[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 139 (Thursday, July 21, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42101-42102]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-14383]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment Standards Administration


Proposed Collection; Comment Request

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to 
reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a preclearance 
consultation program to provide the general public and Federal agencies 
with an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing 
collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995 (PRA95) [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)]. This program helps to 
ensure that requested data can be provided in the desired format, 
reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, 
collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of 
collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed. 
Currently, the Employment Standards Administration is soliciting 
comments concerning the proposed collection: Office of Federal Contract 
Compliance Programs Recordkeeping and Reporting Requirements, Supply 
and Service. A copy of the proposed information collection request can 
be obtained by contacting the office listed below in the addresses 
section of this notice.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the 
addresses section below on or before September 19, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Ms. Hazel M. Bell, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 
Constitution Ave., NW., Room S-3201, Washington, DC 20210, telephone 
(202) 693-0418, fax (202) 693-1451, e-mail [email protected]. Please 
use only one method of transmission for comments (mail, fax, or e-
mail).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    I. Background: The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs 
(OFCCP) is responsible for the administration of three equal 
opportunity programs prohibiting employment discrimination and 
requiring affirmative action. The OFCCP administers Executive Order 
11246, as amended; Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as 
amended; and the affirmative action provisions of the Vietnam Era 
Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, as amended (VEVRAA), 38 
U.S.C. 4212. The regulations implementing the Executive Order program 
are found at 41 CFR parts 60-1, 60-2, 60-3, 60-4, 60-20, 60-30, 60-40, 
and 60-50. The regulations implementing Section 503 are published at 41 
CFR part 60-741. The regulations implementing VEVRAA are found at 41 
CFR part 60-250. The regulations require contractors to develop and 
maintain Affirmative Action Programs (AAP). OFCCP reviews these AAPs 
through its compliance evaluation process. The Supply and Service 
Scheduling Letter provides the contractor notice of its selection for a 
compliance evaluation and requests the submission of its Affirmative 
Action Programs and supporting documentation. The supporting 
documentation includes compensation data (Itemized Listing question 
number 11). OFCCP uses the Item 11 data purely to determine whether 
OFCCP should investigate a contractor's compensation practices further, 
as a means of targeting and allocating the agency's investigative 
resources. OFCCP is not using Item 11 data to make any kind of 
determination of whether a violation has occurred. OFCCP only 
determines that a violation has occurred based on careful investigation 
of a contractor's compensation practices, which would require 
examination of much more detailed compensation and personnel data. With 
respect to assessing whether the contractor has engaged in systemic 
discrimination (i.e., pattern or practice discrimination under a 
disparate treatment and/or disparate impact theory), OFCCP conducts 
multiple regression analyses and/or examines cohorts to assess whether 
there is a pattern of compensation disparities. In assessing whether to 
make a finding of systemic compensation discrimination, OFCCP looks not 
only at statistically-significant compensation disparities, but also at 
evidence of how the statistical pattern of pay disparities affects 
individual employees within the contractor's workplace, and other 
anecdotal evidence. OFCCP has found this approach effective in 
determining whether systemic compensation discrimination exists, 
convincing a contractor to conciliate based on OFCCP's findings, and 
creating a credible threat of enforcement litigation.
    In light of this limited use of the Item 11 data, OFCCP concludes 
that the data, while clearly not sufficient to make a determination of 
a violation, is and has been effective in allowing OFCCP to allocate 
the agency's investigative resources.
    Further, OFCCP implemented new Active Case Management (ACM) 
procedures that are used in connection with Desk Audit Reviews and 
Closures. The goal of ACM is to concentrate agency resources on 
identifying and remedying cases of systemic discrimination and to 
quickly and

[[Page 42102]]

efficiently close out reviews where there are no indicators of systemic 
discrimination present. Under ACM procedures, only cases producing 
indicators of potential systemic discrimination (defined as potential 
affected classes of 10 or more applicants/workers) should proceed 
beyond the desk audit phase. These ACM procedures limit the amount of 
burden on Federal contractors to supply additional compensation 
information during the Desk Audit stage of their review.
    II. Review Focus: The Department of Labor is particularly 
interested in comments which:
     Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility;
     Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the 
burden of the proposed collection of information, including the 
validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
     Enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
     Minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate 
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting 
electronic submissions of responses.
    III. Current Actions: OFCCP seeks a three-year extension to the 
approval of the Supply and Service Scheduling Letter. There is no 
change in the substance or method of collection since the last OMB 
approval. OFCCP revised the burden hour estimates associated with the 
Supply and Service Scheduling letter based on the responses to a CY 
2004 Compensation Questionnaire report submitted to OMB as part of the 
2004 Information Collection Request extension.
    Type of Review: Extension.
    Agency: Employment Standards Administration.
    Title: OFCCP Recordkeeping and Reporting Requirements, Supply and 
Service.
    OMB Number: 1215-0072.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit, not-for-profit 
institutions.
    Total Annual responses: 83,462.
    Frequency: Annually.
    Average Time per response: 110 hours.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 9,223,921.
    Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): $0.
    Total Burden Cost (operating/maintenance): $110,607.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for Office of Management and Budget 
approval of the information collection request; they will also become a 
matter of public record.

    Dated: July 14, 2005.
Bruce Bohanon,
Chief, Branch of Management Review and Internal Control, Division of 
Financial Management, Office of Management, Administration and 
Planning, Employment Standards Administration.
[FR Doc. 05-14383 Filed 7-20-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-CM-P