Surviving an OFCCP Compliance Review

Compliance reviews by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance (OFCCP) are becoming more frequent for the nation’s approximately 100,000 construction contractors performing federal or federally assisted work. This article sets out an overview of what an OFCCP audit looks like, and offers a few tips federal contractors should take to prepare for and survive these audits.

Your best chance to "pass" a compliance review is to convince the investigator from the beginning that you have made good faith efforts to comply with its affirmative action obligations. 

It’s not a requirement to have a lawyer with you, but think about it:  would you go through an IRS audit without the assistance of an accountant? Using an attorney in a self-audit or preparation process may allow you to take advantage of attorney-client privilege.

This article appeared in the October 2005 issue of the Construction Executive.