On April 26, 2011, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) proposed significant revisions of the regulations governing affirmative action requirements for direct federal contractors and subcontractors with respect to protected veterans. AGC requested an extension of the 60-day comment period. While OFCCP did not fully grant AGC’s request, OFCCP did grant a 14-day extension.
The proposed rule would impact all stages of federal contracting and subcontracting for construction employers. Specifically, the proposed rule would require covered employers to:
- calculate and establish numerical hiring benchmarks using data contractors would have to research for the calculation;
- extend an offer to self-identify as a protected veteran pre-hire in addition to the current post-hire requirements;
- track and maintain several new data points on veteran referrals, applicants, and hires, and maintain the data for five years;
- sign written linkage agreements with a minimum of three veteran sources, per establishment and perform a self-critical analysis of the effectives of each;
- list vacant positions with employment services in the manner and format they require;
- create a file for every known veteran applicant and employee, to include every opportunity for which the veteran was considered (vacancy, training and promotion), and a statement outlining the reason for rejection if the veteran was not selected;
- conduct annual meeting and training programs for all employees and management; and
- perform and document annual reviews of job descriptions listing the physical and mental job qualifications for all job openings and provide an explanation regarding why each requirement is related to the job.