VI. GOALS AND TIMETABLES Our statistics have indicated the serious underutil ization of Blacks, Women, and Nonblack Minorities/ in the Department's workforce. This underutilization is most prevalent in the professional grades, but also exists in the clerical grades, especially in the Field. 3 Present departmental efforts toward achieving full utilization of minorities and women are minimal. The Department's EEO Action Plan for FY '71 (see Appendix F-1) is a series of general policy statements which fail to deal effectively with the specific causes of underutilization. The plan is organized pursuant to Secretary's Order 39-69 (see Appendix F-2) and allows each A&O to formulate its own EEO policy. This delegation of responsibility results in many different approaches toward 1/The condition that exists when a group is either inequitably distributed in the workforce, inequitably represented in the workforce, or both. 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/ directed against minorities and women. 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. 1. A. Goals and Timetables External Requirement of Goals and Timetables In contrast to the ambiguous requirements placed on each A&O to achieve equal employment opportunity intern5 ally are the specific requirements imposed by the De partment 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. rce. 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. 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 plans for each of their facilities.2/ The appropriate contracting agency 10/ 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. |