Department of Energy contractors should consider requiring “diversity training” when developing diversity plans, according to the latest version of its acquisition guide, published this week.
That’s despite recent pushback by Republican House appropriators.
Diversity plans were already required by DOE’s acquisition regulation. The changes published this week, dated June 2024, ratchet up requirements to monitor employee compliance with these plans.
Meanwhile, the Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee this weekapproved a fiscal 2025 energy and water spending bill that would block federal spending on President Joe Biden’s executive orders about diversity initiatives in the federal government.
The House committee had as of Wednesday passed most of the 12 annual appropriations bills and the Democrat-controlled Senate was set to begin marking up its version of the bills this week.
Diversity plans are meant to help the department and its contractors create “a more diverse workforce, including all aspects of its business practices, the workplace, and relations with the community at large,” according to the nearly 1,000-page guide.
DOE’s contracting officers should “be vigilant in reviewing/approving diversity plans with the focus of increasing participation from underserved communities,” according to the latest revised version of the document published Monday. Contractors that do well on this should share success stories with the agency’s prime contractor community, DOE said.
DOE is willing to provide flexibility Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility plans, the agency said. “For example, one program office does not use an approval process” but rather seeks review and program feedback from diversity experts.
Changes incorporated in the last version in December include greater emphasis on accessibility standards for people with disabilities.
Making DOE and other agencies more diverse has been a front-burner issue during the Biden administration. Biden issued an executive order in June 2021 promoting a government-wide effort on diversity. This came after a January 2021 executive order to advance racial equity and support underserved communities.
Spending on both orders would be blocked by the energy and water appropriations bill passed Tuesday.
