President Obama has just a bit over 18 months left in office. Consequently so does the OFCCP—in its current incarnation, that is. Once Mr. Obama leaves office, there will likely be a new Director, and the OFCCP will subsequently reflect shifting priorities. How much those priorities shift, of course, will depend on who gets voted into the White House next. In the meantime, the OFCCP has released its budget request—and the justification behind it—for Fiscal Year (FY) 2016, giving us some insight into how it will be thinking and acting for the remainder of Mr. Obama’s tenure.
Let’s first look at some numbers. The OFCCP’s total budget request for FY 2016 is $113,687,000, and authorization for 660 Full-Time Employees (FTEs). In all likelihood, Congress will award less money than requested. While the OFCCP has become more aggressive since 2009, the last two fiscal years have not seen a budget increase, but rather a slight decrease, to wit: $104,476,000 in FY 2015, down from $104,976,000 in FY 2014. The projection of 660 FTEs for FY 2016 would be a 10-person increase over 2015, but still leave the OFCCP with 23 fewer FTEs than it had in FY 2014. Notwithstanding all that, the fact that the OFCCP is requesting a budget increase of $7,211,000 over FY 2015, sends a clear message that it A) has no intention of scaling back on its ambitious agenda; and B) is putting forth even more efforts to make its mark as it enters its final sprint. That should not come as a surprise to anyone in the federal contractor community.
The OFCCP has identified the following as its priorities for FY 2016:
Out of these five goals, the OFCCP had already identified three of them (pay discrimination, inequities in the construction industry and enforcement of Sec. 503 and VEVRAA) as priorities in FY 2014 and 2015. Upgrades to the case management system, while not specifically mentioned as a priority in previous years, supports the OFCCP’s ability to meet its other priorities. Arguably then, of the five priorities, ensuring compliance with the President’s Executive Order extending protections to LGBT applicants and employees is the only one that is really new. Does that mean that contractors need not concern themselves with the OFCCP’s plans for 2016? Absolutely not!
The fact that the OFCCP has re-affirmed its—and the President’s—commitment to: A) addressing pay discrepancies between women and men, and between minorities and non-minorities; B) eliminating gender and racial discrimination in the construction industry; and C) enforcing Section 503 and VEVRAA regulations states unequivocally that it sees these issues as A) still not fully addressed; B) still important; and C) a long-term concern. What else can we glean from this latest budget request? We can assume that the OFCCP is going to push hard to accomplish as many of its—and the President’s—goals while both are still around to do so.
That said, what are the takeaways for federal contractors?
For more information, contact Ahmed Younies at (714) 426-2918, ext. 1 or [email protected].
