Return to Article: Union concerned that passport jobs could be contracted out
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56290
This is a fantastic idea.
Theses jobs are nothing more than data processing jobs - something that we, as taxpayers, don't need to pay someone $20+ dollars an hour (plus benefits) to do.
With contractors - the government can also build into the contract performance objectives so if the contractors aren't performing well, the governement doesn't have to pay (or pays less)or can fire the contractors.
What do they do if a highly paid federal employee doesn't pull his or her weight? Nothing. Their jobs are protected until they retire or bring a machete into the office.
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56193
I do not want my personal documents/information under the review/control of "contractors". Period. I have no use for contractors at my agency who work at higher pay than I, apply for one job and are in the door at a much higher rate than I with little or no competition. And their performance is limited after they are hired.
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56176
These are clerk jobs that are overpaid. If this is contracted out let them do a A76 competition and watch the heads roll for half the pay. There is nothing here that is governmental its nothing more than data processing
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56157
I cannot believe that the federal government is considering contracting outpassport obs! of all the boneheaded ideas - this is just what we need and just what the terrorists count on - American stupidity! Let's hope "the union" is more successful in getting this stopped than they were getting NSPS stopped for DoD (I have lost faith in our union to do anything to help federal employees, but you never know - miracles happen)!
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56022
"Can you say Lockheed Passport Service?"
Oh c'mon, you can do better than that, don't you mean Halliburton Passport Sevices? Koolaid!
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55940
In my opinion it is a done deal! With the current administration in charge, you can bet a deal is already underway to grab this contract. Can you say Lockheed Passport Service?
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55916
This is just great. America knows that Feds have plum jobs, with superior health and retirement benefits. With more Feds than at any time in history, it must be that there are not enough Gov't employees -that explains it - oh, and then there are the Federal unions and their puppets in Congress who do not want me to compete for the same kind of work - heaven forbid! Whats good for the Gander should be good for the Goose and I think we are all about to be goosed again real good on this one.
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55902
To IRS Senior Mgr.(Ret.), yep, we had some 'deadwood' in Customs as well. My main point was simply that government functions cannot be contracted out(IMO)to companies whose only allegiance is to the bottom line of profits. Selling off our country a piece at a time is basically like amputating limbs on a patient, instead of trying to stop or prevent the disease! Look at IBM, here's a private company that sold their rights to laptops to Red China. Would you buy a laptop from them? Anyway, retirement STILL beats the rat race from whatever agency, doesn't it?
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55891
Of course they will contract it out, the contracting companies need the money. I worked as a contractor as a technical lead and was given five people and five months to complete the job. After reviewing the requirements I realized that it was a one person three week job. However, due to the onerous worthless documentation requirements it required five months. We generated an 18 inch stack of paper which nobody would read, but it did maximize billable hours for the company. I quit after that.
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55879
Just take a look today at the articles about the TSA contractor for the CLEAR program losing a laptop with complete application data for 33,000 people. The CLEAR program issues prescreened airport IDs to get thru security quickly. We have totally lost control of this government & need to get it back!
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55870
I would like to respond to US Customs Senior Inspector (Ret.) All three of the big lies you cits are equally true of gov't employees. They do not necessarily do the work better than contract employees, (#1) they are not necessarily more hard working than contract employees,(#3) and the most egregious example of identity theft in the IRS thatI witnessed was committed by a gov't employee, who coincidentily was a Union Official (#3).
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55867
We've seen what privatizing has done in other areas of Government and needless to say it has not been in the best interests of Government. We are paying more for contracts with many businesses making a killing and the work has been below par. Now, we're thinking of contracting out passport jobs...not a good idea. I recently worked with a passport official for renewal of my 'official' passport, which was processed in an expedient method and the passport official was not only personable but professional as well. My concern stems from contractor personnel in possession of personal information relative to not only Government employees but, citizens as well. The agencies where contractors are in the workforce for the most part are failures, many require an 'attitude readjustment' and their willingness to work with customers, whom they forget are to be supported and the reason for their position leave a lot to be desired. In addition, many do not possess the mental acuity to perform the job for which they were hired. I've seen this not only while on deployment but, in CONUS as well. During deployments, I've gone behind contractors and corrected their mistakes due to their not possessing the expertise to work on the equipment for which they were hired. In addition, even though some possess security clearances, those very same clearances have been denied due to contractor personnel failing to respond truthfully on the questionnaire which may not become apparent during the initial investigation or, due to bad credit, which is why many have put in for positions with the Government and/or for deployments. Furthermore, many agencies with contractor personnel on staff have undergone numerous transformations not benefitting the Government at all and consequently created cost overruns. In many instances contractor personnel are capricious, unreasonable and difficult creating bottlenecks or insurmountable problems where there should be none. In reiteration, this is NOT a good idea and Government should step back, see just how well privatization is really working and whether it is as cost effective when this program was initially proposed.
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55858
Here we go again. Another article on Competitive Sourcing written from a union press release - and the beginning of Phase II in the union's effort expand membership by redefining "inherently governmental work." (Phase I was to oppose all competitions for in-house commercial work and get a morotorium on any conversions to contract even if fully justified - in the taxpayer's (sic) best interest, of course. Passport processing has long been contracted out at State. It is recurring, procedural, administrative, yes/no check work. It is not discretionary judgemental decision making nor is it alternatives analysis or selection work. NFFE's Brown knows that verifying information, much less making sure that all the information is there is not discretionary decison making. He also knows that everything the Federal government does - be it by contract or in-house - is done in the national interest or we should not be doing it at all. There is absolutely no connection between the GAO report of visa security concerns and whether the work is performed in-house or by contract. Why bring the GAO report up?
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55855
Gotta keep them dues coming in!
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55848
I think this function should be contracted out to car dealerships. "Buy a new Toyota Camry now and get a free passport".
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55827
If McCain gets elected you can kiss most of the Federal Govt jobs goodbye. Walmart will be the lowest bidder and will soon be doing background checks for passports and top secret clearances. Don't worry about the cost, I am sure they will have coupons in the weekly Sunday edition of the newspaper. I hope everyone remembers what happened on 9/11. The airport screeners were contractors NOT Fed. employees. Need I say more .
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55825
No, no, no! Do not sell out the infrastructure to private industry, ever. Big Lie#1: government functions can be done better and cheaper by the vaunted 'private industry folks'. Big Lie#2: Contractors never sell or lose sensitive information. Big Lie#3: Private industry is far more hard working than the federal/state/local employees. Case closed.
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55819
Does NFFE Local 1998 President Colin Walle want whats best for the taxpayer or whats best for NFFE Local 1998?
This job could be accomplished by contractors. There are thousands of contractors that have security clearances all around the federal government.
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