On January 29th, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council (FAR Council) released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to implement Executive Order 14069, titled “Advancing Economy, Efficiency, and Effectiveness in Federal Contracting by Promoting Pay Equity and Transparency.” DCI covered the Executive Order in a blog found here. The NPRM is scheduled to be formally published in the Federal Register on January 30th.

The NPRM proposes prohibiting federal contractors and subcontractors from seeking or considering information about job applicants’ compensation history. It would also require federal contractors and subcontractors to disclose the expected compensation of positions in job advertisements. The public will have 60 days to submit comments on the NPRM after its formal publication in the Federal Register. 

The White House announced the NPRM as part of its commemoration of the 15th Anniversary of the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Additionally, the Office of Federal Contractor Compliance Programs (OFCCP) released a new series of FAQs on compensation history as part of this commemoration.  These FAQs, which are sub-regulatory and do not have the force of law, state OFCCP’s position that the use of compensation history may constitute discrimination and that contractors “may be precluded” from using compensation history to justify gender-based disparities under Executive Order 11246. 

DCI is analyzing the NPRM and OFCCP’s new FAQs and will provide further coverage on the DCI Blog.