§ 230.415 - Consolidated compliance reviews.

§ 230.415 Consolidated compliance reviews.

(a) General. Consolidated compliance reviews shall be implemented to determine employment opportunities on an areawide rather than an individual project basis. The consolidated compliance review approach shall be adopted and directed by either Headquarters, region, division, or SHA, however, consolidated reviews shall at all times remain a cooperative effort.

(b) OFCCP policy requires contracting agencies to ensure compliance, in hometown an imposed plan areas, on an areawide rather than a project basis. The consolidated compliance review approach facilitates implementation of this policy.

(c) Methodology -

(1) Selection of a target area. In identifying the target area of a consolidated compliance review (e.g. SMSA, hometown or imposed plan area, a multicounty area, or an entire State), consideration shall at least be given to the following facts:

(i) Minority and female work force concentrations;

(ii) Suspected or alleged discrimination in union membership or referral practices by local unions involved in highway construction;

(iii) Present or potential problem areas;

(iv) The number of highway projects in the target area; and

(v) Hometown or imposed plan reports that indicate underutilization of minorities or females.

(2) Determine the review period. After the target area has been selected, the dates for the actual onsite reviews shall be established.

(3) Obtain background information. EEO-3's Local Union Reports, should be obtained from regional offices of the EEOC. Target area civilian labor force statistics providing percent minorities and percent females in the target area shall be obtained from State employment security agencies or similar State agencies.

(4) Identify contractors. Every nonexempt federally assisted or direct Federal contractor and subcontractor in the target area shall be identified. In order to establish areawide employment patterns in the target area, employment data is needed for all contractors and subcontractors in the area. However, only those contractors with significant work forces (working prior to peak and not recently reviewed) may need to be actually reviwed onsite. Accordingly, once all contractors are identified, those contractors which will actually be reviewed onsite shall be determined. Compliance determinations shall only reflect the status of crafts covered by part II of plan bid conditions. Employment data of crafts covered by part I of plan bid conditions shall be gathered and identified as such in the composite report, however, OFCCP has reserved the responsibility for compliance determinations on crafts covered by part I of the plan bid conditions.

(5) Contractor notification. Those contractors selected for onsite review shall be sent a notification letter as outlined in § 230.409(c) along with a request for current workforce data^[2] for completion and submission at the onsite review. Those contractors in the target area not selected for onsite review shall also be requested to supply current workforce data as of the onsite review period, and shall return the data within 15 days following the onsite review period.

(6) Onsite reviews. Compliance reviews shall then be conducted in accordance with the requirements set forth in § 230.409. Reviewers may use Form FHWA-86, Compliance Data Report, if appropriate. It is of particular importance during the onsite reviews that the review team provide for adequate coordination of activities at every stage of the review process.

(7) Compliance determinations. Upon completion of the consolidated reviews, compliance determinations shall be made on each review by the reviewer. Individual show cause notices or compliance notifications shall be sent (as appropriate) to each reviewed contractor.

The compliance determination shall be based on the contractor's target area work force (Federal, Federal-aid and non-Federal), except when the target area is coincidental with hometown plan area, compliance determinations must not be based on that part of a contractor's work force covered by part I of the plan bid conditions, as previously set forth in this regulation. For example: ABC Contracting, Inc. employs carpenters, operating engineers, and cement masons. Carpenters and operating engineers are covered by part II of the plan bid conditions, however, cement masons are covered by part I of the plan bid conditions. The compliance determination must be based only on the contractor's utilization of carpenters and operating engineers.

(d) Reporting -

(1) Composite report. A final composite report shall be submitted as a complete package to the Washington Headquarters, OCR, within 45 days after the review period and shall consist of the following:

(i) Compliance review report, for each contractor and subcontractor with accompanying show cause notice or compliance notification.

(ii) Work force data to show the aggregate employment of all contractors in the target area.

(iii) A narrative summary of findings and recommendations to include the following:

(A) A summary of highway construction employment in the target area by craft, race, and sex. This summary should explore possible patterns of discrimination or underutilization and possible causes, and should compare the utilization of minorities and females on contractor's work forces to the civilian labor force percent for minorities and females in the target area.

(B) If the target area is a plan area, a narrative summary of the plan's effectiveness with an identification of part I and part II crafts. This summary shall discuss possible differences in minority and female utilization between part I and part II crafts, documenting any inferences drawn from such comparisons.

(C) If applicable, discuss local labor unions' membership and/or referral practices that impact on the utilization of minorities and females in the target area. Complete and current copies of all collective bargaining agreements and copies of EEO-3, Local Union Reports, for all appropriate unions shall accompany the composite report.

(D) Any other appropriate data, analyses, or information deemed necessary for a complete picture of the areawide employment.

(E) Considering the information compiled from the summaries listed above, make concrete recommendations on possible avenues for correcting problems uncovered by the analyses.

(2) Annual planning report. The proper execution of consolidated compliance reviews necessitates scheduling, along with other fiscal program planning. The Washington Headquarters, OCR, shall be notified of all planned consolidated reviews by August 10 of each year and of any changes in the target area or review periods, as they become known. The annual consolidated planning report shall indicate:

(i) Selected target areas:

(ii) The basis for selection of each area; and

(iii) The anticipated review period (dates) for each target area.

Footnotes - 230.415

^[2] The Consolidated Workforce Questionnaire is convenient for the purpose and appears as attachment 4 to volume 2, chapter 2, section 3 of the Federal-Aid Highway Program Manual, which is available at the offices listed in 49 CFR part 7, appendix D.