Army denies employee appeal of Walter Reed outsourcing
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., says she is working to prevent contract for base operations work from being signed.
Employees at Walter Reed Army Medical Center earlier this week lost their final administrative appeal of a decision to outsource base operations work as the result of a public-private job competition.
But at a rally outside the medical center Wednesday to protest the impending loss of jobs, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., said she and colleagues are making progress in efforts to delay and eventually stop the contractor from taking over.
The Army's Dispute Resolution Administrative Appeals Board denied the challenge to the Army's decision to outsource the work, currently performed by 350 Walter Reed employees, in a March 20 letter. The appeal, filed by an employee at the medical center, addressed a January 2006 decision to award Cape Canaveral, Fla.-based IAP Worldwide Services the work. That decision reversed a 2004 judgment that an employee group had won the contest.
The Army appeals board concluded that three of the four arguments advanced were outside its jurisdiction. Of the numerous procedural and technical arguments contained in the remaining point, contracting officer Gary Hankins denied all but one, concluding that the employee team had a fair chance to put its best foot forward.
Even though the appeal was denied, Army officials have yet to sign the contract with IAP Worldwide Services, Norton said. She said at the rally that she had secured a postponement of up to six months, pending an inquiry into irregularities in the almost six-year public-private job competition.
John Threlkeld, a lobbyist for the American Federation of Government Employees, said Walter Reed management had made a surprise announcement to employees at a town hall meeting prior to the rally "that an award would not be made for several months, that some sort of additional cost comparison process would be conducted, and that the privatization review would itself be reviewed by three different entities within the Army."
Threlkeld said that nothing was provided in writing at that meeting.
Army public affairs officers could not be reached for confirmation.
Norton and four colleagues last week sent Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey a letter urging him to hold off on signing a contract for Walter Reed, noting that "highly unusual circumstances … demand sustained congressional scrutiny and if necessary, decisive congressional intervention."
At the rally, Norton told Government Executive there were "three or four different options" to prevent the outsourcing decision from moving forward. She declined to provide details, but said she might pursue the matter with appropriations committees and through internal Army channels.
"I would be shocked if, after our letter, they went on in the way they have so far," Norton said, citing support from colleagues on the House and Senate appropriations committees.
One of the key arguments made by the employee representatives, and repeated by Norton, was that the competition violated the 2005 Defense Appropriations Act by extending beyond a 48-month time limit. That would render current activities in the six-year process a violation of the Anti-Deficiency Act, which bars agencies from spending funds in excess of appropriations.
Speaking of the possibility that the announced additional review would result in cancellation of the competition, she said, "[The contractors] won [the award], and you can't all of a sudden say they un-won. You have to have a process, and I respect that. But anyone with even a remote sense of fairness to the government … will have to say 'let's cut our losses.' "
The Professional Services Council, an Arlington-based industry group, fired back Thursday with a letter urging the Army to sign the contract without delay.
"The [Walter Reed competition] has now been the focus of exceptionally detailed and thorough reviews and examinations within the Army and by the Government Accountability Office, which has upheld the Army's actions," said Stan Soloway, president of PSC. "As such, to further delay implementation of this contract is entirely unwarranted."