Scientist, lawmakers urge OMB to halt NIH job competitions

Five Democratic lawmakers asked the Office of Management and Budget on Monday to halt public-private competitions for more than 4,000 jobs at the National Institutes of Health, citing concerns about employee morale and security.

By subjecting research and administrative support positions to private sector bids, NIH has distracted employees from their work and "opened the door to unnecessary security threats," according to an Oct. 20 letter signed by Democratic Maryland Sens. Barbara Mikulski and Paul Sarbanes and Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., John Dingell, D-Mich. and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. The research agency also risks a decline in productivity, since A-76 studies require civil servants to spend time competing for their jobs, the lawmakers said.

In a "cursory" review of the letter, OMB noticed several misrepresentations of A-76 efforts at NIH, an administration official said. Competitive sourcing studies at NIH will result in net savings for the agency, the official said. A-76 studies typically result in 30 percent net savings, he added. OMB plans on issuing a formal response to the letter once officials there have had a chance to review it more thoroughly.

An NIH spokesman declined to discuss the letter.

"No one would take issue with the goal of making NIH more efficient," the lawmakers' letter said. "But scientists inside and outside of NIH have indicated that this aggressive approach to Circular A-76 is undermining the advancement of science."

NIH plans on placing 4,600 jobs, about a quarter of agency positions, up for bids by fiscal 2005, the lawmakers said. Scientific investigators, managers of a post-doctoral research fellows program, maintenance workers, radiologists, social workers and locksmiths are slated for or already involved in A-76 studies.

In late September, an in-house team of 677 grants management assistants at NIH won a job competition after the one company vying for the work submitted a proposal falling short of the contract's requirements. NIH Director Elias Zerhouni applauded the outcome and claimed the bidding process helped assure taxpayers that the agency is managing its resources wisely.

But no matter what the outcome, A-76 studies are time-consuming and costly, the lawmakers argued. NIH spent about $3,500 per position reviewed in fiscal 2003 A-76 studies, and will spend about $6,000 per position in fiscal 2004, according to the letter. A-76 expenses could reach $15 million at NIH, the minority-side staff of the House Government Reform Committee estimated.

NIH employees have also spent about 114,000 hours on A-76 reviews, the committee staff ascertained from correspondence with agency officials. This drain on time jeopardizes work on important scientific projects, the lawmakers said.

In addition, job competitions are seriously undermining employee morale at NIH, according to the lawmakers. A-76 studies are causing a "wave of unnecessary anxiety and bureaucratic duplication," testified Harold Varmus, former agency director, at a joint House-Senate hearing in early October.

"Internally, the morale of my staff has never seemed lower," a senior NIH scientist wrote in a statement posted on the "Politics and Science" Web site maintained by Rep. Waxman. "Many of my dedicated workers are haunted by the specter of A-76."

The scientist added that NIH staffers have spent "literally tens of thousands of hours" preparing for competitions. Some have even taken time to picket and protest against A-76 studies, said the scientist, who wishes to remain anonymous. "This will not save money," the scientist wrote. "This will decrease, not increase, work efficiency."