The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs’ (OFCCP) Contractor Portal will open on March 31, 2023 for covered federal contractors to certify compliance with affirmative action program (AAP) requirements for this year.  

Federal contractors and subcontractors must certify on the Contractor Portal on an annual basis regardless whether they are developing a new or maintaining an existing AAP for each establishment or business unit, as applicable. Existing federal contractors must certify their compliance through the portal between March 31- June 29, 2023. An enhancement has been made to the portal where contractors must provide the start date of their AAP Coverage Period when certifying.  

New federal contractors have 120 days to develop their AAP(s) and certify compliance through the Contractor Portal within 90 days of developing their AAP(s). To accommodate this timeline, the Contractor Portal will remain open after June 29, 2023.  

The OFCCP has posted a pre-recorded webinar with more information to the Contractor Portal landing page. This instructional webinar will show how contractors can enter information on their establishment’s AAP start date. 

If you have not registered on the Contractor Portal, you can do so here starting on March 31, 2023. 

Helpful information about the Contractor Portal can be accessed here. 

The compliance certification deadline for existing federal contractors is June 29, 2023.  This timeframe will work for most federal contractors that are currently finalizing their 2023 affirmative action programs. This will require existing contractors to refresh all the existing data that has been entered and update it with the new AAP data including the new data item: start date for the AAP.  We believe the new information on start date for the AAP will help OFCCP and contractors better manage future certification efforts to coincide with their actual AAP date rather than an arbitrary deadline, e.g., June 29th.   

However, if a contractor does not certify by June 29, they will be more likely to be named on a future OFCCP scheduling list than those who have certified. Contractors who have not certified compliance include those who have not used the Portal and those who have not developed or maintained an AAP.  

In our February Blog, (OFCCP 2023 CSAL List Update:  Targets Contractors That Failed to Certify on the Contractor Portal), we confirmed OFCCP’s updated audit selection methodology targeting those contractors that failed to certify on the Contractor Portal.  In 2022, OutSolve aided many customers in certifying their AAPs on the Contractor Portal in 2022.  None of those customers were included in the CSAL.  However, the OFCCP incorrectly included some establishments that had been properly certified.  These cases were resolved and closed by providing proof that the establishments had certified by the required deadline. 

It’s critical that existing contractors certify their AAPs by the June 29, 2023 deadline to minimize the chances of being targeted for a future audit because they failed to certify. For more information about the OFCCP Contractor Portal, reach out to us to receive FAQs and additional assistance.