BLUF: The Department of Labor's (DOL) Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) finalized a rule, effective September 21, 2026, removing references to the revoked Executive Order 11246 from its veteran-hiring regulations and updating the contractor coverage threshold to $200,000.

The final rule, published August 21, 2026 in the Federal Register (Docket No. OFCCP-2025-0002, RIN 1250-AA19), revises regulations implementing the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) at 41 CFR part 60-300. It follows a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published July 1, 2025, and responds to President Trump's January 21, 2025 revocation of Executive Order 11246 via Executive Order 14173, "Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity."

Why it matters: VEVRAA affirmative-action obligations remain in force for covered federal contractors even as OFCCP strips out the EO 11246 machinery that used to be cross-referenced in the same regulations. Contractors that built compliance processes around the old part 60-300 cross-references to EO 11246 administrative procedures need to confirm their affirmative action program documentation reflects the procedures now written directly into part 60-300. The threshold update also means smaller contractors near the coverage line should recheck whether a given contract still triggers VEVRAA obligations.

By the numbers:

• Effective date: September 21, 2026
• Basic VEVRAA coverage threshold: $200,000 (up from $150,000, effective October 1, 2025)
• Affirmative action program (AAP) trigger: 50 or more employees and a contract or subcontract of $200,000 or more
• Docket: OFCCP-2025-0002; RIN 1250-AA19
• Federal Register citation: 91 FR 54234

The rule removes the VEVRAA regulations' cross-reference to Executive Order 11246 administrative proceeding procedures previously found at 41 CFR 60-300.65(b) and instead writes those procedures directly into VEVRAA's implementing regulations, except where they duplicate existing part 60-300 provisions. DOL also removed a reference to the now-inapplicable 41 CFR part 60-3 and struck an unnecessary Section 503 statutory citation from the part 60-300 authority line. Because the $200,000 threshold took effect October 1, 2025 — after the NPRM published — DOL updated the relevant threshold provisions in the final rule without additional notice and comment, citing the technical, previously-noticed nature of the Federal Acquisition Regulation Council's inflation adjustment. In a companion final rule published the same day, OFCCP made parallel — but substantively larger — changes to the Section 503 disability-hiring regulations, including rescinding the disability self-identification and utilization-goal requirements.

Source: Federal Register