While OFCCP monitors the employment practices of federal contractors, OFCCP is actually one of several federal agencies responsible for enforcing equal opportunity laws and regulations. OFCCP’s Enforcement Strategy Focuses on Compliance Reviews

In carrying out its mission and responsibilities, OFCCP focuses most of its resources on compliance reviews (see fig. 1). Regardless of the exact nature of the violation, OFCCP’s policy is to work with the contractor to resolve the case rather than to impose sanctions, such as canceling the federal contract. As part of the desk audit, compliance officers compare the representation of women and individual minority groups in the contractor’s workforce with that of the workforces of similar federal contractors in the area, and examine the contractor’s affirmative action plan. 2). Complaint Investigations and Compliance Support Also Provided

Enforcement resources not devoted to compliance reviews are used for complaint investigations and other support activities. OFCCP dedicates about 11 percent of its enforcement hours to investigating specific complaints of employment discrimination. By fiscal year 1994, OFCCP’s budget had decreased by 9 percent in real dollars (see table 2). 3). During this time the number of completed compliance reviews decreased by 33 percent, from 6,232 to 4,179. Because OFCCP aggregates data pertaining to all minority groups in a company during its initial selection stages, rather than focusing on data pertaining to each minority group separately, it could overlook companies that discriminate against one or more particular minority groups. In completing these comparisons, OFCCP combines the data pertaining to all minorities because, according to OFCCP officials, the aggregated data provide a large enough number of observations for a statistically valid analysis. While this imbalance in the racial composition of the contractor’s workforce indicates that the contractor may be discriminating against African Americans, under OFCCP’s current practice of aggregating the data, the contractor may not be identified for a compliance review. Address Correction Requested
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs' (OFCCP) oversight of federal contractors' equal employment opportunity (EEO) practices, focusing on: (1) OFCCP fulfillment of its mission and responsibilities; (2) changes in OFCCP resources in recent years; and (3) whether the OFCCP selection procedure for contractor reviews could mask discrimination against specific minority groups.

What GAO Found

GAO found that: (1) OFCCP uses compliance reviews which compare the racial and gender composition of the contractor's workforce with those of similar federal contractors to ensure that federal contractors use nondiscriminatory employment practices; (2) when OFCCP identifies EEO violations during its compliance reviews, it resolves the violations by working with the contractors rather than imposing sanctions on the contractors; (3) OFCCP recommends enforcement proceedings only if the contractor does not correct its EEO violation; (4) OFCCP uses 11 percent and 10 percent, respectively, of its enforcement resources for complaint investigations and compliance support; (5) from 1989 to 1994, OFCCP financial and staff resources decreased 9 percent and 15 percent, respectively, and the number of compliance reviews completed decreased by 33 percent; (6) although OFCCP aggregates data on all minority employees in a given contractor's workforce during the initial selection stage of compliance reviews, it may overlook a contractor's discriminatory practices against one or more particular minority groups; and (7) OFCCP uses aggregate data to identify contractors for compliance reviews because the data produce a large enough number of observations for a statistically valid analysis.