Contract Standard for Contractor Workforce Inclusion and Request for Public Comment, 8119-8122 [2015-03082]

Download as PDF Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 30 / Friday, February 13, 2015 / Notices other service fees, revenue sharing, or other arrangements. For the Commission, by the Division of Investment Management, under delegated authority. Brent J. Fields, Secretary. [FR Doc. 2015–02992 Filed 2–12–15; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 8011–01–P SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION [Release No. 34–74239; File No. S7–02–15] Contract Standard for Contractor Workforce Inclusion and Request for Public Comment Securities and Exchange Commission. ACTION: Notice of proposed contract standard; notice of proposed information collection; and request for public comment. AGENCY: To implement section 342 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (the ‘‘Dodd-Frank Act’’ or ‘‘the Act’’), the Securities and Exchange Commission (the ‘‘Commission’’) is proposing to include in its service contracts a standard concerning workforce inclusion of minorities and women. DATES: Comments should be received on or before: April 14, 2015. ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods: SUMMARY: Electronic Comments • Use the Commission’s Internet comment form (https://www.sec.gov/ rules/other.shtml); • Send an email to rulecomments@sec.gov. Please include File No. S7–02–15 on the subject line; or • Use the Federal eRulemaking Portal (https://www.regulations.gov). Follow instructions for submitting comments. tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES Paper Comments • Send paper comments to Brent J. Fields, Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street NE., Washington, DC 20549–1090. All submissions should refer to File No. S7–02–15. This file number should be included on the subject line if email is used. To help us process and review your comments more efficiently, please use only one method. The Commission will post all comments on the Commission’s Internet Web site (https:// www.sec.gov/rules/other.shtml). Comments will also be available for Web site viewing and printing in the VerDate Sep<11>2014 21:56 Feb 12, 2015 Jkt 235001 Commission’s Public Reference Room, 100 F Street NE., Washington, DC 20549 on official business days between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. All comments received will be posted without change; we do not edit personal identifying information from submissions. You should submit only information that you wish to make available publicly. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Pamela A. Gibbs, Director, Office of Minority and Women Inclusion, or Audrey B. Little, Senior Counsel, Office of Minority and Women Inclusion at (202) 551–6046, Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street NE., Washington, DC 20549. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 342(a)(1)(A) of the Dodd-Frank Act provides for certain agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, to establish an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (‘‘OMWI’’).1 Section 342(c)(1) provides that the OMWI Director shall develop and implement standards and procedures to ensure the fair inclusion and utilization of minorities, women, and minority-owned and women-owned businesses in all business and activities of the agency, including in procurement, insurance, and all types of contracts. Section 342(c)(2) requires that the OMWI Director include in the procedures for evaluating contract proposals and hiring service providers a component that gives consideration to the diversity of an applicant, to the extent consistent with applicable laws. In addition, section 342(c)(2) requires that such procedures include a written statement, in the form and content prescribed by the OMWI Director, that a contractor shall ensure, to the maximum extent possible, the fair inclusion of women and minorities in the workforce of the contractor and, as applicable, subcontractors. Further, section 342(c)(3)(A) requires the OMWI Director to establish standards and procedures for determining whether an agency contractor or subcontractor ‘‘has failed to make a good faith effort to include minorities and women’’ in its workforce. Section 342(c)(3)(B)(i) provides that if the OMWI Director determines that a contractor has failed to make good faith efforts, the Director shall recommend to the agency administrator that the contract be terminated. Upon receipt of such a recommendation, section 342(c)(3)(B)(ii) provides that the agency administrator may terminate the contract, make a 1 12 PO 00000 U.S.C. 5452. Frm 00065 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 8119 referral to the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs of the Department of Labor, or take other appropriate action. Under section 342(c)(3)(A) of the Dodd-Frank Act, the OMWI Director is required to determine whether a contractor or subcontractor has made good faith efforts to include minorities and women in its workforce. The proposed Contract Standard would require that a Commission contractor, upon request from the OMWI Director, provide documentation of the actions undertaken (and as applicable, the actions each covered subcontractor under the contract has undertaken) that demonstrate its good faith efforts to ensure the fair inclusion of minorities and women in its workforce. The documentation requested may include, but is not limited to: (1) The total number of employees in the contractor’s workforce, and the number of employees by race, ethnicity, gender, and job title or EEO–1 job category (e.g., EEO–1 Report(s)); (2) a list of covered subcontract awards under the contract that includes the dollar amount of each subcontract, date of award, and the subcontractor’s race, ethnicity, and/or gender ownership status; (3) the contractor’s plan to ensure the fair inclusion of minorities and women in its workforce, including outreach efforts; and (4) for each covered subcontractor, the information requested in items 1 and 3 above. The OMWI Director will consider the information submitted in evaluating whether the contractor or subcontractor has complied with its contractual obligation to make good faith efforts to ensure the fair inclusion of minorities and women in its workforce. The Commission’s proposes to satisfy section 342(c)(2) through the inclusion of a contract standard concerning workforce inclusion of minorities and women (the ‘‘Contract Standard’’) in solicitations and resulting contracts for services with a dollar value of $100,000 or more. The proposed Contract Standard is similar to the contract clauses adopted by OMWIs of other federal financial regulatory agencies.2 The Contract Standard requires the service contractor, upon entering into a contract with the Commission, to confirm that it will ensure, to the maximum extent possible and consistent with applicable law, the fair inclusion of minorities and women in its workforce. In addition, the proposed 2 See Department of the Treasury Acquisition Regulations; Contract Clause on Minority and Women Inclusion in Contractor Workforce, 79 FR 15551, at https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-201403-20/pdf/2014-05846.pdf. E:\FR\FM\13FEN1.SGM 13FEN1 8120 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 30 / Friday, February 13, 2015 / Notices tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES Contract Standard requires the contractor to include the substance of the Contract Standard in all subcontracts for services awarded under the contract with a dollar value of $100,000 or more. Accordingly, the requirements of the proposed Contract Standard will apply to covered subcontractors, as prescribed in section 342(c)(2) of the Dodd-Frank Act. The proposed Contract Standard requires a contractor to provide documentation, upon the request of the OMWI Director, to demonstrate that it has made good faith efforts to ensure the fair inclusion of minorities and women in its workforce and, as applicable, to demonstrate that its covered subcontractors have made such good faith efforts. ‘‘Good faith efforts’’ are interpreted to include actions by a contractor (and, as applicable, actions by each covered subcontractor) to ensure the fair inclusion of women and minorities in its workforce, while at the same time identifying, and if present, removing barriers to minority and women employment or expansion of employment opportunities for minorities and women within its workforce. Efforts to remove such barriers may include, but are not limited to, recruiting to ensure that applicant pools include minorities and women, providing job-related training, or other activity that could lead to removing such barriers. Section 342 of the Dodd-Frank Act applies to ‘‘all contracts of [the Commission] for services of any kind,’’ but the section does not define the term ‘‘contract.’’ FAR 37.101 defines ‘‘service contract’’ as a ‘‘contract that directly engages the time and effort of a contractor whose primary purpose is to perform an identifiable task rather than to furnish an end item of supply.’’ Pursuant to the FAR definition, this proposed Contract Standard will be included in all Commission solicitations and resulting contracts for services with a dollar value of $100,000 or more, and in all subcontracts under the related prime contract for services with a dollar value of $100,000 or more. Public Comment The proposed Contract Standard is being published for public comment pursuant to 41 U.S.C. 1707, which applies to the publication of a covered federal procurement policy, regulation, procedure or form. Section 1707 provides that a procurement policy, regulation, procedure or form (including an amendment or modification thereof) is to be published for public comment in the Federal Register if it relates to the expenditure of appropriated funds, and VerDate Sep<11>2014 21:56 Feb 12, 2015 Jkt 235001 has either a significant effect beyond the internal operating procedures of the agency issuing the policy, regulation, procedure or form, or has a significant cost or administrative impact on contractors or offerors. Here, the proposed Contract Standard relates to the expenditure of appropriated funds of the Commission, because it will be incorporated in certain Commission service contracts paid for with appropriated funds. The Contract Standard may have a significant effect beyond the internal operating procedures of the agency, as it implements requirements of the DoddFrank Act designed to address minority and women inclusion by federal contractors and implements the new contract termination authority contained in section 342(c)(3). The proposed Contract Standard may also have a cost or administrative impact on contractors or offerors, but we believe these effects would be insignificant as a result of the overlap with existing EEO laws. The consequence for noncompliance could have a cost or administrative impact on the covered service contractors, although they again overlap with existing remedies. Paperwork Reduction Act The proposed Contract Standard contains ‘‘collection of information’’ requirements within the meaning of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (‘‘PRA’’).3 The title for the proposed collection of information is: • Contract Standard for Contractor Workforce Inclusion. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. We intend to submit these requirements to the Office of Management and Budget (‘‘OMB’’) for review and approval in accordance with the PRA and its implementing regulations.4 If approved, the responses to the new collection of information would be mandatory. For collections of information not contained in a proposed rule, the PRA requires federal agencies to publish a notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information and to allow 60 days for public comment.5 To comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice. 3 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq. U.S.C. 3507(c); 5 CFR 1320.10. 5 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2). 4 44 PO 00000 Frm 00066 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 A. Overview of Information Collection 1. Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use Under section 342(c)(3)(A) of the Dodd-Frank Act, the OMWI Director is required to determine whether a contractor or subcontractor has made good faith efforts to include minorities and women in its workforce. The proposed Contract Standard would require that a Commission contractor, upon request from the OMWI Director, provide documentation of the actions undertaken (and as applicable, the actions each covered subcontractor under the contract has undertaken) that demonstrate its good faith efforts to ensure the fair inclusion of minorities and women in its workforce. The documentation requested may include, but is not limited to: (1) The total number of employees in the contractor’s workforce, and the number of employees by race, ethnicity, gender, and job title or EEO–1 job category (e.g., EEO–1 Report(s)); (2) a list of covered subcontract awards under the contract that includes the dollar amount of each subcontract, date of award, and the subcontractor’s race, ethnicity, and/or gender ownership status; (3) the contractor’s plan to ensure the fair inclusion of minorities and women in its workforce, including outreach efforts; and (4) for each covered subcontractor, the information requested in items 1 and 3 above. The OMWI Director will consider the information submitted in evaluating whether the contractor or subcontractor has complied with its contractual obligation to make good faith efforts to ensure the fair inclusion of minorities and women in its workforce. 2. Respondents and Estimate of Recordkeeping and Reporting Burdens The proposed Contract Standard will be included in Commission contracts and subcontracts for services with a dollar value of $100,000 or more. Based on the data showing the dollar value of service contracts and subcontracts awarded in FY 2012 and FY 2013, we estimate that 170 contractors 6 would be subject to the proposed Contract Standard. Approximately 120 of these contractors have 50 or more employees, while about 50 contractors have fewer than 50 employees. a. Recordkeeping Burden The information collection under the proposed Contract Standard would 6 Unless otherwise specified, the term ‘‘contractors’’ refers to contractors and subcontractors. E:\FR\FM\13FEN1.SGM 13FEN1 tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 30 / Friday, February 13, 2015 / Notices impose no new recordkeeping burdens on the estimated 120 contractors that have 50 or more employees. Such contractors are generally subject to recordkeeping and reporting requirements under the regulations implementing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act 7 and Executive Order 11246 (‘‘E.O. 11246’’).8 Their contracts and subcontracts must include the clause implementing E.O. 11246—FAR 52.222– 26, Equal Opportunity. In addition, contractors that have 50 or more employees (and a contract or subcontract of $50,000 or more) are required to maintain records on the race, ethnicity, gender, and EEO–1 job category of each employee under Department of Labor regulations implementing E.O. 11246.9 The regulations implementing E.O. 11246 also require contractors that have 50 or more employees (and a contract or subcontract of $50,000 or more) to demonstrate that they have made good faith efforts to remove identified barriers, expand employment opportunities, and produce measurable results,10 and to develop and maintain a written program, which describes the policies, practices, and procedures that the contractor uses to ensure that applicants and employees receive equal opportunities for employment and advancement.11 In lieu of developing a separate workforce inclusion plan, a contractor would be permitted to submit its existing written program prescribed by the E.O. 11246 regulations as part of the documentation that demonstrates the contractor’s good faith efforts to ensure the fair inclusion of minorities and women in its workforce. Thus, approximately 120 contractors are already required to maintain the information that may be requested under the proposed Contract Standard. The estimated 50 contractors that employ fewer than 50 employees are required under the regulations implementing E.O. 11246 to maintain records showing the race, ethnicity and gender of each employee. We believe that these contractors also keep job title information during the normal course of business. However, contractors that have fewer than 50 employees may not have the written program prescribed by the E.O. 11246 regulations or similar plan that could be submitted as part of the documentation to demonstrate their good faith efforts to ensure the fair 7 42 U.S.C. 2000e, et seq. Order 11246, 30 FR 12,319 (Sept. 24, 8 Executive 1965). 9 See 41 CFR 60–1.7. 10 See 41 CFR 60–2.17(c). 11 See 41 CFR part 60–2. VerDate Sep<11>2014 21:56 Feb 12, 2015 Jkt 235001 inclusion of minorities and women in their workforces. Accordingly, contractors with fewer than 50 employees may have to create a plan to ensure workforce inclusion of minorities and women. In order to estimate the burden on contractors associated with creating a workforce inclusion plan, we considered the burden estimates for developing the written programs required under the regulations implementing E.O. 11246.12 As there is no regulatory blueprint for a workforce inclusion plan, and contractors creating a workforce inclusion plan are not required to perform the same types of analyses required for the written programs prescribed by the E.O. 11246 regulations, we believe that to develop a workforce inclusion plan contractors with fewer than 50 employees would require approximately a third of the hours that contractors of similar size spend on developing the written programs required under the E.O. 11246 regulations. Accordingly, we estimate that contractors would spend about 24 hours of employee resources to develop a workforce inclusion plan. This would be a one-time total burden of 1,200 hours. After the initial development, we estimate that each contractor with fewer than 50 employees would spend approximately 10 hours each year updating and maintaining its workforce inclusion plan for a total annual burden of 500 hours. To account for this expected diminishing burden, we use a three-year average of the expected burden during the first year with the expected ongoing burden during the next two years to estimate the annual recordkeeping burden on contractors with fewer than 50 employees. Thus, we estimate that the total annual recordkeeping burden for such contractors to be about 740 hours [(1,200 + 500 + 500)/3 years, rounded up]. The proposed contract standard also would require contractors to maintain information about covered subcontractors’ ownership status, 12 According to the Supporting Statement for the OFCCP Recordkeeping and Requirements-Supply Service, OMB Control No. 1250–003 (‘‘Supporting Statement’’), it takes approximately 73 burden hours for contractors with 1–100 employees to develop the initial written program required under the regulations implementing E.O. 11246. We understand the quantitative analyses prescribed by the Executive Order regulations at 41 CFR part 60– 2 are a time-consuming aspect of the written program development. As there is no requirement to perform these types of quantitative analyses in connection with a workforce inclusion plan under the proposed Contract Standard, we believe the workforce inclusion plan will take substantially fewer hours to develop. The Supporting Statement is available at reginfo.gov. PO 00000 Frm 00067 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 8121 workforce demographics, and workforce inclusion plans. Contractors would request this information from their covered subcontractors, who would have an obligation to keep workforce demographic data and maintain workforce inclusion plans because the substance of the proposed Contract Standard would be included in their subcontracts. Based on data describing recent Commission subcontractor activity, we believe that very few subcontractors will have subcontracts under Commission service contracts with a dollar value of $100,000 or more.13 These subcontractors may already be subject to similar recordkeeping requirements as principal contractors. Consequently, we believe that any additional requirements imposed on subcontractors would not significantly add to the burden estimates discussed above. b. Reporting Burden With respect to the reporting burden, we estimate that it would take all contractors on average approximately one hour to retrieve and submit to the OMWI Director the documentation specified in the proposed Contract Standard. We expect to request documentation from up to 100 contractors each year and therefore we estimate the total annual reporting burden to be 100 hours. B. Solicitation of Public Comment We request comments on the proposed collection of information in order to: (a) Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Commission, including whether the information will have practical utility; (b) evaluate the accuracy of the Commission’s estimate of the burden (including hours and cost) of the proposed collection of information; (c) determine whether there are ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) evaluate whether there are ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology. Persons who desire to submit comments on the collection of information may use any of the methods shown in the ADDRESSES section of this notice. Comments should be received on 13 A search of subcontract awards on the usaspending.gov Web site showed that four subcontractors in FY 2012 and three subcontractors in FY 2013 had subcontracts of $100K or more. See data on subcontract awards available at https:// usaspending.gov. E:\FR\FM\13FEN1.SGM 13FEN1 8122 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 30 / Friday, February 13, 2015 / Notices or before: April 14, 2015. Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized and/or included in the request for OMB approval of this information collection; they also will become a matter of public record. Text of Proposed Contract Standard for Contractor Workforce Inclusion Note: The Text of this Proposed Contract Standard will not appear in the Code of Federal Regulations. Contractor Workforce Inclusion Authority: 12 U.S.C. 5452; Sec. 342, Pub. L. 111–203. Scope The agency will include the Contractor Workforce Inclusion contract standard in all Commission solicitations and resulting contracts for services with a dollar value of $100,000 or more. Contract Standard The following contract standard shall be included in all Commission solicitations and resulting contracts for services with a dollar value of $100,000 or more. tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES Contractor Workforce Inclusion The Contractor confirms its commitment to equal opportunity in employment and contracting, and that it shall ensure, to the maximum extent possible and consistent with applicable law, the fair inclusion of minorities and women in its workforce. The Contractor shall insert the substance of this contract standard in each subcontract for services awarded for performance of this contract with a dollar value of $100,000 or more. Within ten (10) business days of a written request from the Director of the Commission’s Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI Director) or designee, or such longer time as the OMWI Director or designee determines, and without any additional consideration, action or authorization required from the OMWI Director, the Contractor shall provide documentation, satisfactory to the OMWI Director, of the actions it has undertaken (and as applicable, the actions each covered subcontractor under the contract has undertaken) to demonstrate its good faith efforts to comply with the aforementioned provisions. For purposes of this contract, ‘‘good faith efforts’’ shall include actions by the Contractor (and as applicable, actions by each covered subcontractor under the Service Contract) to identify and, if present, remove barriers to minority and women employment or VerDate Sep<11>2014 21:56 Feb 12, 2015 Jkt 235001 expansion of employment opportunities for minorities and women within its workforce. Efforts to remove such barriers may include, but are not limited to, recruiting to ensure that applicant pools include minorities and women, providing job-related training, or other activity that could lead to removing such barriers. The documentation requested by the OMWI Director or designee to demonstrate good faith efforts may include, but is not limited to, one or more of the following: a. The total number of Contractor’s employees, and the number of employees by race, ethnicity, gender, and job title or EEO–1 Report job category (e.g., EEO–1 Report(s)); b. A list of covered subcontract awards for services under the contract, and for each covered subcontract award, the dollar amount, date of award, and the subcontractor’s race, ethnicity, and/ or gender ownership status; c. The contractor’s plan for ensuring the fair inclusion of minorities and women in its workforce, including outreach efforts; and d. For each covered subcontractor, the documentation specified in paragraphs a. and c. above. Consistent with Section 342(c)(3) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the ‘‘DoddFrank Act’’), 12 U.S.C. 5452(c)(3), a Contractor’s failure to demonstrate to the OMWI Director that it has made good faith efforts to include minorities and women in its workforce (and as applicable, failure to demonstrate that its subcontractor(s) has made such good faith efforts) may result in termination of the contract for default after the contractor is provided written notice and an opportunity to cure the failure in accordance with the procedures set forth in FAR 49.402–3(d), other contractual remedies, referral to the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), or other appropriate action. Compliance with this standard does not necessarily satisfy the requirements of EO 11246, as amended, nor does it preclude OFCCP compliance evaluations and/or enforcement actions undertaken pursuant to that Executive Order, or demonstrate compliance with other FAR clauses that may be included in this contract. For purposes of this contract standard, the term ‘‘minority’’ shall have the meaning set forth in section 342(g) of the Dodd-Frank Act. Dated: February 10, 2015. PO 00000 Frm 00068 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 By the Commission. Brent J. Fields, Secretary. [FR Doc. 2015–03082 Filed 2–12–15; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 8011–01–P SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Reporting and recordkeeping requirements under OMB review Small Business Administration. 30-Day notice. AGENCY: ACTION: The Small Business Administration (SBA) is publishing this notice to comply with requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), which requires agencies to submit proposed reporting and recordkeeping requirements to OMB for review and approval, and to publish a notice in the Federal Register notifying the public that the agency has made such a submission. This notice also allows an additional 30 days for public comments. DATES: Submit comments on or before March 16, 2015. ADDRESSES: Comments should refer to the information collection by name and/ or OMB Control Number and should be sent to: Agency Clearance Officer, Curtis Rich, Small Business Administration, 409 3rd Street SW., 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20416; and SBA Desk Officer, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive Office Building, Washington, DC 20503. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Curtis Rich, Agency Clearance Officer, (202) 205–7030 curtis.rich@sba.gov Copies: A copy of the Form OMB 83– 1, supporting statement, and other documents submitted to OMB for review may be obtained from the Agency Clearance Officer. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The National Women’s Business Council will examine women’s participation in business incubation and acceleration programs to understand the characteristics of incubators and acceleration that affect the business outcomes of women business owners. NWBC will also gain insight into factors that affect women’s participation in these programs. Respondents will be managers of incubators and accelerators, women owners who graduated from the programs and a sample of women business owners from the general population. SUMMARY: E:\FR\FM\13FEN1.SGM 13FEN1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 30 (Friday, February 13, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8119-8122]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-03082]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-74239; File No. S7-02-15]


Contract Standard for Contractor Workforce Inclusion and Request 
for Public Comment

AGENCY: Securities and Exchange Commission.

ACTION: Notice of proposed contract standard; notice of proposed 
information collection; and request for public comment.

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SUMMARY: To implement section 342 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform 
and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (the ``Dodd-Frank Act'' or ``the 
Act''), the Securities and Exchange Commission (the ``Commission'') is 
proposing to include in its service contracts a standard concerning 
workforce inclusion of minorities and women.

DATES: Comments should be received on or before: April 14, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods:

Electronic Comments

     Use the Commission's Internet comment form (https://www.sec.gov/rules/other.shtml);
     Send an email to rule-comments@sec.gov. Please include 
File No. S7-02-15 on the subject line; or
     Use the Federal eRulemaking Portal (https://www.regulations.gov). Follow instructions for submitting comments.

Paper Comments

     Send paper comments to Brent J. Fields, Secretary, 
Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street NE., Washington, DC 
20549-1090.

All submissions should refer to File No. S7-02-15. This file number 
should be included on the subject line if email is used. To help us 
process and review your comments more efficiently, please use only one 
method. The Commission will post all comments on the Commission's 
Internet Web site (https://www.sec.gov/rules/other.shtml). Comments will 
also be available for Web site viewing and printing in the Commission's 
Public Reference Room, 100 F Street NE., Washington, DC 20549 on 
official business days between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. 
All comments received will be posted without change; we do not edit 
personal identifying information from submissions. You should submit 
only information that you wish to make available publicly.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Pamela A. Gibbs, Director, Office of 
Minority and Women Inclusion, or Audrey B. Little, Senior Counsel, 
Office of Minority and Women Inclusion at (202) 551-6046, Securities 
and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street NE., Washington, DC 20549.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 342(a)(1)(A) of the Dodd-Frank Act 
provides for certain agencies, including the Securities and Exchange 
Commission, to establish an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion 
(``OMWI'').\1\ Section 342(c)(1) provides that the OMWI Director shall 
develop and implement standards and procedures to ensure the fair 
inclusion and utilization of minorities, women, and minority-owned and 
women-owned businesses in all business and activities of the agency, 
including in procurement, insurance, and all types of contracts. 
Section 342(c)(2) requires that the OMWI Director include in the 
procedures for evaluating contract proposals and hiring service 
providers a component that gives consideration to the diversity of an 
applicant, to the extent consistent with applicable laws. In addition, 
section 342(c)(2) requires that such procedures include a written 
statement, in the form and content prescribed by the OMWI Director, 
that a contractor shall ensure, to the maximum extent possible, the 
fair inclusion of women and minorities in the workforce of the 
contractor and, as applicable, subcontractors.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ 12 U.S.C. 5452.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Further, section 342(c)(3)(A) requires the OMWI Director to 
establish standards and procedures for determining whether an agency 
contractor or subcontractor ``has failed to make a good faith effort to 
include minorities and women'' in its workforce. Section 
342(c)(3)(B)(i) provides that if the OMWI Director determines that a 
contractor has failed to make good faith efforts, the Director shall 
recommend to the agency administrator that the contract be terminated. 
Upon receipt of such a recommendation, section 342(c)(3)(B)(ii) 
provides that the agency administrator may terminate the contract, make 
a referral to the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs of the 
Department of Labor, or take other appropriate action.
    Under section 342(c)(3)(A) of the Dodd-Frank Act, the OMWI Director 
is required to determine whether a contractor or subcontractor has made 
good faith efforts to include minorities and women in its workforce. 
The proposed Contract Standard would require that a Commission 
contractor, upon request from the OMWI Director, provide documentation 
of the actions undertaken (and as applicable, the actions each covered 
subcontractor under the contract has undertaken) that demonstrate its 
good faith efforts to ensure the fair inclusion of minorities and women 
in its workforce. The documentation requested may include, but is not 
limited to: (1) The total number of employees in the contractor's 
workforce, and the number of employees by race, ethnicity, gender, and 
job title or EEO-1 job category (e.g., EEO-1 Report(s)); (2) a list of 
covered subcontract awards under the contract that includes the dollar 
amount of each subcontract, date of award, and the subcontractor's 
race, ethnicity, and/or gender ownership status; (3) the contractor's 
plan to ensure the fair inclusion of minorities and women in its 
workforce, including outreach efforts; and (4) for each covered 
subcontractor, the information requested in items 1 and 3 above. The 
OMWI Director will consider the information submitted in evaluating 
whether the contractor or subcontractor has complied with its 
contractual obligation to make good faith efforts to ensure the fair 
inclusion of minorities and women in its workforce.
    The Commission's proposes to satisfy section 342(c)(2) through the 
inclusion of a contract standard concerning workforce inclusion of 
minorities and women (the ``Contract Standard'') in solicitations and 
resulting contracts for services with a dollar value of $100,000 or 
more. The proposed Contract Standard is similar to the contract clauses 
adopted by OMWIs of other federal financial regulatory agencies.\2\ The 
Contract Standard requires the service contractor, upon entering into a 
contract with the Commission, to confirm that it will ensure, to the 
maximum extent possible and consistent with applicable law, the fair 
inclusion of minorities and women in its workforce. In addition, the 
proposed

[[Page 8120]]

Contract Standard requires the contractor to include the substance of 
the Contract Standard in all subcontracts for services awarded under 
the contract with a dollar value of $100,000 or more. Accordingly, the 
requirements of the proposed Contract Standard will apply to covered 
subcontractors, as prescribed in section 342(c)(2) of the Dodd-Frank 
Act.
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    \2\ See Department of the Treasury Acquisition Regulations; 
Contract Clause on Minority and Women Inclusion in Contractor 
Workforce, 79 FR 15551, at https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-03-20/pdf/2014-05846.pdf.
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    The proposed Contract Standard requires a contractor to provide 
documentation, upon the request of the OMWI Director, to demonstrate 
that it has made good faith efforts to ensure the fair inclusion of 
minorities and women in its workforce and, as applicable, to 
demonstrate that its covered subcontractors have made such good faith 
efforts. ``Good faith efforts'' are interpreted to include actions by a 
contractor (and, as applicable, actions by each covered subcontractor) 
to ensure the fair inclusion of women and minorities in its workforce, 
while at the same time identifying, and if present, removing barriers 
to minority and women employment or expansion of employment 
opportunities for minorities and women within its workforce. Efforts to 
remove such barriers may include, but are not limited to, recruiting to 
ensure that applicant pools include minorities and women, providing 
job-related training, or other activity that could lead to removing 
such barriers.
    Section 342 of the Dodd-Frank Act applies to ``all contracts of 
[the Commission] for services of any kind,'' but the section does not 
define the term ``contract.'' FAR 37.101 defines ``service contract'' 
as a ``contract that directly engages the time and effort of a 
contractor whose primary purpose is to perform an identifiable task 
rather than to furnish an end item of supply.'' Pursuant to the FAR 
definition, this proposed Contract Standard will be included in all 
Commission solicitations and resulting contracts for services with a 
dollar value of $100,000 or more, and in all subcontracts under the 
related prime contract for services with a dollar value of $100,000 or 
more.

Public Comment

    The proposed Contract Standard is being published for public 
comment pursuant to 41 U.S.C. 1707, which applies to the publication of 
a covered federal procurement policy, regulation, procedure or form. 
Section 1707 provides that a procurement policy, regulation, procedure 
or form (including an amendment or modification thereof) is to be 
published for public comment in the Federal Register if it relates to 
the expenditure of appropriated funds, and has either a significant 
effect beyond the internal operating procedures of the agency issuing 
the policy, regulation, procedure or form, or has a significant cost or 
administrative impact on contractors or offerors.
    Here, the proposed Contract Standard relates to the expenditure of 
appropriated funds of the Commission, because it will be incorporated 
in certain Commission service contracts paid for with appropriated 
funds. The Contract Standard may have a significant effect beyond the 
internal operating procedures of the agency, as it implements 
requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act designed to address minority and 
women inclusion by federal contractors and implements the new contract 
termination authority contained in section 342(c)(3). The proposed 
Contract Standard may also have a cost or administrative impact on 
contractors or offerors, but we believe these effects would be 
insignificant as a result of the overlap with existing EEO laws. The 
consequence for non-compliance could have a cost or administrative 
impact on the covered service contractors, although they again overlap 
with existing remedies.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    The proposed Contract Standard contains ``collection of 
information'' requirements within the meaning of the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 (``PRA'').\3\ The title for the proposed 
collection of information is:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \3\ 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.
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     Contract Standard for Contractor Workforce Inclusion.
    An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required 
to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a 
currently valid OMB control number. We intend to submit these 
requirements to the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') for 
review and approval in accordance with the PRA and its implementing 
regulations.\4\ If approved, the responses to the new collection of 
information would be mandatory. For collections of information not 
contained in a proposed rule, the PRA requires federal agencies to 
publish a notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed 
collection of information and to allow 60 days for public comment.\5\ 
To comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice.
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    \4\ 44 U.S.C. 3507(c); 5 CFR 1320.10.
    \5\ 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2).
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A. Overview of Information Collection

1. Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use
    Under section 342(c)(3)(A) of the Dodd-Frank Act, the OMWI Director 
is required to determine whether a contractor or subcontractor has made 
good faith efforts to include minorities and women in its workforce. 
The proposed Contract Standard would require that a Commission 
contractor, upon request from the OMWI Director, provide documentation 
of the actions undertaken (and as applicable, the actions each covered 
subcontractor under the contract has undertaken) that demonstrate its 
good faith efforts to ensure the fair inclusion of minorities and women 
in its workforce. The documentation requested may include, but is not 
limited to: (1) The total number of employees in the contractor's 
workforce, and the number of employees by race, ethnicity, gender, and 
job title or EEO-1 job category (e.g., EEO-1 Report(s)); (2) a list of 
covered subcontract awards under the contract that includes the dollar 
amount of each subcontract, date of award, and the subcontractor's 
race, ethnicity, and/or gender ownership status; (3) the contractor's 
plan to ensure the fair inclusion of minorities and women in its 
workforce, including outreach efforts; and (4) for each covered 
subcontractor, the information requested in items 1 and 3 above. The 
OMWI Director will consider the information submitted in evaluating 
whether the contractor or subcontractor has complied with its 
contractual obligation to make good faith efforts to ensure the fair 
inclusion of minorities and women in its workforce.
2. Respondents and Estimate of Recordkeeping and Reporting Burdens
    The proposed Contract Standard will be included in Commission 
contracts and subcontracts for services with a dollar value of $100,000 
or more. Based on the data showing the dollar value of service 
contracts and subcontracts awarded in FY 2012 and FY 2013, we estimate 
that 170 contractors \6\ would be subject to the proposed Contract 
Standard. Approximately 120 of these contractors have 50 or more 
employees, while about 50 contractors have fewer than 50 employees.
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    \6\ Unless otherwise specified, the term ``contractors'' refers 
to contractors and subcontractors.
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a. Recordkeeping Burden
    The information collection under the proposed Contract Standard 
would

[[Page 8121]]

impose no new recordkeeping burdens on the estimated 120 contractors 
that have 50 or more employees. Such contractors are generally subject 
to recordkeeping and reporting requirements under the regulations 
implementing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act \7\ and Executive Order 
11246 (``E.O. 11246'').\8\ Their contracts and subcontracts must 
include the clause implementing E.O. 11246--FAR 52.222-26, Equal 
Opportunity. In addition, contractors that have 50 or more employees 
(and a contract or subcontract of $50,000 or more) are required to 
maintain records on the race, ethnicity, gender, and EEO-1 job category 
of each employee under Department of Labor regulations implementing 
E.O. 11246.\9\ The regulations implementing E.O. 11246 also require 
contractors that have 50 or more employees (and a contract or 
subcontract of $50,000 or more) to demonstrate that they have made good 
faith efforts to remove identified barriers, expand employment 
opportunities, and produce measurable results,\10\ and to develop and 
maintain a written program, which describes the policies, practices, 
and procedures that the contractor uses to ensure that applicants and 
employees receive equal opportunities for employment and 
advancement.\11\ In lieu of developing a separate workforce inclusion 
plan, a contractor would be permitted to submit its existing written 
program prescribed by the E.O. 11246 regulations as part of the 
documentation that demonstrates the contractor's good faith efforts to 
ensure the fair inclusion of minorities and women in its workforce. 
Thus, approximately 120 contractors are already required to maintain 
the information that may be requested under the proposed Contract 
Standard.
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    \7\ 42 U.S.C. 2000e, et seq.
    \8\ Executive Order 11246, 30 FR 12,319 (Sept. 24, 1965).
    \9\ See 41 CFR 60-1.7.
    \10\ See 41 CFR 60-2.17(c).
    \11\ See 41 CFR part 60-2.
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    The estimated 50 contractors that employ fewer than 50 employees 
are required under the regulations implementing E.O. 11246 to maintain 
records showing the race, ethnicity and gender of each employee. We 
believe that these contractors also keep job title information during 
the normal course of business. However, contractors that have fewer 
than 50 employees may not have the written program prescribed by the 
E.O. 11246 regulations or similar plan that could be submitted as part 
of the documentation to demonstrate their good faith efforts to ensure 
the fair inclusion of minorities and women in their workforces. 
Accordingly, contractors with fewer than 50 employees may have to 
create a plan to ensure workforce inclusion of minorities and women.
    In order to estimate the burden on contractors associated with 
creating a workforce inclusion plan, we considered the burden estimates 
for developing the written programs required under the regulations 
implementing E.O. 11246.\12\ As there is no regulatory blueprint for a 
workforce inclusion plan, and contractors creating a workforce 
inclusion plan are not required to perform the same types of analyses 
required for the written programs prescribed by the E.O. 11246 
regulations, we believe that to develop a workforce inclusion plan 
contractors with fewer than 50 employees would require approximately a 
third of the hours that contractors of similar size spend on developing 
the written programs required under the E.O. 11246 regulations. 
Accordingly, we estimate that contractors would spend about 24 hours of 
employee resources to develop a workforce inclusion plan. This would be 
a one-time total burden of 1,200 hours. After the initial development, 
we estimate that each contractor with fewer than 50 employees would 
spend approximately 10 hours each year updating and maintaining its 
workforce inclusion plan for a total annual burden of 500 hours. To 
account for this expected diminishing burden, we use a three-year 
average of the expected burden during the first year with the expected 
ongoing burden during the next two years to estimate the annual 
recordkeeping burden on contractors with fewer than 50 employees. Thus, 
we estimate that the total annual recordkeeping burden for such 
contractors to be about 740 hours [(1,200 + 500 + 500)/3 years, rounded 
up].
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    \12\ According to the Supporting Statement for the OFCCP 
Recordkeeping and Requirements-Supply Service, OMB Control No. 1250-
003 (``Supporting Statement''), it takes approximately 73 burden 
hours for contractors with 1-100 employees to develop the initial 
written program required under the regulations implementing E.O. 
11246. We understand the quantitative analyses prescribed by the 
Executive Order regulations at 41 CFR part 60-2 are a time-consuming 
aspect of the written program development. As there is no 
requirement to perform these types of quantitative analyses in 
connection with a workforce inclusion plan under the proposed 
Contract Standard, we believe the workforce inclusion plan will take 
substantially fewer hours to develop. The Supporting Statement is 
available at reginfo.gov.
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    The proposed contract standard also would require contractors to 
maintain information about covered subcontractors' ownership status, 
workforce demographics, and workforce inclusion plans. Contractors 
would request this information from their covered subcontractors, who 
would have an obligation to keep workforce demographic data and 
maintain workforce inclusion plans because the substance of the 
proposed Contract Standard would be included in their subcontracts. 
Based on data describing recent Commission subcontractor activity, we 
believe that very few subcontractors will have subcontracts under 
Commission service contracts with a dollar value of $100,000 or 
more.\13\ These subcontractors may already be subject to similar 
recordkeeping requirements as principal contractors. Consequently, we 
believe that any additional requirements imposed on subcontractors 
would not significantly add to the burden estimates discussed above.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \13\ A search of subcontract awards on the usaspending.gov Web 
site showed that four subcontractors in FY 2012 and three 
subcontractors in FY 2013 had subcontracts of $100K or more. See 
data on subcontract awards available at https://usaspending.gov.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

b. Reporting Burden
    With respect to the reporting burden, we estimate that it would 
take all contractors on average approximately one hour to retrieve and 
submit to the OMWI Director the documentation specified in the proposed 
Contract Standard. We expect to request documentation from up to 100 
contractors each year and therefore we estimate the total annual 
reporting burden to be 100 hours.

B. Solicitation of Public Comment

    We request comments on the proposed collection of information in 
order to: (a) Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information 
is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the 
Commission, including whether the information will have practical 
utility; (b) evaluate the accuracy of the Commission's estimate of the 
burden (including hours and cost) of the proposed collection of 
information; (c) determine whether there are ways to enhance the 
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and 
(d) evaluate whether there are ways to minimize the burden of the 
collection of information on respondents, including through the use of 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.
    Persons who desire to submit comments on the collection of 
information may use any of the methods shown in the ADDRESSES section 
of this notice. Comments should be received on

[[Page 8122]]

or before: April 14, 2015. Comments submitted in response to this 
notice will be summarized and/or included in the request for OMB 
approval of this information collection; they also will become a matter 
of public record.

Text of Proposed Contract Standard for Contractor Workforce Inclusion

    Note:  The Text of this Proposed Contract Standard will not 
appear in the Code of Federal Regulations.

Contractor Workforce Inclusion

    Authority:  12 U.S.C. 5452; Sec. 342, Pub. L. 111-203.

Scope

    The agency will include the Contractor Workforce Inclusion contract 
standard in all Commission solicitations and resulting contracts for 
services with a dollar value of $100,000 or more.

Contract Standard

    The following contract standard shall be included in all Commission 
solicitations and resulting contracts for services with a dollar value 
of $100,000 or more.
Contractor Workforce Inclusion
    The Contractor confirms its commitment to equal opportunity in 
employment and contracting, and that it shall ensure, to the maximum 
extent possible and consistent with applicable law, the fair inclusion 
of minorities and women in its workforce.
    The Contractor shall insert the substance of this contract standard 
in each subcontract for services awarded for performance of this 
contract with a dollar value of $100,000 or more.
    Within ten (10) business days of a written request from the 
Director of the Commission's Office of Minority and Women Inclusion 
(OMWI Director) or designee, or such longer time as the OMWI Director 
or designee determines, and without any additional consideration, 
action or authorization required from the OMWI Director, the Contractor 
shall provide documentation, satisfactory to the OMWI Director, of the 
actions it has undertaken (and as applicable, the actions each covered 
subcontractor under the contract has undertaken) to demonstrate its 
good faith efforts to comply with the aforementioned provisions.
    For purposes of this contract, ``good faith efforts'' shall include 
actions by the Contractor (and as applicable, actions by each covered 
subcontractor under the Service Contract) to identify and, if present, 
remove barriers to minority and women employment or expansion of 
employment opportunities for minorities and women within its workforce. 
Efforts to remove such barriers may include, but are not limited to, 
recruiting to ensure that applicant pools include minorities and women, 
providing job-related training, or other activity that could lead to 
removing such barriers.
    The documentation requested by the OMWI Director or designee to 
demonstrate good faith efforts may include, but is not limited to, one 
or more of the following:
    a. The total number of Contractor's employees, and the number of 
employees by race, ethnicity, gender, and job title or EEO-1 Report job 
category (e.g., EEO-1 Report(s));
    b. A list of covered subcontract awards for services under the 
contract, and for each covered subcontract award, the dollar amount, 
date of award, and the subcontractor's race, ethnicity, and/or gender 
ownership status;
    c. The contractor's plan for ensuring the fair inclusion of 
minorities and women in its workforce, including outreach efforts; and
    d. For each covered subcontractor, the documentation specified in 
paragraphs a. and c. above.
    Consistent with Section 342(c)(3) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street 
Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the ``Dodd-Frank Act''), 12 U.S.C. 
5452(c)(3), a Contractor's failure to demonstrate to the OMWI Director 
that it has made good faith efforts to include minorities and women in 
its workforce (and as applicable, failure to demonstrate that its 
subcontractor(s) has made such good faith efforts) may result in 
termination of the contract for default after the contractor is 
provided written notice and an opportunity to cure the failure in 
accordance with the procedures set forth in FAR 49.402-3(d), other 
contractual remedies, referral to the Office of Federal Contract 
Compliance Programs (OFCCP), or other appropriate action.
    Compliance with this standard does not necessarily satisfy the 
requirements of EO 11246, as amended, nor does it preclude OFCCP 
compliance evaluations and/or enforcement actions undertaken pursuant 
to that Executive Order, or demonstrate compliance with other FAR 
clauses that may be included in this contract.
    For purposes of this contract standard, the term ``minority'' shall 
have the meaning set forth in section 342(g) of the Dodd-Frank Act.

    Dated: February 10, 2015.

    By the Commission.
Brent J. Fields,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-03082 Filed 2-12-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P
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