achieving equal employment opportunity and a corresponding number of different results. These minimal efforts have not been able to counter act the effects of institutional discrimination/ against minorities and women. directed 4/ This term refers to employment practices which have traditionally had adverse effects on minorities and women. For example, an employer will often require that candidates competing for a job meet certain minimum standards (i.e., passing the FSEE) which are more difficult for minorities and women to attain due to previous social and cultural discrimination directed against them. A. Goals and Timetables 1. External Requirement of Goals and Timetables In contrast to the ambiguous requirements placed on each A&O to achieve equal employment opportunity intern ally5/ are the specific requirements imposed by the Department externally. One of the Department's major program responsibilities concerns the requirement that all non-construction government contractors employ the specific, result-oriented policy of affirmative action in order to achieve equality of opportunity in their organizations.6/ An integral part of affirmative action is the establishment of numerical goals and timetables to achieve the equitable distribution and representation of all groups in an organization's workforce. These goals and timetables are 5/ See Appendix F-1 and F-2 (the Department's EEO Action Plan for FY '71, and the Secretary's Order 39-69). 7/the revised Order No. 4, effective Aug. 25, 1971, makes this requirement applicable to both minorities and women. 8 based on a set of criteria which the contractor considers in determining the amount of underutilization in his work force and the time necessary to achieve the full utiliza tion of all groups in that workforce. 2. Role of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance (OFCC) The Department's Office of Federal Contract Compliance (OFCC) monitors equal employment opportunity compliance activity as it relates to the executive branch's proThis activity stems from the require curement functions. ment that government contractors submit affirmative action 9 plans for each of their facilities. The appropriate con tracting agency10/ conducts investigations to determine if a contractor is complying with the provisions of the Executive Order,11/ and the commitments made in his affirmative action plans. The agency can, when appropriate, issue show 11/Executive Order 11246 (Appendix F-6a) requires that Government contractors take affirmative action to achieve equal employment opportunity. cause notices or notices of intent to debar.12/ OFCC conducts its own compliance reviews in order to 1) evaluate the effectiveness of an agency's compliance program, or 2) investigate potential precedent setting cases for the purpose of establishing new compliance standards. 3. plan Internal Necessity for Goals and Timetables The Department must develop an affirmative action containing numerical goals and timetables in order to achieve equitable representation and distribution of minorities and women throughout its workforce. 12/ Rules and Regulations - CFR §60-1.28 Show Cause Notice. When the Director (of OFCC) has reasonable cause to believe that a contractor has violated the equal employment opportunity clause, he may issue a notice requiring the contractor to show cause, within 30 days, why monitoring, enforcement proceedings or other appropriate action to insure compliance should not be instituted. CFR 60-1.26 (2) - Cancellation, termination, and debarment. 13/ S S Order No. 4, 60-2.10; an affirmative action plan is defined as "a set of specific and result-oriented procedures to which a contractor commits himself to apply every good faith effort." The application of such efforts toward achieving the specified objectives is regarded as equal employment opportunity. Numerical goals and timetables are necessary for both ethical and practical reasons. The Department, through OFCC, is very instrumental in imposing this requirement on others and should, therefore, make the same requirement of itself. Furthermore, the Department's role in enforcing and setting compliance policy would be facilitated and its credibility increased if it set sim ilar standards for itself. Affirmative action is also required because a mere negative prohibition against discrimination is not sufficient to deal with the problem of underutilization. Minor ities and women would continue to suffer from the effects 14/ of institutional discrimination without positive efforts in the areas of both upgrading and recruitment. In addi tion, a policy to merely non-discriminate would have little effect in overcoming the credibility gap which might exist between an organization and its underutilized groups. For practical reasons, numerical goals and timetables are necessary because they clearly state policy objectives |