OFCCP Announces 2023 Contractor Portal Deadline Details

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) Contractor Portal Certification is an annual requirement for federal contractors and subcontractors who are subject to nondiscrimination requirements and responsible for developing written affirmative action plans. The certification process requires contractors to log into the OFCCP’s secure online portal and certify that they have developed written affirmative action plan(s) and are in compliance with the regulations by June 29, 2023.

Contractors who neglect to certify by the June 29 deadline may face a higher likelihood of appearing on the OFCCP’s audit scheduling list, which some would consider unappealing scrutiny. Starting in January 2023, OFCCP began targeting companies that failed to certify in 2022.

To log into the OFCCP Contractor Portal, you will need to navigate to the portal’s login page and enter your username and password. If you have not previously registered for the Portal, you will need to create an account and register your company’s information.

Beginning this year and as previously reported, contractors must now report their “AAP Coverage Period” when certifying, meaning you need to specify your AAP plan cycle, such as January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2023, or October 1, 2022 through September 30, 2023, etc.

Consistent with the process last year, you will need to update your headcount per AAP in the system with the total number of employees reported in the Job Group Analysis Summary Total for each affirmative action plan.

The short answer is no. Generally, the OFCCP is concerned with contractors that overtly fail to comply with their affirmative action obligations, i.e., fail to prepare affirmative action plans, actively discriminate against individuals based on race/ethnicity, gender, disability status, etc., or fail to make any effort to investigate problem areas or correct deficiencies identified in their affirmative action programs.

If you are unsure where to begin, start by:

1. Verifying the data used for the preparation of your affirmative action plan is accurate.
2. Have a hard look at your job file, job groups, and census codes to ensure employees grouped together are similarly situated and consistent with the regulations – your results are only as good as your data and model.
3. Run your reports, review the results of your analyses, and focus on key areas of liability in compliance evaluations such as:
   • Investigate adverse impact to determine if the adverse impact was the result of discriminatory policies or practices or was the result of legitimate non-discriminatory job or business factors,
   • review your compensation system(s) for race/ethnicity and gender-based disparities, and
   • conduct your annual Protected Veteran & IWD self-audit or analysis to determine the effectiveness of your programs and implement any changes to correct deficiencies found.

To guide you through the certification process, the OFCCP posted a pre-recorded webinar (see below links) on the Contractor Portal landing page. This valuable resource will demonstrate how you can enter your establishment and/or functional/business unit’s AAP start date and certify compliance through the Contractor Portal.

Instructions for registering and certifying for the Contractor Portal

• How-to Videos
• User Guide

Additional resources and materials can be found at the following links:

• Frequently Asked Questions
• Contractor Portal landing page
• Contractor Portal Webinar OFCCP presented on March 31, 2022.

You may contact OFCCP with any questions and/or comments about the Contractor Portal at OFCCPAppsSupport@dol.gov or call the OFCCP Help Desk at 1-800-397-6251. Not sure you want to ask the OFCCP about your compliance challenges? Contact our affirmative action plan consultants at the link below. AAP outsourcing is an invaluable way to ensure compliance.