Sec. 143.4. Contractor work force diversity compliance

(a) Contracting agencies shall be responsible for monitoring a contractor's compliance with the requirements of this Part.

(b) In addition to general monitoring of contract performance, contracting agencies shall be responsible for conducting in-depth compliance reviews on selected State contracts during the course of the year. In addition, the number of compliance reviews a contracting agency shall conduct will be established in the agency's approved master goal plan and may be based upon such factors as the number and type of contracts the State agency awards annually.

(c) In determining which contracts should be subject to an in-depth compliance review, a contracting agency shall, in part, base its determination on the results of its comparison of the ratios of women and minority group members in a contractor's work force to the relevant availability and expected levels of participation of minority group members and women on State contracts.

(d) A contracting agency shall notify the contractor in writing of the State agency's intent to conduct a compliance review 10 days prior to commencing the review. The contractor shall submit and/or have available for inspection at the time of the review books, records, payroll records, and other relevant documentation of the contractor's employment of minority group members and women on a specific State contract for the period to be reviewed.

(e) If the contractor fails to provide the information requested by the State agency within 10 days of the request, such failure shall be deemed a material breach of contract and subject to an administrative hearing pursuant to section 143.6 of this Part or any other relief to which the State agency is entitled.

(f) A contracting agency shall review such documentation thoroughly to determine whether the contractor made conscientious and active efforts to employ and utilize minority group members and women on the State contract. In making its determination, the contracting agency shall evaluate the contractor's efforts based upon consideration of the following factors:

(1) whether the contractor established and maintained a current list of recruitment sources for minority group members and women, and whether the contractor provided written notification to such recruitment sources that the contractor had employment opportunities at the time such opportunities became available;

(2) whether the contractor sent letters to recruiting sources, labor unions, or authorized representatives of workers with which the contractor has a collective bargaining or other agreement or understanding requesting their assistance in locating minority group members and women for employment;

(3) whether the contractor disseminated its equal employment opportunity policy by including it in any advertising in the news media and, in particular, minority and women news media;

(4) whether the contractor notified other contractors and subcontractors with whom it does or anticipated doing business to discuss the contractor's equal employment opportunity policy;

(5) whether internal procedures exist for, at minimum, annual dissemination of the contractor's equal employment opportunity policy to employees, specifically to employees having any responsibility for hiring, assignment, layoff, termination, or other employment decisions;

(6) whether the contractor encourages and utilizes minority group members and women employees to assist in recruiting other employees; and

(7) whether the contractor has apprentice training programs approved by the New York State Department of Labor which provide for training and hiring of minority group members and women.