An Initial Data analysis is conducted on all companies or organizations that are awarded contracts or grants by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania if:

• The contractor received a non-construction contract totaling $50,000 or above or received a construction contract totaling $100,000 or above (DGS Procurement Handbook, Part I Chapter 3.B.7).
• Initial Data analyses are also required for grant recipients that have received a grant totaling $100,000 or above because grants are in the Contract Compliance Program by law (4 Pa. Code § 1.511-1.513).
• In accordance with the DGS Procurement Handbook, the STD-21 must be sent on various occasions:
• Competitive Sealed Bidding awards (Part II Chapter 4, Part III Chapter 4)
• Sole Source awards (Part II Chapter 5, Part III Chapter 5)
• Competitive Sealed Proposals awards (RFP Process) (Part II Chapter 7)
• Competitive Selection [Awards] for Certain Services (Accountants, Clergy, Physicians, Lawyers, Dentists and Other Professional Services) (Part III Ch. 8)
• Guaranteed Energy Savings awards and Lease awards (Part 1 Chapter 3.B.7)

The DGS Procurement Handbook and contract compliance program require the standard (STD) 21 form to be received by the awardee when awarded contracts and grants are above the thresholds. However, the STD-21 information does not have to be submitted by the contractor or grantee, nor analyzed by the issuing agency contract compliance staff, if

• there are fewer than five employees or
• if all the employees are members of the same family or
• if the STD-21 information that a contractor or grantee submitted within the past 12 months is on file, or
• if the awardee is another state agency or state government that has an EEO program.

Yes, all recipients of state contracts and grants are required by the nondiscrimination/sexual harassment clause in the contract or grant to have a written sexual harassment policy, of which employees are informed and which contains a notice that sexual harassment will not be tolerated and those who practice it will be disciplined. One way to fulfill the requirement is to adopt the PA Nondiscrimination Notice as your written sexual harassment policy, and circulate a copy to your employees and post it. Then inform the PA awarding state agency that a copy of the Notice that has been signed by all your employees as documentation that you have informed your employees of your written sexual harassment policy. See Notice below.

The question, “As an awardee, do you agree to include the provisions of the nondiscrimination/sexual harassment clause in every subcontract of this contract/ grant”, means, “If you were to have any subcontractors would you comply with the provision of your PA state contract that requires you to include the provisions of the nondiscrimination/sexual harassment clause from your PA state contract in your subcontracts”.

The question, “As an awardee, do you agree that you will not discriminate, on the basis of gender, race, creed or color, against your employees, in the hiring of employees and in the award of subcontracts”, means that if you were to have any employees, job applicants or subcontractors, do you agree that you would not discriminate against them. See the PA Human Relations Act Section 5.a.3 and 5.h.10 for hiring exemptions for religious, charitable, private, fraternal or educational organizations.

For the question, “As an awardee, do you agree to furnish all necessary employment documents and records to the state agency contract compliance officer and Dept. of General Services’ Bureau of Minority and Women Business Opportunities to ascertain your compliance with the Nondiscrimination/ Sexual Harassment Clause in your PA state contract”, normally the STD-21 information is sufficient to satisfy the requirement. While an onsite or full document audit (the STD-26 Questionnaire for Contract Compliance Audit of Contractors and Grantees - Construction and Nonconstruction), which is when wages are checked for pay equity) may be conducted on any state contractor or grantee at any time, it is not usual to conduct the more extensive audit unless something on the STD-21 raises doubts about the contractor’s compliance. Since that question on the STD-21 is quoted directly from provision “5” in the nondiscrimination clause in your PA state contract, a “No” response to that question could raise doubts about your willingness to fulfill your contract requirements.

It’s a mandatory field because the contract compliance application compares the reported workforce to the census for the selected “county” and generates an analysis to show whether any group by race or sex is under-utilized. However, organizations not in PA will be manually compared to US Census Bureau census data for their state or reasonable recruitment area.

Check for instruction and error messages on the first page and ensure that all mandatory fields have been completed and that there are no spaces in or following phone/fax numbers, federal ID number and your email address field. If that doesn’t work, there may be a system problem. Contact gs-bmwbo@pa.gov to report it.

When you successfully click the “Go To Page 2” button, it automatically saves your page-one information in the database. Then you would use the green “Back” arrow to back out of the STD-21 form and would forward the email in which it came to the proper person. When the “Submit” button at the bottom of page two is clicked, it automatically emails the STD-21 back to the Contract Compliance Officer in the awarding PA state agency for review, and locks the contractor or grantee out of the form.

The email that contains the web address to the online STD-21 form was copied to one or two email addresses. The first of the two (or the only copy) is the one to email for technical assistance.

The on-the-job training grid is to report apprentices, interns, student teachers, etc. They should also be reported in the total workforce grid.

No, the Bureau of Minority and Women Business Opportunities’ (BMWBO)’s Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) and Women Business Enterprise (WBE) program checks nondiscrimination on MBE/WBE subcontracting commitments as part of the bid process. The Contract Compliance program checks nondiscrimination of the awardee’s employment practices of the contractor or grantee as required by the contract. The information regarding MBE/WBE commitments is different from the contractor’s employment practices and workforce information.

The statewide or ITQ contract contains the nondiscrimination/sexual harassment clause, which is the basis for requiring the STD-21. Unless your organization has completed the STD-21 for any PA state agency within the past 12 months, or unless your organization has fewer than five employees or they are all members of one family, the STD-21 is required. If you believe you are exempt from completing the STD-21, email the PA awarding state agency contract compliance staff.

Both grantees and contractors are required, in the nondiscrimination/sexual harassment clause in their PA grant agreements and contracts, to complete the STD-21 form, unless exempt. Unless your organization has completed the STD-21 for any PA state agency within the past 12 months, or unless your organization has fewer than five employees or they are all members of one family, the STD-21 is required. If you believe you are exempt from completing the STD-21, email the PA awarding state agency contract compliance staff.

No, if the construction project prime or subcontract award amount is $100,000 or more the STD-28 Monthly Contract Compliance Report for Construction Contractors must be submitted by the 15th of each month to report on the previous month to the PA awarding state agency contract compliance staff and Construction Inspection Supervisor or Manager. It is due from the initial job conference until the work is completed. See the STD-28 form below. In addition, the Quarterly Utilization Report where primes report their payments to their MBE/WBE subcontractors and MBE/WBE subcontractors report what their primes have paid them is also due within 10 days of the end of each quarter. It should be completed online on the Bureau of Minority and Women Business Opportunities page under Forms & Publications.