatively recent efforts to try to coordinate multiple audits to more broadly review a contractor’s compliance program. Contractors should not be surprised if they receive scheduling letters for multiple locations at the same time or within days of each other.
While every CSAL seems to include some errors, this list seems to include an unusual number of contractors or locations that may not be subject to audit. An entity that is not a federal contractor is obviously not subject to OFCCP jurisdiction. Also, if a contractor has any location on this new list that had an audit close within the past two years,1 is currently under a conciliation agreement, or is currently undergoing a compliance review, the contractor should seek to have that location removed from the list as currently exempted from review.
OFCCP has not yet scheduled audits of all of the locations included on several earlier scheduling lists and has indicated that it will continue to do so. In other words, the publication of this new list does not in any way alter any prior scheduling list. In general, once OFCCP publishes a CSAL, it almost always proceeds to (eventually) schedule every included location for an audit. However, the OFCCP under President Biden did amend the scheduling lists that had been published during the prior administration to remove 1,750 locations that had been in line to be audited. This does raise the possibility of the existing lists being similarly amended or withdrawn after President Trump returns to office.
Federal contractors and subcontractors should carefully review the CSAL for facilities and subsidiaries within their organizations and confirm affirmative action plans for those facilities are prepared promptly with extra care. In addition, federal contractors should review the compliance practices at those facilities and log and assess recruitment and outreach practices for year-over-year efficacy.
Companies that believe that they have been included on the CSAL by mistake are advised to contact OFCCP immediately to try to correct the error rather than wait until they receive a scheduling letter. Because the best approach may vary depending on the circumstances, however, this is an issue that should be discussed with legal counsel.
Footnotes
1 See Corporate Management Compliance Evaluation | U.S. Department of Labor, https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ofccp/faqs/corporate-management-compliance-evaluation (visited Nov. 20, 2024); 1B04 Follow-Up Contact with Contractor and Jurisdiction Challenges, Federal Contract Compliance Manual https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ofccp/manual/fccm/1b-pre-desk-audit-actions/1b04-follow-contact-contractor-and-jurisdiction (visited Nov. 20, 2024).
