By Godson Umejiego, Bureau Chief, The Americas
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programmes (OFCCP) has launched its Mega Construction Project (Megaproject) Programme, an initiative to promote equitable hiring and fair workplaces by federal contractors in the construction trades on large federally funded projects.
The landmark Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is creating new good jobs in communities across the country. To deliver on America’s promise of equal opportunity for all and the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to building an economy where no one is left behind, OFCCP will bring together the public and private sectors in a comprehensive effort to remove barriers to opportunity in the construction trades and utilize the full talent across our communities.
OFCCP will designate an initial group of BIL-funded projects from the Department of Transportation and the General Services Administration as Megaprojects. Construction projects eligible for designation as Megaprojects are valued at US$35 million or more in funding, some part of which must be federal funding, and are expected to last for at least one year.
For each Megaproject, OFCCP will provide free, continuous, on-the-ground assistance to help project owners with stakeholder outreach and information sharing, providing connections to recruitment sources in the community so that projects can fully utilize the local workforce to get the needed talent. From the earliest stages of a designated Megaproject, OFCCP engages a wide range of stakeholders in the community, including worker advocates, community-based organizations, and local recruitment sources, to remove barriers to opportunity and foster strong connections and build trust with the community.
OFCCP provides extensive and no-cost compliance assistance to contractors and subcontractors to strengthen recruitment, hiring, and employment practices, removing hiring barriers and promoting consideration of a diverse pool of qualified workers for jobs in the trades, including women, people of color, veterans, and people with disabilities. In addition, OFCCP conducts compliance reviews to evaluate contractors’ anti-discrimination and equal opportunity practices.
The Megaproject Programme launch coincides with Equal Pay Day, which marks how far into the year women must typically work to earn what men were paid the year before. Because 42% of the wage gap is related to differences in the industries and occupations where women and men work, the Biden-Harris Administration is using a whole-of-government approach to close gender and racial wage gaps by creating more opportunities for women and people of color in high-paying careers where they are currently underrepresented. Read OFCCP Director Jenny R. Yang’s blog post and OFCCP’s new fact sheet, Taking a Proactive Approach to Achieving Pay Equity, for more information.
OFCCP’s Mega Construction Project Programme is an initiative within the agency’s broader construction enforcement and outreach program. This effort has proven in past administrations to be a powerful strategy to increase the representation of qualified workers from underrepresented groups in the construction trades and achieve greater progress to advance equal opportunity.
Future Megaprojects could be BIL or CHIPS and Science Act-funded projects from the Departments of Transportation, Energy, Commerce, the General Services Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency based on the requirement in their funding announcements or solicitations, where applicable, for selected recipients with projects involving construction to participate in the Megaproject Program.
