Contrary to what some may have heard, the OFCCP is not waiting on approval of their new, revised audit scheduling letter to initiate new audits from the most recent CSAL.

In case you missed the news somehow, the OFCCP has issued a new “FY2023” Corporate Scheduling Announcement List (CSAL) with 500 federal contractor establishments or functions listed. This CSAL is notable from past audit lists in that it is the first one to incorporate data from the agency’s new AAP Verification Initiative (AAP-VI). Specifically, the agency removed contractors from the list if they certified through the Contractor Portal. In other words, the agency tried to produce an audit list that contains nothing but federal contractors that the OFCCP has reason to believe are not meeting basic compliance requirements. For the agency, this is a very exciting prospect.

However, in the OFCCP’s email announcing the new CSAL, there was a somewhat curious line reminding contractors that the actual audit (and the clock for submitting materials to the agency) does not begin when the CSAL is published. Rather, an audit only begins when the contractor receives an “OMB-approved” Scheduling Letter.

And it just so happens that authorization for the OFCCP’s current Scheduling Letter is set to expire on April 30, 2023, and the agency has initiated the process of approval for a “new and improved” Scheduling Letter that has many in the contractor community worried (as it should).

This caused many to hope, and some to opine publicly, that the OFCCP is signaling that the agency intends to wait to initiate any audits from the new CSAL until the new Scheduling Letter is approved. That would give the contractors on that list additional time to come into compliance before that dreaded scheduling letter hits their in-box.

Sadly, that is not the case. BCGi reached out to the OFCCP’s National Office and confirmed that the agency has no plans to wait on the new Scheduling Letter.

If the OFCCP puts revisions to the current letter before OMB for approval before the current letter expires, the expiration date for the current letter is automatically extended for the duration of OMB’s approval process. If the OFCCP does not submit proposed changes to OMB before the expiration date, they can still apply to OMB for an extension on the current letter (and such applications are routinely granted, barring extraordinary circumstances). And that is what the agency intends to do.

So if your organization is on the most recent CSAL and you have still not prepared and implemented AAPs, there is no “grace period” or practical extension to be found here. The OFCCP intends to initiate audits from the new CSAL using the current Scheduling Letter. Exactly when the first letters start to go out will depend on the workload of individual OFCCP Regional and District offices. If you have questions about this or any other OFCCP-related matter, feel free to drop us a line at BCGi@Biddle.com. And if your organization needs to come into compliance with AAP requirements, we know some good people.