Defense Logistics Agency

INSTRUCTION

DLAI 1440.03

Effective Date: April 27, 2018

Accountable Office: DLA HQs, Office of Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity (DO)

SUBJECT: Special Emphasis Programs (SEP)

References:

(a) Subpart 1614.102 of title 29, Code of Federal Regulations, “Federal Sector Equal

Employment Opportunity”

(b) Part 191 of title 32, Code of Federal Regulations, “The DoD Civilian Equal Employment

Opportunity (EEO) Program”

(c) DoD Directive 1440.1,“The DoD Civilian Equal Employment Opportunity Program,” 

May 21, 1987, as amended Nov 21, 2003

(d) DLAI 7413, Special Emphasis Program, September 24, 2009 (hereby canceled)

(e) DLAI 7414, Special Employment Recognition, September 24, 2009 (hereby canceled)

1. PURPOSE. This instruction establishes policy, assigns responsibilities, and provides 

instructions for developing six SEPs, in accordance with the authority in Reference (c):

a. Federal Women's Program.

b. Hispanic Employment Program.

c. Program for People with Disabilities.

d. Asian and Pacific Islander Employment Program.

e. American Indian and Alaskan Native Employment Program.

f. Black Employment Program.
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2. APPLICABILITY. This Instruction applies to all civilian personnel at DLA. Use this 

Instruction with applicable labor agreement. Provisions in a collective bargaining agreement

that conflict with this policy may take precedence for employees under the agreement.

3. DEFINITIONS. See Glossary.

4. POLICY. It is DLA policy that each SEP will:

a. Be a continuing affirmative program to promote equal opportunity and to identify and 

remove discriminatory practices and policies, in accordance with Reference (a)

b. Enhance the employment, training, and advancement of people in the named group, in 

accordance with Reference (b).

5. RESPONSIBILITIES. See Enclosure 1.

6. PROCEDURES.

a. SEP Managers will conduct Barrier Analyses throughout the year.

b. SEP Managers at Major Subordinate Commands (MSCs) will prepare updated SEP plans

and send them to their Equal Employment Manager (EEM).

c. EEMs will review the SEP plans and send them to the DO Diversity and Inclusion

Division (DO-D), by September 1st of every year.

d. DO-D will review the SEP plans and approve or provide recommendations.

e. DO-D will post the SEP plans to the EEO SharePoint Online site after approving them.

f. DO-D will prepare SEP plans for the agency and send them to the EEO Director for 

review.

7. INTERNAL CONTROLS.

a. The EEO Director will review all agency-level SEP plans to ensure they are effective and 

consistent with the SEP policy.

b. The EEMs will review their command’s SEP plans, to ensure they are effective and 

consistent with the SEP policy.
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8. RELEASEABILITY. UNLIMITED. This Instruction is approved for public release and is 

available on the Internet from the DLA Issuances Internet Web site.

9. EXPIRATION DATE. We will reissue or cancel this Instruction by the third anniversary of 

its publication date; if not, it will automatically expire on April 27, 2021.

FOR/ WILLIAM M. BOWERS

 Director

 DLA Transformation

Enclosures

Enclosure 1 - Responsibilities

Glossary
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ENCLOSURE 1

RESPONSIBILITIES

1. DIRECTOR, DLA. The DLA Director delegates authority to the EEO Director to grant 

exceptions to field units to not create certain SEPs.

2. DIRECTOR, DO. The EEO Director will:

a. Appoint an agency-level SEP Manager (SEPM) for each program.

b. Ensure that agency-level SEPMs conduct their SEP effectively.

c. Review all agency-level SEP plans to ensure they are effective and consistent with the 

SEP policy.

d. Grant exceptions to field units to not create specific SEPs, when doing so would not 

advance the objective of that SEP.

3. STAFF DIRECTOR, DO-D. The Staff Director of DO-D will:

a. Review the MSC SEP plans and their lists of affinity awards.

b. Decide which affinity awards to advertise to DLA supervisors.

c. Ensure that DO-D personnel set policy for overseeing and administering the External 

Affinity Awards.

4. MSC EEO MANAGERS. The EEMs will:

a. Appoint an SEPM for each program.

b. Ensure that SEPMs conduct their SEP effectively.

c. Review all MSC SEP plans to ensure they are effective and consistent with the SEP 

policy.

d. Send an SEP plan for each named group to the DO-D staff director for review by 

September 1st of every year.
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5. SPECIAL EMPHASIS PROGRAM MANAGERS. All SEP Managers will:

a. Conduct effective barrier analysis for the named groups, based on the results of trigger 

analysis.

(1) Review policies, procedures, and practices that might contain any form of prejudice 

or discrimination against the named group.

(2) Create and update a list of all policies, procedures, and practices that they reviewed 

for barriers, and a list of the ones they will review in the future.

b. Create an SEP plan for each named group, based on all available Workforce Data Tables, 

EEO data, barrier analysis, and agency or MSC reports. Update the Plan every year.

(1) Each Plan will increase the employment, training, and advancement of people in the 

named group.

(2) Each Plan will list the external affinity awards which support the program.

(3) Each Plan will list the Diversity Observances which support the program.

(4) Each Plan will list all other events or tasks which support the program.

c. Carry out the actions in the SEP plan.

d. Prepare an EEOC Form 715-01 Part I for each barrier identified.
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GLOSSARY

PART I. ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

CFR Code of Federal Regulations

DLA Defense Logistics Agency

DLAI Defense Logistics Agency Instruction

DO DLA Headquarters Office of Equal Employment Opportunity and 

Diversity

DO-D DO’s Affirmative Employment Program / Diversity Division

DoD Department of Defense

EEM Equal Employment Manager

EEO Equal Employment Opportunity

MSC Major Subordinate Command

SEP Special Emphasis Program

SEPM Special Emphasis Program Manager

PART II. DEFINITIONS

Barrier Analysis. The process of finding all barriers to equal employment opportunities so that 

we can take action to remedy our policies, procedures, or practices that lead to such disparities.

The EEOC has provided instructions at: www.eeoc.gov/federal/directives/barrier-analysis.cfm

Diversity Observance. An annual event to mark a nationally declared event that recognizes a 

minority group, such as Women’s History Month.

EEO SharePoint Online. DO’s internal website for EEO staff.

External Affinity Awards. Awards offered by a group outside the agency, such as the Blacks in 

Government Meritorious Service Award. A list of affinity groups with which DLA is working 

can be found on the EEO public website, www.dla.mil/eeo.

Trigger Analysis. The process of finding and consolidating triggers for barrier analysis in the 

Workforce Data Tables, and in other available data. Information that may trigger a barrier 

analysis also includes rumors. A single piece of information may be a trigger for multiple 

groups, but an SEPM may decide to consolidate similar triggers into a single barrier analysis.