On November 3, AGC submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) in response to its request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to extend the approval of the construction information collection requirement (ICR). The ICR addresses recordkeeping and reporting for compliance with Executive Order 11246 (EO), Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act. The existing approval expires December 31.
OFCCP suggests that it will cost each covered contractor just $499 and 16 hours to comply with the ICR. AGC’s comments urge OFCCP to recalculate and increase the estimated burden amounts presented to OMB because OFCCP:
- Excluded several groups of covered contractors from the estimated number of contractors impacted by the EO;
- Underestimated the number of small construction contractors impacted;
- Excluded costs for federally assisted construction contractors and subcontractors based on the assumption that such contractors already must meet the burden requirement when complying with other regulations;
- Inaccurately assumed that the majority of federal construction contractors and subcontractors are repeat contractors with information technology systems in place to easily generate the data required by OFCCP;
- Excluded cost considerations for new contractors entering the federal market for the first time;
- Excluded costs for the development of training tools and systems; and
- Failed to consider costs and time estimates associated with President Obama’s recent expansion of the EO through other EOs and a Presidential Memorandum.