On June 20, 2019, OFCCP issued Directive 2013-01 Revision 2 which realigned the Functional Affirmative Action Program (FAAP) processes with OFCCP Director Craig Leen’s initiatives of certainty, efficiency, recognition, and transparency.

The first FAAP directive was issued in 2002 and it established procedures for approving federal contractors’ requests to use FAAPs. The FAAP program was developed to recognize new organizational structure norms, where traditional establishment-based affirmative action plans no longer make sense for entities that are organized by business unit or function across geographic areas. Since 2002, the FAAP directive has been revised several times to adapt to changing priorities at OFCCP.

OFCCP’s second revision of Directive 2013-01 creates a FAAP request process that is “simple, fluid, and collaborative,” which is emblematic of Director Leen’s pillars of efficiency and transparency. In an announcement on July 26, 2019, OFCCP highlighted five key changes to the directive:

• Compliance history is no longer considered during reviews of new FAAP applications or termination of existing FAAPs;
• FAAP agreement terms have been extended to five years, up from three years;
• There will be a minimum of 36 months between compliance evaluations for a single functional unit. Organizations with establishment-based AAPs have a 24-month moratorium between reviews at a single establishment;
• OFCCP will decide on FAAP applications within 60 days of receipt;
• Federal contractors with FAAP agreements are no longer required to undergo at least one compliance evaluation during the term of their FAAP agreement.

These revisions provide incentives for federal contractors to apply for FAAP agreements. For example, the revised directive extends the length of FAAP agreements, no longer requires that contractors undergo review during the term of the agreement, and lengthens the time between compliance evaluations if the contractor is selected for review.

A copy of the revised FAAP directive can be found on OFCCP’s website.