As we have previously noted for readers who are federal contractors and subcontractors, the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) continues to make good on its express goals of increasing transparency and cooperation with federal contractors. In February of this year, OFCCP announced the development of the Focus Audit Scheduling Letter, which truncates reviews during audits. Similarly, in September of last year, OFCCP issued Directive 2018-08, which highlighted the various steps the office took to increase transparency and cooperation in 2018.
Last week, OFCCP took another step in continuation of this trend, introducing a virtual compliance help desk designed to assist government contractors with navigating the myriad compliance issues they face performing under contract for the federal government. The help desk aims to provide numerous benefits to federal contractors and subcontractors, including:
- enabling companies to ask questions directly to OFCCP regarding specific compliance issues they are facing;
- providing companies with compliance guidance materials and resources;
- summarizing common compliance issues companies face and offering practical solutions; and
- sharing with companies the successful strategies employed by other federal contractors.
With this new wealth of information and insight provided by OFCCP, federal contractors and subcontractors should take steps now to take advantage of this tool and to make any necessary changes to their practices to meet their compliance obligations.
OFCCP has plans to continue development of the help desk, and we will be on the lookout for new features and compliance assistance resources to share with our readers as they become available.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.