Executive Order 11246 governed how federal contractors hired from 1965 onward. On January 21, 2025, Executive Order 14173 revoked it. The affirmative-action program most recruiters and FSOs mean when they say “OFCCP compliance,” the one built on race and sex, is now gone. A 90-day wind-down let contractors keep following the old scheme until roughly April 21, 2025. Two obligations did not vanish. Congress wrote them into statute, not a president into an order, so they outlived the executive order that once sat beside them. They still attach to every cleared requisition a covered contractor posts.

What changed for OFCCP compliance in 2025?

EO 14173 revoked Executive Order 11246 on January 21, 2025 and ordered OFCCP to stop enforcing race- and sex-based affirmative action. The 90-day wind-down closed around April 21, 2025. On July 1, 2025 the Labor Department proposed formally rescinding the old regulations at 41 CFR part 60-1.

The order was blunt about the agency’s marching orders. It directed the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to “immediately cease” three things: promoting diversity, holding contractors responsible for affirmative action, and allowing workforce balancing by race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion, or national origin. Contractors got a short runway. For 90 days they could keep complying with the regulatory scheme in effect on January 20, 2025, which put the practical end of EO 11246 around April 21, 2025.

The regulations took longer. On July 1, 2025 the Department of Labor published a proposed rule to rescind the EO 11246 implementing regulations at 41 CFR part 60-1 and its companions, noting the order had already been revoked (90 FR 28472). That rescission is a proposal, not final law. It creates no new obligation and it does not bring back the old one. Read the two together and the message is plain: the race and sex affirmative-action program is done, and the paperwork that supported it is being unwound.

Which hiring rules still bind every cleared req?

Two do. VEVRAA (38 U.S.C. 4212, at 41 CFR part 60-300) covers protected veterans. Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. 793, at 41 CFR part 60-741) covers individuals with disabilities. Both are statutes Congress passed, which is why an executive order could not erase them.

The difference between the two survivors and the casualty is the source of authority. EO 11246 was an executive order, so a later president could revoke it with a signature. VEVRAA and Section 503 are acts of Congress. OFCCP still audits both. The market they touch is large: about 5.4 million people held national-security eligibility as of October 1, 2022, roughly 5 million of them tied to the Defense Department, according to the Government Accountability Office. Almost every one of those seats was filled by a contractor or an agency that OFCCP can reach. Here is how the three programs line up after 2025.

What is the mandatory job-listing obligation?

VEVRAA’s equal-opportunity clause (41 CFR 60-300.5) requires a covered contractor to list essentially all job openings with the appropriate state employment service delivery system, at least concurrently with any other recruiting, so protected veterans get a priority referral. Only three narrow categories are exempt.

The clause is specific. A covered contractor “agrees to immediately list all employment openings” with the appropriate employment service delivery system, and that listing must happen “at least concurrently with the use of any other recruitment source or effort.” Post a cleared req to a niche job board on Monday, and the state listing has to be live by Monday, not the following week. The state system then refers protected veterans, and the contractor accepts those referrals the way it accepts any other. If your team is still building its veteran pipeline, our guide on how to recruit veterans for your next great hire pairs directly with this duty.

The exemptions are narrow. “All employment openings” means every position except three buckets: executive and senior management, roles that will be filled from within the organization, and jobs lasting three days or less. A Secret-cleared network engineer, a Top Secret analyst, a program manager on a classified contract: none of those fit the exemptions, so all of them get listed. The clearance level does not change the answer. If you are new to how a cleared seat actually gets filled, the mechanics in understanding the cleared hiring process show where the state listing slots into a timeline that already runs long.

What affirmative action programs and benchmarks remain?

Two written AAPs survive. A VEVRAA veteran program is required at 50 or more employees plus a $100,000 contract, prepared within 120 days of the contract starting and reviewed annually. A Section 503 disability program kicks in at 50 employees plus a $50,000 contract. There is no longer any race or sex AAP.

The triggers are worth memorizing because they differ. A written VEVRAA program is due from any contractor with 50 or more employees and a contract of $100,000 or more, and it has to be in place within 120 days of the contract starting, then refreshed every year (41 CFR 60-300.40). The Section 503 program uses the same headcount but a lower dollar line: 50 employees and a $50,000 contract (41 CFR 60-741.40). A mid-size integrator can clear one threshold and not the other, which is why the size of your shop and the size of your contract both matter. Our post on whether to work for a large or small contractor frames the same headcount line from the candidate’s side.

Each program carries a target, and neither is a quota. Under VEVRAA, the contractor sets an annual hiring benchmark for protected veterans, using either the national percentage of veterans in the civilian labor force that OFCCP publishes each year, or a five-factor calculation (41 CFR 60-300.45). Under Section 503, OFCCP set a 7 percent utilization goal for qualified individuals with disabilities, applied to each job group or to the whole workforce. The regulations say it in both places: quotas are expressly forbidden. The point is outreach and measurement, not a headcount you must hit.

Where does OFCCP compliance collide with classified hiring?

Cleared hiring adds three frictions. NISPOM requires a contractor’s security officials to be U.S. citizens in most cases, the work is expensive to staff, and a narrow national-security waiver can lift OFCCP’s rules on a single contract only when an agency head signs off and notifies OFCCP within 30 days.

Cleared work runs on a separate rulebook for protecting classified information: NISPOM, codified at 32 CFR part 117, which implements Executive Order 12829. NISPOM requires a contractor’s security officials, the FSO among them, to be U.S. citizens except in exceptional circumstances (32 CFR 117.7). Clearances themselves generally require U.S. citizenship. Those lawful citizenship requirements sit next to the veteran and disability duties, not in place of them, and the FSO requirements for a cleared contractor are their own compliance track. It also helps to be precise about who OFCCP binds here, which is the contractor, not the government; the line between government contract jobs and federal jobs is exactly that distinction.

The money makes the stakes concrete. On DCSA’s standard non-DoD schedule, a Tier 1 investigation for a low-risk role was priced at $197 for FY2026, a Tier 3 at the Secret level at $455, and a Tier 5 at the Top Secret level at $5,890. Those FY2026 prices run about 10 percent above the FY2025 rates of $179 for Tier 1, $415 for Tier 3, and $5,355 for Tier 5. A wrong hire on a cleared req is not a cheap mistake, which is one reason the public trust positions, tiers, and investigations are worth understanding before you post. None of that expense buys an exemption from OFCCP.

There is one real escape hatch, and it is rare. A contract can be waived from these rules only when the head of the contracting agency determines the contract is essential to the national security and that awarding it without compliance is necessary, then notifies the OFCCP Director in writing within 30 days (41 CFR 60-300.4). It is a contract-by-contract decision made by an agency head, not a blanket rule that classified work is exempt. Absent that signed determination, a cleared req carries the same VEVRAA and Section 503 duties as any other. The day-to-day tips recruiters and FSOs use to move new hires through clearance live alongside these obligations, not outside them.

What records must you keep, and for how long?

Keep personnel and employment records for two years. A contractor with fewer than 150 employees or no contract of at least $150,000 may keep them one year. Covered records include the job ad or posting, applications, resumes, tests, interview notes, and the hire and termination records for the req.

Both statutes require the same retention (41 CFR 60-300.80 and 60-741.80). Any personnel or employment record has to be preserved for two years, and if the contractor has fewer than 150 employees or no government contract of at least $150,000, the floor drops to one year. The list of covered records is broad and it maps directly onto a cleared req: job advertisements and postings, applications and resumes, tests and test results, interview notes, and the records behind each hire and termination. In an audit, that file is how a contractor proves it listed the opening on time and selected without discriminating. The continuous-vetting lifecycle keeps generating records long after the offer, but the OFCCP window opens at the job ad.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did OFCCP disappear when EO 11246 was revoked?

No. EO 14173 ended the race and sex affirmative-action program, but VEVRAA and Section 503 are statutes, and OFCCP still enforces and audits both. The agency that reviews your veteran and disability obligations is the same one it always was.

Do I have to list a cleared or classified job opening with the state?

Almost always. VEVRAA’s clause (41 CFR 60-300.5) exempts only executive and senior management roles, positions filled from within, and jobs lasting three days or less. A Secret or Top Secret req fits none of those, so it must be listed with the state employment service, concurrently with any other recruiting.

Can classified work exempt a contract from OFCCP rules?

Only through a specific national-security waiver. The head of the contracting agency must determine the contract is essential to national security and that awarding it without compliance is necessary, then notify the OFCCP Director in writing within 30 days (41 CFR 60-300.4). It is granted contract by contract, not as a blanket exemption for cleared work.

What dollar thresholds trigger a written AAP now?

For the VEVRAA veteran program, 50 or more employees and a contract of $100,000 or more, prepared within 120 days. For the Section 503 disability program, 50 employees and a contract of $50,000 or more. There is no longer any EO 11246 race or sex AAP to prepare.

How long must hiring records be kept for a cleared req?

Two years for most contractors. If you have fewer than 150 employees or no government contract of at least $150,000, the minimum is one year (41 CFR 60-300.80 and 60-741.80). Covered records include the posting, applications, resumes, interview notes, and hire and termination records.

The bottom line for 2026

The EO 11246 regulations were still only proposed for rescission as of July 1, 2025, so the exact text at 41 CFR part 60-1 may keep moving through 2026; watch that docket if race or sex data collection ever touched your process. The operating assumption for a covered cleared req, though, is unchanged from the day before EO 14173 was signed. List it with your state employment service the same day it hits a job board. Set your veteran benchmark and your 7 percent disability goal. Keep the paper for at least two years. Do that, and the revocation of EO 11246 changes your headline, not your workflow.