1E Review of All AAPs and Itemized Listing Data to Ensure Submissions Include Required Content

After receiving the desk audit submission, a CO first determines whether the AAP is current, that is, whether the AAP was effective as of the date of the Scheduling Letter. If it is not, the CO will contact the contractor and request immediate submission of the current AAP. If the contractor fails to submit the AAP, the CO must recommend the issuance of an SCN.29

If the contractor’s AAPs are current, the CO will review the AAPs and Itemized Listing data to determine whether the contractor’s submissions include all requested information. To do so, the CO must first determine whether the contractor submitted all materials requested in the Scheduling Letter and Itemized Listing. Next, the CO must determine if the AAPs contain all the elements required by the regulations.

The elements of the required Executive Order AAP are listed in 41 CFR 60-2.10(b) while the required contents of Section 503 and VEVRAA AAPs are found in 41 CFR 60-741.44 and 60-300.44, respectively.

Actions that must be taken when an AAP is missing or inadequate under the legal authorities enforced by OFCCP are discussed in this subsection. First is the discussion of the Executive Order AAP, followed by AAPs under Section 503 and VEVRAA.

a. Executive Order AAP. If one or more of the below listed Executive Order AAP elements is missing, COs must automatically consider the submission unacceptable.

• Organizational Profile (workforce analysis or organizational display);
• Job group analysis, including a list of the job titles that compose each job group;
• The percentage of minorities and the percentage of women employed in each job group;
• Utilization analysis, including its component parts of job group formation, availability estimates and, as appropriate, identification of underutilization;
• Comparison of incumbency to availability;
• Placement goals at least equal to the availability figure derived for women or minorities, as appropriate for job groups where the number of minorities or women employed is less than would be reasonably expected, given their availability;
• Designation of a responsible official;
• Identification of problem areas;
• Action-oriented programs designed to correct any problem areas; or
• Internal audit and reporting system.

A CO must contact the contractor and request that it immediately provide the information. The CO should also provide the contractor with compliance assistance, if needed. If the contractor does not comply, the CO must suspend the desk audit and recommend the issuance of an SCN. If the contractor includes all of these elements, the CO will then evaluate them for acceptability.

b. Section 503 AAP and Utilization Goal. If one or more of the below listed Section 503 AAP and utilization goal elements is missing, COs must automatically consider the submission unacceptable.

• Equal employment opportunity policy statement;
• Review of personnel processes to ensure careful, thorough and systematic consideration of individuals with disabilities for job vacancies, promotion and training opportunities;
• Schedule for the periodic assessment of physical and mental job qualifications, to the extent they screen out individuals with disabilities, to ensure they are job-related and consistent with business necessity;
• Reasonable accommodation to physical and mental limitations, including copies of any reasonable accommodation policies, and documentation of any accommodation requests received and their resolution;
• Procedures to ensure that employees are not harassed on the basis of disability;
• External dissemination of the contractor’s EEO policy;
• Description of outreach and positive recruitment efforts, and annual assessment from the evaluation of the effectiveness of those efforts;
• Internal dissemination of the contractor’s EEO policy;
• Description of the contractor’s audit and reporting system, including documentation of all actions taken to comply with the audit and reporting system requirements;
• Designation of responsible official;
• Policy to train all personnel involved in the recruitment, screening, selection, promotion, disciplinary and related processes to ensure that the commitments in the contractor’s AAP are implemented;
• Data collection on applicants and hires, including documentation of the computations or comparisons of applicant and hire data;
• Analysis of contractor’s utilization of individuals with disabilities;
• Identification of problem areas; or
• Action-oriented programs designed to correct any problem areas.

A CO must contact the contractor and request that it immediately provides the missing information. The CO may provide the contractor with compliance assistance, if needed. If the contractor does not comply, the CO must suspend the desk audit and recommend the issuance of an SCN. If the contractor includes all of these elements, the CO will then evaluate them for acceptability.

c. VEVRAA AAP and Hiring Benchmark. If one or more of the below listed VEVRAA AAP and hiring benchmark elements is missing, COs must automatically consider the submission unacceptable.

• Equal employment opportunity policy statement;
• Review of personnel processes to ensure careful, thorough and systematic consideration of protected veterans for job vacancies, promotion and training opportunities;
• Schedule for the periodic review of physical and mental job qualifications to ensure they are job-related and consistent with business necessity;
• Reasonable accommodation to physical and mental limitations;
• Procedures to ensure that employees are not harassed because of their status as a protected veteran;
• External dissemination of the contractor’s EEO policy;
• Description of outreach and positive recruitment efforts, and results from the evaluation of the effectiveness of those efforts;
• Internal dissemination of the contractor’s EEO policy;
• Description of the contractor’s audit and reporting system, including documentation of all actions taken to comply with the audit and reporting system requirements;
• Designation of responsible official;
• Policy to train all personnel involved in the recruitment, screening, selection, promotion, disciplinary and related processes to ensure that the commitments in the contractor’s AAP are implemented;
• Data collection on applicants and hires, including documentation of the computations or comparisons of applicant and hire data; or
• Documentation of the annual hiring benchmark established by the contractor.

A CO must contact the contractor to request that the contractor provide any missing elements immediately. The CO should provide the contractor with compliance assistance, if needed. If the contractor does not comply, the CO must suspend the desk audit and recommend issuance of an SCN. If the contractor included all of these elements, the CO will then evaluate them for acceptability.

The Itemized Listing requests various data related to all three of OFCCP’s legal authorities with varying time parameters. For instance, contractors are required to submit the last three years of their Employer Information Reports (EEO-1 reports). For employment activity data, including employee-level compensation data, they are required to submit the data only for the immediately preceding AAP year unless they are at least six months or more into their current AAP year, in which case they would submit the current AAP year data or the underlying records if the contractor cannot or has not computed the current year data as well. The Itemized Listing must be reauthorized by OMB at least every three years, so it is subject to change. Figure F-3 contains the current Itemized Listing.

As explained in subsection 1C01, the CO must recommend the issuance of an SCN if the contractor fails to submit Itemized Listing data. After confirming receipt of the Itemized Listing data, the CO must ensure that the submission is complete. If one or more of the items is missing, the CO considers the submission incomplete. A CO must contact the contractor to request any missing items immediately and should provide the contractor with compliance assistance if needed. If the contractor does not comply, the CO must suspend the desk audit and recommend the issuance of an SCN. If the contractor included all of the items, the CO will then evaluate them for acceptability.