June 20, 2006

It is Time for Congress to STOP Wasting Money, DEFUND National Security Personnel System (NSPS) Tens of thousands of civilian defense employees have voiced their outrage over the National Security Personnel System (NSPS). DoD employees believe it is arbitrary, unfair, demoralizing, encourages cronyism and insults their patriotism. Their verdict is shared by the District Court of the District of Columbia which blocked the labor relations and employee appeals portions of NSPS, ruling that NSPS is "the antithesis of fair treatment" and that DoD tried to "eviscerate" the rights of their employees.

Congress gave DoD the authority to develop a new personnel system but not at the expense of its workforce. Not it is time for Congress to put an end to DoD's blatant disregard for the law and fairness! Contact your Congressperson.

Fight Back Against Outsourcing Federal employees will get another chance to fight unfair outsourcing rules as AFGE is asking lawmakers to pass two amendments that would empower federal employees in job competitions with the private sector.

AFGE is working with lawmakers to offer two amendments: one would give at least some employees a chance to compete for new work and outsourced work, the other would give employees in at least a handful of agencies the right to appeal outsourcing decisions in the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The house is expected to vote on these amendments as early as mid-June.

These two measures are needed to correct the rules that tilt heavily in favor of contractors competing for federal jobs in public-private competitions held under Office of Management and Budget Circular A-76.

Under A-76, contractors can appeal to GAO and the Court of Federal Claims an agency's decision to keep the work in-house. Federal employees have no such appeal rights. If the agency decides to outsource the work, employees are allowed to appeal only through the in-house team's formal representative who doesn't have any incentive, autonomy or resources to adequately represent workers whose jobs are on the line.

A-76 is also a direct attack on federal employees as it doesn't subject new work and outsourced work to public-private competition. Only federal jobs are targeted. Even though OMB officials argue that new work and outsourced work are already competitively awarded, the opposite is true. According to GAO and inspector general reports, contractors get most of their contracts without competing against other contractors.

If OMB is truly interested in savings and is not trying to replace federal employees, it should allow federal employees to compete for their work and outsourced work because federal employees are competitive; the win 80 percent of all outsourcing studies, according to OMB.

AFGE is asking federal employees to contact their House lawmakers to support these two amendments so that we can right the wrongs.