GovernmentExecutive.com

Return to Article: Army Corps delays announcing winner of contest for IT jobs

• 17084
  

  More than 1,200 IM employees nationwide have been drastically affected and to some degree neglected due to the surreptitious manner in which this study has been handled. Should a process so fatal and unmanly be allowed to continue under the veil of secrecy that now persists, the character and word of those involved will be indelibly affected. How shall we have faith in the A-76 committee's recommendations? Our jobs, livelihoods and futures and the welfare of our families have been strenuously awaiting announcement of the winner of the competition.

  The committee has responded to our concerns by scheduling the announcement and abruptly canceling the announcement, without explanation four different times. How can we be expected to continue to deal with this mental anguish and abuse? Yet the committee has callously continued to play with our jobs, livelihoods, futures and the welfare of our families with no regard to our needs and concerns. In addition, for over two years, the study also denied and continues to deny IM employees promotions, raises, career development and the filling of vacated positions. These detrimental restrictions have lasted for more than two years and due to the committee's lackadaisical efforts in regard to the announcement, IM employees are forced to continue their high level of work with no chance of receiving promotions.

  The alarming lack of concern and interest in the well-being of its employees is deplorable. Though we must be thankful for being employed, this treatment that we have been forced to endure for the past two years and will be forced to endure in the future cannot be considered anything less than horrendous. The IM offices support all other offices in the Corps of Engineers worldwide. To be dealt with so feebly and incongruously is quite distressing.

  Despite the enormous burden placed upon our shoulders by the series of attacks over the last two years, the targeted people in IM continue to be very loyal, dedicated and talented employees. We all need to cling to the hope that the A-76 committee still maintains some degree of rational thinking and will finally step forward from behind the cloud of suspicion and illustrate some sense of justice by giving us the decision and in essence affording us the opportunity to see what we are up against. We have certainly earned that right!

  Sean P. McCann Posted June 1, 2006 12:42 PM
• 17078
  

  I have been an IT Specialist with the Corps of Engineers for about five years. From what I have seen in the Corps, almost every person in an IT/IM position works very hard every day to accomplish the IT mission and the challenges are never-ending. The A-76 process has been yet another challenge, and a morale-buster from the beginning, and it seems to just keep getting worse. Of course, we are all on edge because of the potential loss of our jobs. In my district, we have already lost four good IT employees who will not be replaced.

  Corps headquarters is not keeping us informed at all. Most of what we hear is through articles like this one in GovExec.com and through rumors. Thank you for doing a better job with passing along this information than our superiors have. When the A-76 decision announcement was postponed indefinitely for the second time in early March, we did not hear anything from headquarters or anyone until the e-mail from Mr. Navidi, which only gave us the faint glimmer of hope that there would be a "breakthrough" by the end of June. We did not get any message stating that headquarters and Army was working on the problem and they were "sorry," but they would tell us just as soon as they knew something. We got nothing.

  I don't understand the total lack of communication from headquarters. Are we supposed to just keep our noses to the grindstone, not listen to any rumors, not waste any time by talking about the rumors, not let the lack of communication affect our attitudes and just be patient and wait for the official word to come out? I can tell you that is just not going to happen. I believe we have already lost some of our best employees simply because of the lack of communication. Good people are leaving quickly, and we have no idea what the A-76 performance decision is yet. Some people have even speculated that the lack of communication is intentional. The idea is that if we are not told anything that people will leave on their own accord and the downsizing will commence through attrition before the A-76 decision is even announced. Attrition is beginning to take its toll, mostly due to the total lack of communication. The very thing we, as IT professionals, are responsible for maintaining.

  Paul Fowler Posted June 1, 2006 9:33 AM
• 17065
  

  "A public-private competition to provide support services at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, which also falls under Army jurisdiction, has gone on for six years" Wow, the Army is wasting our money doing outsourcing that never gets outsourced. Think the Army may not be capable?

  The Corp of Engineers is a joke! They are the organization that flooded New Orleans and continues to try and blame it on a hurricane! The flood was a result of bad building on flood walls that fell and flooded a city! The Corps has many walls along the Mississippi (St. Louis for example). Many of these are likely to go as was seen in 1996 floods that were tremendous and generated because the Corps had tried to trap the great father of waters and was not successful! However, the Corps continues and continues to rebuild to low standards without a public outcry.

  If the locks and dams are a government job that supports great amounts of commerce, then the commerce supported should pay for the locks and dams! Why are we paying for the support of this great commerce (a subsidy for the farmers and oil companies that transport by river)? This transport is extremely expensive but the expense is placed on the taxpayer and the users are not paying for the services. The entire operation should be taken over by those that use it! If we sold off the locks and dams to the users (even at significantly below cost levels) we would save money if we stopped supporting the operation, maintenance and building of the facilities. I think we should take the Army Corp and put it back in the Army to help fight wars and not subsidies river transporters and build flood "control" facilities that should never have been built.

  Taxpayer Posted June 1, 2006 8:07 AM
• 17036
  

  Communication has been horrible. Furthermore, Dennis is too kind. Missing the March deadline was not the first time the announcement was delayed. Originally, the announcement was scheduled to be made on Dec. 12, 2005. It was abruptly canceled Nov. 21, 2005. We were then given the March 2, 2006, date for the decision.

  Pending in Congress, a new house bill, H.R.5204 (Federal Locks and Dam Facilities Act), is rapidly gaining support. The bill specifically states, "all activities associated with the operation, maintenance, and repair of locks and lock and dam facilities," is inherently governmental in nature and must be performed by full time government employees.

  Today, locks and dams are highly dependant on information technology support. Lock and dam facilities depend on computer systems, communication lines, emergency radios, and other network devices to correctly lock boats, communicate with boats and law enforcement, report the content of cargo, etc.

  In addition, H.R. 5204 says that the Corps of Engineers cannot contract out any functions that support a lock and dam operation unless the function had been contracted prior to March 1, 2006. Coincidently, this date is one day before the Corps' competitive sourcing decision was made. As a result, the IM/IT mission is included in H.R. 5204. Why aren't the leaders of the Corps communicating this bill to any of the affected employees? Are they so matter-of-fact about contracting this out to do it at the risk of our nation's security?

  H.R. 5204 addresses the locks and dams on the river as being critical to the security of our nation's infrastructure. The river systems are the lifeblood of our economy. Huge quantities of grain, corn, coal, petroleum, and other products make their way along the rivers every day of the week. One 15 barge tow carries enough cargo to fill 870 large tractor trailers. If the American public were only aware of how critical our locks and dams are we would not be talking about outsourcing in the Corps of Engineers.

  I too thank you for communicating what is going on with the A-76 process. We were never told it was under review the first time, let alone that it is undergoing its second review. The lack of communication has done nothing except lead to rumors, broken spirits, and the beginnings of a mass exodus of expertise.

  Mark A. Kash Posted May 31, 2006 2:18 PM
• 16891
  

  I am one of the 1,100 information management and technology workers that this article is about. I am thoroughly disgusted with the way the Army Corps of Engineers, and especially the Army, has treated these government employees who have devoted 10 to 20 years of their lives in service to our country.

  These employees were notified twice, once in March 2006 and once April 2006, that there was to be a town hall meeting to let them know who won this contract. In other words, did these people still have a job? Each time the day before the meeting an announcement came stating that the meeting was canceled until further notice. No reasons were given, just that curt message. These employees who have served their country so well over all these years desired better treatment than that.

  Why would Army request not just one but two reviews of this completed A-76? There is only one logical reason that seems to fit this scenario. Army is trying to find some loop-hole to get this contract into the hands of the contractor.

  What nobody tells is that this contract only takes the core work that the IM/IT person does. It does not take into account the 10 percent to 30 percent non IM/IT work that just about all these people do. That is one heck of a work load that a non IM/IT person will have to take over if the contractor wins. Unless the statement of work shows this requirement in it, the contractor will not perform that duty. More government personnel will need to be hired or a change to the contract will need to take place to make-up for this lost workload. The supposed saving to the government will not be there and the training curve will be a lot longer than projected. Unfortunately these foreseen circumstances will not materialize until all the government IM/IT expertise is long gone.

  I also want to thank you for this article because without it I wouldn't have a clue as to what is going on with this A-76. So please take it with a grain of salt when GovExec.com is told that all these Corps employees are being kept informed. That part of the article is a bunch of hogwash.

  Dennis Stewart Posted May 24, 2006 11:28 AM