EO 11246 Revoked: Certification, Recordkeeping, and What Still Applies

Executive Order 11246 was revoked on January 21, 2025, when President Trump signed Executive Order 14173.¹ The nearly 60-year-old framework that required federal contractors to maintain written Affirmative Action Programs for race and sex, and that authorized OFCCP to audit them, no longer carries legal force. A 90-day grace period ran through roughly April 21, 2025, and has closed. Federal contractors still face significant nondiscrimination obligations under other laws, and EO 14173 itself imposes a new certification requirement that carries its own risks. What has disappeared is the specific EO 11246 compliance infrastructure; almost everything else a contractor was doing under federal anti-discrimination law is still required.

What the Revocation Actually Ended

Under EO 11246, contractors and subcontractors with aggregate federal contracts above $10,000 in any 12-month period were subject to the Equal Opportunity Clause, and those with 50 or more employees and at least $50,000 in federal contracts had to produce a written Affirmative Action Program analyzing workforce composition, identifying underrepresentation, and setting placement goals.² OFCCP enforced these obligations through desk audits, on-site reviews, and conciliation, backed by remedies that could reach contract cancellation and debarment.³

EO 14173 directed OFCCP to stop holding contractors to those affirmative action obligations and to stop encouraging workforce balancing based on race, color, sex, religion, or national origin.⁴ OFCCP has halted enforcement of the EO 11246 regulations, and the contractor portal used for AAP certifications has been closed for that component.⁵

The implementing regulations at 41 CFR Parts 60-1, 60-2, 60-3, 60-4, 60-20, 60-40, 60-50, and 60-999 are on the way out as well. On July 1, 2025, the Department of Labor published a proposed rule to formally rescind all of them, taking the position that the regulations are already null and void because the executive order that authorized them no longer exists.⁶ In practical terms, contractors no longer need to develop, maintain, or certify a written AAP for race and sex under this regime.

What Still Applies

The end of EO 11246 did not touch the statutes underneath it. A contractor that treats revocation as blanket relief from anti-discrimination compliance is misreading the change.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act

Title VII prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin for all employers with 15 or more employees, whether or not they hold federal contracts.⁷ Because Title VII is a statute enforced by the EEOC, no executive order can revoke it. Every Title VII obligation a contractor had before January 21, 2025, is identical afterward.

Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act

Contractors with contracts over $15,000 must still take affirmative action to employ and advance qualified individuals with disabilities. Those with 50 or more employees and a contract of at least $50,000 must still develop and maintain a disability-focused affirmative action program under 41 CFR Part 60-741.⁸ OFCCP continues to enforce Section 503 and has said those obligations are unaffected by the EO 11246 revocation.⁵

VEVRAA

The Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act still requires federal contractors to take affirmative action to hire and advance protected veterans. DOL has proposed separate rulemaking to keep VEVRAA’s enforcement procedures operating independently after the EO 11246 administrative structure is dismantled.⁸

EEO-1 Reporting

The EEO-1 Component 1 report remains a mandatory annual filing for private sector employers with 100 or more employees and federal contractors with 50 or more employees. The EEOC collects this data under Section 709(c) of Title VII, not under EO 11246, so the reporting obligation is unchanged.⁹

The New Certification Requirement

EO 14173 replaced the old affirmative action framework with an obligation running in the opposite direction. Each federal agency must now include two terms in every contract and grant award. The recipient must agree that compliance with all applicable federal anti-discrimination laws is material to the government’s payment decisions, and it must certify that it does not operate any diversity, equity, and inclusion programs that violate federal anti-discrimination laws.⁴

The materiality piece is where the risk lives. By tying anti-discrimination compliance to payment decisions under 31 U.S.C. § 3729(b)(4), the order sets up potential False Claims Act liability for a contractor that certifies compliance and is later found to have run programs the government considers discriminatory. The framework has flipped: contractors are no longer asked to pursue affirmative action goals, they are asked to affirm the absence of certain DEI programs.

Don’t Destroy the Old Records

Revocation is not permission to purge files. Under 41 CFR 60-1.12, contractors had to keep personnel and employment records for at least two years from the date the record was made or the personnel action occurred, whichever was later, with a one-year minimum for contractors with fewer than 150 employees or contracts below $150,000.¹⁰ Records that fall inside those windows may still matter for complaints or investigations that began before the revocation, and for any Title VII litigation. Section 503 and VEVRAA carry their own retention requirements that continue to apply.⁸

Pay Transparency

Executive Order 13665, signed in 2014, functioned as an amendment to EO 11246 and prohibited federal contractors from retaliating against employees who discussed or disclosed compensation. Because it was an amendment rather than a standalone order, revocation of EO 11246 likely ended the contractor-specific pay transparency protection that flowed from it. Contractors should not read that as a green light. Many states and localities have their own pay transparency laws, and the National Labor Relations Act separately protects most private-sector employees’ right to discuss wages.

Where the Litigation Stands

EO 14173 is being challenged in multiple courts and the picture is unsettled. A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit vacated a district court preliminary injunction against portions of EO 14173 in February 2026, holding that the plaintiffs were unlikely to succeed on the merits because they brought only facial challenges. A nationwide injunction against the certification provision issued by a district court in the Chicago Women in Trades case is on appeal to the Seventh Circuit, and additional challenges are pending in the Ninth Circuit and the D.C. district court.¹¹

The certification provision is the piece worth watching most closely, because that is where False Claims Act exposure attaches. Until the appellate courts resolve the conflicting rulings, the precise scope of what a contractor is certifying remains a moving target, and contractors weighing changes to internal programs should track those cases and consult counsel before signing new awards.

1
Federal Register. Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity
2
eCFR. 41 CFR Part 60-2 – Affirmative Action Programs
3
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Funding Federal Civil Rights Enforcement 2000 and Beyond
4
The White House. Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity
5
U.S. Department of Labor. Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs
6
Federal Register. Rescission of Executive Order 11246 Implementing Regulations
7
Congress.gov. Executive Order 11246
8
Federal Register. Modifications to the Regulations Implementing Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
9
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. EEO Data Collections
10
eCFR. 41 CFR 60-1.12 – Record Retention
11
Jackson Lewis. Fourth Circuit Vacates Preliminary Injunction Against Trump DEI EOs