Participants Removed from Compliance Evaluation Selection Process for Three to Five Years
The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) recently announced the release of a new policy directive to establish a voluntary compliance program for high-performing federal contractors. The Voluntary Enterprise-wide Review Program (VERP) provides contractors with an alternative to OFCCP's establishment-based compliance evaluations with a focus on recognizing contractors that demonstrate comprehensive corporate-wide compliance and model diversity and inclusion programs. Specifically, contractors accepted into the program will enter into an agreement with OFCCP that removes the contractor from OFCCP’s neutral selection process for compliance evaluations for the duration of the agreement (up to 5 years), as long as the contractor abides by all terms of the agreement. Contractors that apply, but do not qualify for the program will return to the pool of contractors in the neutral selection process and OFCCP promises that rejected companies will not be automatically placed on an audit scheduling list.
In November 2018, OFCCP issued a separate directive establishing early resolution procedures to allow OFCCP and contractors with multiple establishments to cooperatively resolve compliance reviews while achieving corporate-wide compliance with OFCCP's requirements. OFCCP expects to begin accepting VERP applications in the fall.
For more information, contact Claiborne Guy at claiborne.guy@agc.org or 703-837-5382.