The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) notified federal contractors that a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request was made for disclosure of contractors’ EEO-1 Reports. The FOIA request was made by the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), a California-based nonprofit news organization, for Type 2 Consolidated EEO-1 Report data submitted by federal contractors and first-tier subcontractors from 2016-2020. The OFCCP notice gives contractors the opportunity to provide written objections to having their EEO-1 Reports disclosed. Objections are due by Sept. 19, 2022. The OFCCP has created the Submitter Notice Response Portal to collect relevant information from contractors that wish to object to the release of the requested data; responses collected will be evaluated to determine whether the requested information includes confidential trade secret, commercial or financial information that should be withheld pursuant to FOIA Exemption 4.
The Portal also offers answers to FAQs about the process, including:
Updated 2/2/24: A California federal court has ruled that EEO-1 reports do not contain the type of confidential trade secret, commercial or financial information that is protected from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and as a result, the EEO-1 data for objecting contractors of the 2022 FOIA request by the CIR to the OFCCP must be produced. See our post.
Updated 10/7/22: The OFCCP has extended the deadline to provide written objections to the notice to October 19, 2022. The agency will also email contractors they believe are covered by the FOIA request, using the email address provided by contractors that have registered in the OFCCP’s Contractor Portal and the email provided as a contact for the EEO-1 report. For more information, see the Notice of Extension posted on the OFCCP Submitter Notice Response Portal.