OFCCP

What the OFCCP does

The OFCCP sits inside the Department of Labor and oversees employers that sell goods or services to the federal government. Unlike the EEOC, which mainly responds to individual charges, the OFCCP has historically worked through proactive audits called compliance evaluations: it selects contractor establishments, requests data and documents, and reviews whether hiring, pay and employment practices meet contractor obligations.

For most of its history, the agency enforced three authorities: Executive Order 11246, covering race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and national origin; Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; and the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (VEVRAA). In January 2025, Executive Order 14173 revoked Executive Order 11246, and the OFCCP stopped enforcing it. The two statutes remain law, though the agency's staffing and structure were cut back sharply in 2025, and final rules published in August 2026 removed the Executive Order 11246 regulations and narrowed the Section 503 requirements. Contractors should check the current status of OFCCP rules before planning their compliance year.

Who is covered

Coverage depends on contract value and headcount, and thresholds are adjusted periodically for inflation.

• Section 503: contractors and subcontractors with a federal contract over $20,000 (raised from $15,000 in 2025) must not discriminate against qualified individuals with disabilities and must take affirmative action. Those with 50 or more employees and a contract of $50,000 or more must keep a written affirmative action program.
• VEVRAA: contractors with a federal contract of $200,000 or more (raised from $150,000 in 2025) are covered, and those with 50 or more employees must keep a written program.

Subcontractors can be covered even if they never deal with an agency directly. Staffing firms that supply workers to federal contractors, logistics providers, and IT and call-center vendors often discover they are covered only when a client's contract flows the clauses down to them.

What compliance looks like for recruiting teams

Much of the daily work lands on recruiting operations:

• Self-identification. Invite protected veterans to self-identify pre-offer and post-offer. Rules effective September 21, 2026 removed the requirement to invite applicants and employees to self-identify disability status on the OFCCP's form, so update application flows that still use it.
• Mandatory job listing. Under VEVRAA, list most job openings with the appropriate state or local employment service so veterans get priority referral.
• Applicant data. Keep applicant and hire data on protected veteran status for VEVRAA; many contractors still keep a full applicant flow log as good practice for adverse-impact monitoring.
• Records. Generally keep personnel and employment records for at least two years, or one year for smaller contractors, and keep VEVRAA data such as referral and hiring counts, and Section 503 outreach records, for three years.
• EEO notices and "equal opportunity employer" language in job ads and solicitations.
• Annual VETS-4212 report on veterans in the workforce.

The EEO-1 report is filed with the EEOC, not the OFCCP, but EEO-1 instructions have long required federal contractors with 50 or more employees and a qualifying contract to file it, and auditors have historically used it to pick establishments.

What an OFCCP audit involves

A compliance evaluation usually begins with a scheduling letter requesting the written affirmative action programs and supporting data within a set deadline, often 30 days. A desk audit reviews outreach efforts, veteran self-ID data, hiring benchmarks, personnel activity and accommodation practices. Onsite review and interviews may follow. Findings are typically resolved through a conciliation agreement that can include back pay, policy changes and monitoring.

The most common practical failures are not dramatic: no record of outreach results, self-ID forms that weren't offered at the right stage, job listings that never reached the state employment service, and applicant data that can't be reconciled with the ATS.

Why it matters for high-volume employers

Volume multiplies small process gaps. A logistics contractor hiring 2,000 seasonal associates who skips the post-offer self-ID step for one hiring wave has 2,000 missing records. Build self-ID invitations, job listing feeds and disposition codes into the hiring workflow itself, rather than relying on recruiters to remember. Consistent disposition reasons also make it much easier to answer an auditor's question about why each applicant didn't advance.

This is general information. Contractor obligations have changed significantly since 2025, and voluntary affirmative action based on race or sex is now governed mainly by Title VII, so confirm current requirements with counsel.