Government Executive - Authors - Anika Gupta

DHS agency issues payments to private security guards, reviews disputed claims

Anika Gupta — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0400

A report released by the Homeland Security Department's Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the bureau paid more than $2.6 million in undisputed claims by Aug. 3, and planned to review another $3.8 million of disputed invoices.

But Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., said the House Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, which she chairs, will continue to monitor the disputed claims.

Norton said that reforms at ICE -- including appointing an ombudsman to oversee the bureau's invoicing system and providing training for contract guard vendors -- will help "eliminate security risks to federal employees where they work."

The report detailed steps the agency had taken since July to solve problems with its invoicing system. ICE has appointed additional financial personnel to "provide hands-on support" to the Federal Protective Service, the agency responsible for managing contract guards. ICE also sent a memo on July 30 to all its contract guard vendors on new consolidated invoice procedures and instituted weekly status reports and conference calls to assess progress on contract guard payments.

The report says the agency would continue to make adjustments "if needed."

Norton requested the ICE report to assess progress on paying contract guards, some of whom claimed in July that they had gone into bankruptcy or been forced to borrow money because the government did not pay them in a timely manner. Some vendors found it difficult to meet their payroll requirements as a result.

"This large amount in overdue, undisputed claims from FPS endangered security at federal sites because it carried the risk that guards would fail to show up for work," Norton said.

Norton also has proposed the Federal Protective Service Guard Contracting Reform Act, which would prohibit the federal government from contracting with companies owned, controlled or operated by people who have been convicted of felonies. Norton wrote the bill in response to the discovery that STARTECH International Security, a private guard vendor, had received funds from the government but had not paid its employees. STARTECH's owner had served time in prison for fraud.

The bill has passed the subcommittee and will face full committee review in September.

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Presidential hopefuls sign pledge to back federal funding search engine

Anika Gupta — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, have signed on to a pledge, created by the libertarian-leaning policy group the Reason Foundation and an alliance of 36 public interest groups, to support the principles in the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, passed in late 2006. The law requires the creation of a search engine allowing the public to track federal contracts, earmarks, grants and subsidies.

The candidates pledged to issue an executive order "assuring timely implementation of and administrative commitment to" the search engine principle within 30 days of taking office.

"Every American has the right to know how the government spends their tax dollars," said Obama, who co-sponsored the 2006 law. "For too long, that information has been largely hidden from public view."

Mike Flynn, director of government affairs at the Reason Foundation, said the oath was needed to ensure that the law would be fully implemented. "It's in the classic Reagan line of 'Trust but verify,' " he said. Flynn also said a presidential mandate could would send a message to agencies who might be inclined to dodge the law to protect their image or avoid extra work. But Flynn also said the Office of Management and Budget has done a good job so far developing the search engine.

"We are on schedule to meet the deadline for the launch" of the Web site required by the law, said OMB spokeswoman Andrea Wuebker. The system, she said, should be ready to debut in January. In the meantime, the public can leave comments and suggestions on an interim site set up by OMB in February.

"The more that we can get this stuff out of the dark recesses of federal procurement and into open light, the better it is for everybody," Flynn said. He also said the government should be moving toward a system where all procurements go through a single database.

The law passed with broad support in Congress, despite concerns about whether the new effort would be able to overcome problems with data quality and timeliness in existing systems.

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NASA announces $500 million rocket contract

Anika Gupta — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Officials at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced Tuesday that Boeing has been awarded a $514.7 million contract to construct the upper stage of the Ares I rocket that will launch the exploration vehicle to carry astronauts back to the moon.

A contracting team led by Chicago-based Boeing beat out another team under the direction of ATK, a weapons and space systems company.

"It was an excellent and open competition," said Doug Cooke, NASA's deputy associate administrator for exploration systems. The competition began in January, and the two teams submitted final proposals on Aug. 13. Boeing also won the opportunity to build optional parts for the upper stage. If NASA decides to order the parts, the contract value could increase to $1.1 billion.

Steve Cook, who manages the Ares project, said the competition was notable because teams were bidding to construct a design devised by NASA. "This sets us up with NASA expertise leading contracts," said Cook. Because NASA owns the design, the agency can award contracts to different companies to build the same model again in the future, he said. NASA used a similar contracting system when it first built lunar exploration rockets in the 1960s.

The Ares I rocket will propel the crew of the exploration vehicle Orion into orbit. Ares I's upper stage consists of an engine and an avionics unit, which will take over navigation after the rocket reaches a height of 314,000 feet.

NASA plans to construct Ares in several phases. The agency already has issued contracts for Orion itself, the upper stage engine on Ares I, and Ares I's lower stage. These contracts went to Lockheed Martin, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, and ATK, respectively. The rocket will be ready for assembly by 2016.

NASA announced the award a day before the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and Cook said employees at NASA's Gulf Coast stations were a major factor in the timely award. The researchers had "done an outstanding job through personal hardships," he said, and the contract work will bring workers and research to centers in the Gulf Coast region.

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Union to fight FDA plan to put jobs up for competition

Anika Gupta — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0400

The National Treasury Employees Union "is looking at every possible angle to prevent the contracting out of these jobs," said Colleen Kelley, the union's president. "NTEU will keep members of Congress informed about the contracting out efforts."

Kelley said her organization, which represents about 5,000 FDA employees, had made contact with lawmakers in response to an earlier FDA proposal to shut down more than half of its laboratories nationwide. The plan came to a halt partly due to congressional pressure.

The recent restructuring identifies 332 positions as "commercial," which means the work legitimately could be contracted out to the private sector under existing regulations. The FDA announced on July 12 that it will conduct 13 studies in three overlapping rounds, intended to find out whether contractors could more efficiently perform the work.

The union has opposed the move from the start. "It is a disgrace that given the recent crises we have experienced with our food supply and other imports that FDA would entertain the idea of outsourcing this work," said Kelley, who characterized the studies being undertaken as "contracting just for the sake of contracting."

Despite the union's early opposition, the FDA has yet to determine whether any of the jobs will be contracted out, and the agency has stated a commitment to counseling employees through the process.

"We will provide training for affected employees, [and] establish an informational intranet site and a dedicated e-mail address for the staff to use to submit questions," said Alfonzo Hilliard, director of labor and employee relations for the Health and Human Services Department, of which the FDA is a part. Hilliard wrote to the union when the contracting surveys were first announced, outlining the support FDA planned to offer affected employees.

Christopher Kelly, FDA spokesman, said the agency has established the informational intranet site already and plans to "share additional information" as necessary. "It is the FDA's intent to protect its most valuable [resource] -- its people," Kelly said. He also said that none of the jobs being considered for outsourcing were "directly involved in conducting inspection and enforcement activities."

NTEU leader Kelley did not identify which members of Congress the union plans to approach, or additional steps the union is planning to fight any contracting that might arise. "Through our work to prevent the FDA lab closures, NTEU has developed relationships with members of Congress in many districts where FDA employees are located, as well as with members who are active on FDA issues," she said.

Kelly, the FDA spokesman, added that the studies of potential jobs to outsource are required of the FDA, just as they are required of other federal agencies. "The FDA is obligated to support competitive sourcing initiatives set forth by [the Office of Management and Budget] and HHS in response to the President's Management Agenda," he said.

The FDA has started four of the 13 studies. The studies are slated to end Sept. 28, according to union representatives. FDA neither confirmed nor denied the proposed end date.

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Former OPM employees plead guilty to stealing $27,000

Anika Gupta — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0400

According to the guilty pleas entered in the Washington, D.C., U.S. District Court, the two technicians diverted federal funds into private accounts between July 2006 and January 2007. They worked together to steal $27,510, a statement from U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Taylor indicated. The two admitted that they "knowingly and willfully acted without authority or permission," the statement said.

The former OPM employees will be sentenced on Nov. 2, and face up to 10 years in prison. Taylor said the likely sentence is "six months in jail, home confinement and/or probation."

When the theft came to OPM's attention, the agency turned the investigation over to its inspector general, Patrick McFarland. OPM cooperated with the short investigation, which led to the guilty pleas.

OPM Director Linda Springer said the agency has responded to the problem and maintains high security standards. "As stewards of the public trust, we have a responsibility to ensure against fraud, and we have checks and balances in place to uphold sound fiscal accountability," she said in a statement.

OPM could not be reached Monday or Tuesday for further comment.

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Union makes headway in case against labor relations official

Anika Gupta — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0400

The Aug. 15 complaint from the head of FLRA's San Francisco region comes just six weeks after the National Labor Relations Board Union first filed an unfair labor practice charge with the FLRA. The union claims that Ronald Meisburg, the board's general counsel, is violating federal labor laws by declining to bargain with representatives of the consolidated unit.

The complaint, signed by FLRA regional director Gerald Cole, stated that Meisburg has "committed unfair labor practices in violation of [federal statutes]," and announced that an FLRA administrative law judge will hold a hearing on the case Oct. 9.

Should the administrative judge find in favor of the consolidated union too, Meisburg could be ordered to bargain with the new unit. Should the general counsel still refuse, the FLRA could ask a circuit court to enforce the bargaining order.

The NLRB, which is similar to the FLRA but handles private sector union-management disputes, could counter by arguing that the original decision to merge the employee groups was flawed. Meisburg has stated that he hopes to take the case before a federal appeals court, and has argued that since his office has statutory independence, he should not have to negotiate with a bargaining unit that includes employees outside his office.

"They are looking for a third bite at the apple," said Eric Brooks, a New York-based NLRB attorney and president of the board's union. "They made their argument to the regional director, they made it to the authority in Washington, and so now they're trying to make that argument all over again."

The FLRA certified the consolidated bargaining unit in June. Brooks said employees sought the formal merger only after years of bargaining together. "It made no sense for us to spend time and money negotiating four nearly identical contracts," he said.

Brooks also said that field office attorneys were in the habit of representing support staff and members from other bargaining units in negotiations, until the board instituted a rule that employees could not represent bargaining units other than their own while they were on the clock.

"Obviously that made it very difficult for us, since you can't usually schedule a negotiation at night," he said. "This way, we can still represent each other."

Brooks said he was confident the administrative judge would side with FLRA's previous decisions. "I think that based on the facts that we've presented to the regional director and the authority, and based upon extensive . . . precedent . . . there is substantial basis for the authority to conclude that a single bargaining unit was appropriate," Brooks said. "A circuit court is going to immediately see that is the case."

The conflict eventually could be appealed to the Supreme Court, although Brooks said it was unlikely the high court would hear it. "They hear less than 1 percent of the cases that come to them," he said.

The same day the regional FRLA director issued the complaint, NLRB union members held a protest outside the board's Washington, D.C., headquarters during which they called for Meisburg to resign if he was unwilling to bargain.

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Army suicides on the rise

Anika Gupta — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0400

The figures also showed that of the 44 soldiers who have so far committed suicide in 2007, 17 were in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Although occupational issues may have contributed to some of the suicides, the report said soldiers also suffered from failed relationships and legal and financial trouble. The overall suicide rate for soldiers in 2006 was 17.3 per 100,000 soldiers, up from 12.8 per 100,000 in 2005 and 10.8 per 100,000 in 2004.

The military has stepped up mental health efforts in response to the suicide rate, which has risen steadily since shortly after the war in Iraq began. New initiatives include an increase in the number of caregivers assigned to units deployed for more than six months and commander training in suicide intervention.

Soldiers also will be encouraged to associate with battle buddies and attend relationship building seminars, as part of a movement to decrease the stigma of requesting mental health care.

Some veterans' advocates say the military's efforts still are inadequate.

"They're not educating people about suicide," said Susan Avila-Smith, director of Women Organizing Women, a group that counsels female military personnel who have been victims of sexual assault. Avila-Smith, who worked with the military as a Chinese linguist, said she was posted at a barracks with a high suicide rate, but didn't know it at the time.

"They brush the statistics under the rug," she said, "so I didn't realize [depression or post-traumatic stress] could happen to me, to the guy next to me." She also said post-traumatic stress disorder "isn't a mental illness," but rather "a normal response to the extreme pressures soldiers face."

Avila-Smith said numerous battlefield stresses, including disillusionment with the military's methods, might contribute to an active duty soldier's decision to commit suicide. "[Commanders] say 'Here's the rules,' but you turn around and they're not playing by the rules and that's scary because your reality is different and you don't know who to trust," she said.

It's difficult for soldiers to confide in chaplains, who are traditionally appointed as counselors to active personnel, if soldiers suspect the chaplains might report comments back to their superiors, Avila-Smith added.

She also noted that women soldiers, who are technically forbidden from serving on the front lines, have trouble securing treatment. "[Doctors] don't recognize that women have been in combat but they have, driving Humvees," she said.

Recruitment pressures have forced the Army to extend tours of duty or increase the number of tours so soldiers return to the field after brief stays at home, also contributing to stress.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey Jr. acknowledged in a Tuesday speech at the National Press Club that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have strained the Army's resources, including those for mental health.

"Soldiers, families, support systems and equipment are stretched and stressed by the demands of repeated deployments and insufficient recovery time," Casey said. "Army support systems -- for example, health care, education systems and family support systems -- were designed for the pre-9/11 peacetime Army, and we need to expand those and adapt them to sustain an Army at war."

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Union members rally against labor relations official

Anika Gupta — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Members of the National Labor Relations Board Union from field offices as far away as Hartford, Conn., and Peoria, Ill., attended the rally, which began at noon and lasted half an hour. They marched up and down the block handing out flyers and chanting, "Stop the jargon -- let's bargain."

"He's breaking the law," said Pamela Reynolds, a field support staffer from Hartford. "When [private sector] employers break the law, we drag them into court."

Reynolds, who serves as field support staff representative to the union's executive council, said the rally was her first in more than 18 years of NLRB service. Reaction to the picketing was "mixed," she said, and headquarters employees "might be afraid to speak out because they deal with the general counsel more closely than people in the field offices."

"I'm very satisfied with the turnout," said Eric Brooks, the union's president, of the approximately 30 people at the rally. The union represents 1,041 of the board's 1,705 employees, based in Washington, D.C., and field offices across the country.

Brooks said response to the protest was positive, and that several people took flyers.

David Biggar, who has spent 34 years as an NLRB attorney in Minneapolis, said that although he has picketed with the union before, this was the first time in his experience that the general counsel had refused to bargain. "I hope [Meisburg] gets the message," said Biggar.

"We respect [the union's] right to engage in this protected activity," Meisburg said, "and I have directed my staff to take whatever steps are necessary to expedite this case."

Meisburg, a January 2006 recess appointee by President Bush, has refused to bargain with the union on the grounds that his office has statutory independence and shouldn't have to negotiate with the consolidated entity, made up of units from the field, the board and the general counsel's office. He has claimed the only way to get judicial review of the case is to refuse to bargain with the consolidated unit.

He has offered to negotiate with just the union members from his office, but the union has declined that offer. It filed an unfair labor practice charge against the NLRB on June 27. The charge will be decided by the Federal Labor Relations Authority, which oversees union-employer relations in the federal sector and approved the consolidation of NLRB units in March.

If the FLRA supports the union on the latest charge, Meisburg will be able to challenge the decision at a federal appeals court.

"The original FLRA decision creating a single bargaining unit that includes employees of the board and general counsel blurs the clear lines of supervisory authority," Meisburg said in a statement.

Brooks said the consolidation is legal because it has been approved by the FLRA, and that Meisburg is breaking the law. "We're asking him to resign if he won't obey the law," said Brooks, who is based in New York.

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Lawmakers ask agencies to draw in more minority-owned ad firms

Anika Gupta — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0400

"The Defense and Treasury departments are woefully behind the curve," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who joined Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev. and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in signing the letter. Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick, D-Mich., also signed. The letter asks Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to provide details as to what action the departments are taking to increase the advertising contracts they give to minority-owned businesses.

The letter came in response to a Government Accountability Office report released Monday showing that the two departments lag behind others in fulfilling Executive Order 13170. The order, signed in October 2000 by then President Bill Clinton, calls for agencies to "aggressively" market contracts, including advertising ones, to minority-owned firms.

The report (GAO-07-877), requested by the senators in late 2006, found that the Defense Department accounted for more than half of the total that the government spent on advertising contracts from fiscal 2001 to fiscal 2005, but only 1.8 percent of the money Defense spent on such contracts went to small, disadvantaged and minority-owned firms. By contrast, NASA, which awarded less than 1 percent of all federal advertising dollars during that period, gave 88.9 percent to traditionally underrepresented firms.

Treasury awarded 15.9 percent of the total spent on advertising in the same years, with 1.9 percent of the department's spending going to small firms. Overall, the government awarded 5 percent of advertising contract dollars to these firms between fiscal 2001 and fiscal 2005, the report said.

"I disagree with that amount," said Harry Alford, president and chief executive officer of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, a business association that reaches an estimated 100,000 black-owned businesses. Alford said the amount must be less, particularly since some prominent black media outlets have been bought out by European companies in the past decade. "Those businesses no longer even qualify as minority-owned," he said.

Alford said that if the government wants to work with minority-owned advertising shops, it should maintain a database of such companies and look to that when opportunities arise. He said there are about 50 black-owned advertising agencies in the nation, and about 75 Hispanic-owned.

He also disagreed with the idea that only large firms could create large advertising drives, such as military recruitment campaigns. "It's not like construction where you've gotta buy equipment," he said. "It can be done with a relatively small staff if you've got the background."

Patricia Perez, spokeswoman for the California-based Latin Business Association, agreed. "There are some long-term government vendors who have locks on contracts, so small businesses are forced to be subcontractors getting a very small percentage of the budget to do niche marketing," she said. "[Hispanic ad shops] have the expertise and the skills to be able to do a full-blown general market campaign, if given the opportunity."

Perez said the private sector has done a good job of reaching out to minority-owned businesses. "They give business sessions to small businesses, even ones that do not have contracts with them, on everything from marketing yourself to financing," said Perez, adding that firms send e-mails to minority-owned businesses, maintain "helpful" Web sites and hold contracting fairs. "Those are the things that we haven't seen from the government," she said.

GAO found the executive order followed small business contracting guidelines already laid out in legislation, and most agencies relied on existing training and outreach to fulfill the order's requirements. NASA, for example, offers a three-day training course for small businesses, while the Interior Department advertises contracts to small business trade associations.

The executive order did not set numeric goals for the contract dollars to be awarded to underserved firms.

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EEOC to move call center operations back in-house

Anika Gupta — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0400

The customer service center, known as the National Contact Center, has come under fire from Congress recently, with language pending in the Senate and passed by the House that would eliminate funding for the private program. Union representatives also have criticized the contact center, saying the work should go to federal employees.

The contract to run the center had an expiration date of Sept. 20, but the EEOC authorized a three-month extension to allow time to transfer the work in-house. David Grinberg, an EEOC spokesman, said the agency plans to post an advertisement Tuesday on the government contracting site Federal Business Opportunities for an independent call center expert. The consultant would help the agency draft a transition plan and an efficient permanent call management system.

Gabrielle Martin, president of the American Federation of Government Employees National Council of EEOC Locals No. 216, said staffing will be the most critical element of the new system. "[EEOC] needs to hire and train the right people to do the job," she said. She stressed the importance of training, saying that frontline EEOC staff must be equipped to field "very complex questions."

The agency probably will hire personnel to cope with incoming calls, Grinberg said. But final staffing decisions will depend on budget allocations and the consultant's suggestions.

Federal employees seeking to contact the EEOC still will be able to call the same toll-free number and choose from more than 100 languages, Grinberg said.

The vote to transfer operations comes on the heels of an Aug. 2 vote in which the commission decided not to extend the contract for the center.

Pearson Government Solutions, which was later taken over by Vangent Inc., won a contract three years ago to establish the National Contact Center as a two-year pilot program. When the pilot expired, the commission voted to extend the contract for a third year.

Vangent has 62 employees working at the center and fields half a million calls annually, said Eileen Kassidy Rivera, vice president of communications for Vangent. Rivera could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday.

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Appeals court deals blow to unions in Defense personnel case

Anika Gupta — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0400

The coalition of unions that had asked the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to review a May ruling in favor of the Defense Department will now take the case to the Supreme Court, said Joe Goldberg, lead attorney for the group. The unions represent more than half the civilian employees affected by personnel changes at the Pentagon.

The coalition also will ask that the appeals court delay issuing the mandate that will accompany Friday's decision not to rehear the case, a maneuver that would essentially give the unions more time to work out their next move.

The National Federation of Federal Employees -- one of the unions involved in the case - expressed disappointment in the appeals court's move. "We feel this case meets all the criteria for a rehearing, and choosing not to grant it is a disservice to the 750,000 Defense workers who deserve a fair shake on this all-important matter," said Richard Brown, president of NFFE.

The full appeals court's refusal to review the case lets stand the May ruling by a panel of judges that the Defense Department has the authority to limit employees' collective bargaining rights until 2009, at which time the agency must revert to the labor practices outlined in the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act.

The Defense Department's privilege has come into play as the agency works to implement the National Security Personnel System, which, in addition to the collective bargaining provisions, seeks to tie pay more closely to job performance. Unions have criticized the new system, saying it promotes hiring decisions based on ideology rather than performance.

"[NSPS] is costing taxpayers money needlessly to implement a personnel policy that has nothing to do with performance," said Matt Biggs, legislative director for the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, one of the unions in the coalition. In addition to legal action, the unions have pushed Congress to block the personnel reforms. The House earlier this month approved a bipartisan spending bill amendment that would protect the collective bargaining and appeal rights of Defense employees.

Language to reform or repeal NSPS also has been included in House and Senate versions of the 2008 Defense authorization bills. In May, the House voted to repeal the existing authority of Defense to move forward on the labor relations portions. So far, the full Senate has failed to move on its version of the authorization bill, which would permit the Pentagon to go forward with personnel reforms, as long as the system is consistent with existing federal labor relations law.

"We're very optimistic that NSPS as we know it right now is going to be fixed," Biggs said. "We have bipartisan support."

Lt. Col. Les' Melnyk, a Defense Department spokesman, said that while it is against agency policy to comment on open legal proceedings, Defense supports the personnel overhaul.

"NSPS is what's needed to reform the civilian workforce for the war on terror," Melnyk said. He said there are "protections under the system" for employees' bargaining rights.

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USDA agency launches inquiry into lobbying e-mail

Anika Gupta — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0400

"Obviously, we take this very seriously," said Teresa Lasseter, administrator of the Farm Service Agency, in reference to an e-mail circulated last Thursday within the agency urging recipients to contact their senators to express their opposition to a provision in the House version of the Farm Bill that would reopen thousands of discrimination claims by black farmers. Those found to have been involved with the e-mail could face severe civil and criminal penalties.

Lasseter said she has appointed an independent investigator to the case. "I have a lot of confidence in [him]," she said. "He was trained by the inspector general, and he's not close to the employees."

Lasseter's claim addresses the concerns of critics, some of whom have called for a third party investigation. Among the critics is John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association, who has been working on legislation to reopen the cases for six years.

More than 23,000 black farmers applied for restitution in 1999 after a Clinton administration official decided the USDA had discriminated against the farmers for decades. More than 73,000 farmers who would have qualified for compensation didn't file claims because, they say, they didn't hear about the decision in time. The new legislation, already passed by the House, would reopen consideration for those farmers, and award up to $100 million in additional compensation.

Boyd said the e-mail "makes the USDA look really bad," and indicates a "lack of sensitivity on the part of higher level officials" toward black farmers, many of whom went into debt as a result of USDA discrimination.

"What we need," Boyd said, "is accountability. These people were on the taxpayer's time, and instead of doing the right thing and making sure that small farmers and black farmers get loans, they were circulating e-mails through all of their staff about how to block legislation."

The e-mail first came to Lasseter's attention on Monday. She responded the next day with a message to all FSA employees that included a memo on employee political activity. "I want to emphasize the importance and seriousness of following the legal advice in this memo," she wrote.

In the memo, USDA General Counsel Marc Kesselman said that employees are free to exercise their First Amendment rights on their own time, but are "prohibited from lobbying activities during duty hours and from using government equipment in any such endeavor."

Using government equipment for lobbying activities carries a penalty under the federal Hatch Act but also under criminal statutes, said Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, an independent organization that focuses on agricultural issues. If found to have broken the law, employees could face suspension, fines and up to a year's imprisonment. They also could lose their jobs.

As of now, authorship of the e-mail is unclear. The original message called on employees to contact their senators and express opposition for the farm bill. Reopening the cases, the e-mail said, would "bury" agency employees in work:

"The agency will be required to submit a boatload of information within 60 days of anyone filing which will bury us! Not to mention, most of this information we don't have. Carolyn [Cooksie, FSA deputy administrator for farm loan programs] is doing a lot of legwork in the Senate trying to stop it but FSA employees need to contact their Senators and work hard to get it stopped. The contacts need to [be] made before the debate starts in the Senate."

Lasseter said that Cooksie, who has 32 years of government service, has answered lawmakers' questions about the bill, as FSA senior employees often are called upon to do. "To my knowledge Carolyn has not been lobbying the Hill," Lasseter said. "I have no reason to believe that Carolyn was the author of this e-mail."

Boyd said that he's still confident the provision can pass the Senate, noting the controversy over the FSA e-mail might even help his cause. "Here you have the very agency responsible for making loans to black farmers saying they don't even know if they're going to support [the bill]," he said. "It shows that if the [senators] were sincere about resolving the problem, they would go ahead and back the legislation."

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Lawmakers back ousted hurricane center chief

Anika Gupta — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Reps. Nick Lampson, D-Texas, and Brad Miller, D-N.C., suggested in a Monday letter to a top NOAA administrator that Bill Proenza be reinstated in the position he held prior to arriving at the hurricane center. In the letter, Lampson and Miller said Proenza served "with great distinction" as southern regional director of the National Weather Service. That position is currently vacant.

The letter requested additional documents relating to Proenza's performance and the July performance assessment that resulted in his being suspended as center director just months after being asked to fill the position. The requested documents include any received from the White House.

A similar letter, sent to Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, sought documents relating to the assessment, which was performed by a team of Commerce employees. NOAA is part of the Commerce Department.

The letters follow a July 19 joint hearing by two House Science and Technology subcommittees to determine if Proenza abused his position by speaking to reporters about the need for equipment upgrades at NOAA.

Proenza drew fire because he said on more than one occasion that the center's QuikSCAT satellite, which provides data necessary for predicting tropical storms and hurricanes, needed updating.

At the hearing, headed by Lampson as chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment and Miller as chairman of the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, NOAA Administrator Conrad Lautenbacher characterized Proenza's QuikSCAT statements as "potentially detrimental in terms of public confidence in the center's forecasts."

At the same hearing, however, another NOAA director testified that the satellite was "well past its design life."

In the letters, Miller and Lampson praised Proenza's comments, saying they led NOAA to "begin the first real planning for the replacement of this satellite after years of concerns from NOAA staff." They also asked if Proenza was "put into an existing difficult situation without any support from his management."

Witnesses praised Proenza's performance at the National Weather Service. Don McKinnon, who spoke on behalf of the Mississippi Civil Defense/Emergency Management Association, said Proenza was "passionate" about his work and "took [emergency managers'] concerns to heart."

Robie Robinson, who represented the Emergency Managers' Association of Texas, said that "local emergency managers get the weather information we need thanks largely to the programs and leadership of Bill Proenza" and that "the improvements we experienced over the last 10 years would not have occurred without [Proenza's] leadership."

Proenza is on leave, and NOAA plans to reassign him to be training chief for the Silver Spring, Md.-based Office of Climate, Water and Weather Services. He has asked to resume his duties as hurricane center director, but Lampson and Miller did not endorse that request in their letter. A spokeswoman said she "could not comment" on the lawmakers' reasons.

NOAA did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

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GSA raises lodging per diem

Anika Gupta — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0400

The new rate will be $70 per night, up from $60 in fiscal 2007, according to an announcement in the Federal Register. The meals and incidental expenses per diem will stay at $39.

GSA developed the higher rate from lodging industry estimates of average nightly cost. The new rates apply for fiscal 2008, which will begin Oct. 1.

Although the standard per diem applies to locations within the continental United States, most metropolitan centers have their own, often higher, per diem allowances. In areas such as Manhattan and Washington, D.C., per diem allowances vary by season.

The Washington per diem, for instance, will be $201 per night for lodging in 2008, except for next July and August, when it will be $154 per night. Meals and incidental expenses will be $64 per day year-round.

GSA also designated two Virginia towns as nonstandard areas. Both Abingdon and Blacksburg were previously classified as standard areas. The per diem for Abingdon will be $72 per night for lodging and $49 for meals. The per diem for Blacksburg will be $77 per night, with $54 for meals and incidentals.

The complete set of per diem rates for fiscal 2008, broken down by location and season, is available at GSA's Web site.

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EEOC votes not to extend contract for customer service center

Anika Gupta — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0400

The four-member commission split 2-2 in the July 26 vote, which by agency rules means the contract cannot be extended, said an agency official who declined to be named because negotiations are ongoing. The future of the program remains uncertain, although the official confirmed that the EEOC might bring the operation back in-house. Other options include a short-term extension of the contract.

EEOC Commissioner Stuart Ishimaru, who voted against the customer service hub all three times it has been considered, said he is disappointed by the initiative's performance. "I was a consistent voice against having this, but I hoped it would work," he said. "Frankly, it hasn't. It makes more sense for EEOC employees to be doing this work."

Ishimaru added that the call center was established because EEOC offices lacked staff, not because they offered poor customer service.

At present, the hub -- called the National Contact Center -- employs 62 customer service representatives and handles an estimated half million phone calls annually at its Kansas location, said Eileen Cassidy Rivera, vice president of communications for Vangent, the company that took over Pearson Government Solutions and now runs the center. The customer service hub has handled over a million calls since it opened in February 2005 as a two-year pilot program. The center's establishment was the first stage of a three-part EEOC reform effort aimed at freeing field office staff for other tasks.

Lawmakers also are attempting to shape the fate of the center.

The House recently passed an appropriations bill that includes language aimed at shutting down the contract. The language also appears in a Senate version that has not yet passed.

The Bush administration responded with a statement that supports the service center, estimating it saves $3 million annually.

Union leaders, who have long opposed outsourcing the customer service work, hailed the commission vote and the congressional action.

"I'm pretty confident Congress understands the problem with the call center," said Gabrielle Martin, president of the American Federation of Government Employees National Council of EEOC Locals No. 216. She pointed to a July 2007 survey by the union, in which 77 out of the 100 field officers who responded did not think the center improved customer service.

The most recent independent study by the EEOC's inspector general found that "managers and employees expected the [service center] would lighten workload for field offices far more than it actually [had]."

Both Rivera and the EOCC spokesman said the National Contact Center had been reformed in response to the IG report.

An EEOC spokesman said the agency has contingency plans in place should Congress pass the pending measure, but Ishimaru disagreed. "When you ask what we're going to do on Sept. 20, you don't get much of answer," he said. "Do you send the calls back to the offices directly? Do you parcel them out so they go to certain places and not others? All of those questions are important ones. No answer has been proffered."

The agency is currently short one commissioner. Martin noted that if that position is filled, the new commissioner could sway the vote.

Should the agency bring the work back in house, more staff would be needed to handle calls, Martin said. "[The EEOC] should be hiring," she said.

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Lawmakers probe claims of improper influence over science

Anika Gupta — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0400

The hearing focused on two recent disputes between scientists and policy-makers at Interior Department agencies. The first, over potential vice presidential influence at the Fish and Wildlife Service, was highlighted in a June 27 Washington Post story that concluded Cheney subverted scientific findings about a species of endangered fish that lives in Oregon's Klamath River.

According to the article, government scientists found in 2001 that maintaining water levels in the basin was necessary for the survival of an endangered species of salmon, and the Bureau of Reclamation was forced to halt water deliveries to regional farmers. The Post reported that Cheney secretly found a way to bring the initial scientific findings into question, resulting in a decision to resume deliveries in 2002 and "the largest fish kill the West had ever seen."

The Interior Department's inspector general looked into the Klamath River decision in 2004 at the request of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. At the time, the IG's office found no proof that politics had affected the scientific basis of the decision. In a letter to Kerry, the IG stated, "We found no evidence of political interference affecting the decisions pertaining to the water in the Klamath project."

Mary Kendall, Interior's deputy inspector general, said at Tuesday's hearing that the 2004 report grew out of allegations against Karl Rove. Although she stood by the conclusion that Rove exerted no influence over the process, she acknowledged that it was possible the report could have overlooked Cheney's influence.

"Knowing what you now know, would you go back and look for signs [of Cheney's involvement]?" asked Rep. Nick Rahall II, D-W.Va., chairman of the committee.

Kendall said she would.

The hearing also examined the recent resignation of Julie MacDonald, former deputy assistant secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks. MacDonald, a political appointee, resigned on May 1, after an inspector general report found she leaked sensitive government information and bullied agency biologists into changing or misreporting scientific facts about endangered species habitats. The Fish and Wildlife Service announced on July 20 that it plans to review eight key endangered species decisions that MacDonald might have influenced.

Despite the IG report, MacDonald did not resign until shortly before she was scheduled to appear at a committee oversight hearing.

Kendall said that although MacDonald's conduct was "improper, it was not illegal," meaning she could not be prosecuted for her actions.

"What policies can be applied to ensure this doesn't happen again?" asked Rep. George Miller, D-Calif.

John Seeba, assistant inspector general for auditing at the Commerce Department, said agency decisions should be reviewed by independent scientists. Kendall added that although inspectors general can review appointees, as was the case with MacDonald, following up on ethics violations is a congressional responsibility, since inspectors general cannot unmake presidential appointment decisions.

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House lawmaker joins bid to end TSA contracting exemption

Anika Gupta — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Rep. Christopher Carney, D-Pa., proposed the legislation shortly after a hearing Wednesday before the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Management, Investigations and Oversight, of which he is the chairman. He was not dissuaded by the testimony of Homeland Security and TSA officials, who said they support the exemption and have the resources to continue it.

Carney said in a statement that allowing TSA to follow separate rules "creates an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy, decreases competition and shuts out small businesses from too many contracting opportunities."

Several witnesses agreed, testifying that ending the exemption will enable better oversight of and fairer competition for TSA contracts.

TSA manages contracts through the Acquisition Management System, a scheme adopted from the Federal Aviation Administration when TSA was formed in 2001. The rest of the Homeland Security Department operates under the Federal Acquisition Regulation, the set of rules that applies nearly everywhere else in government.

In addition to mechanical differences between the two systems, TSA is exempt from the "full and open competition" required under the standard rules. It also relies on its own process for handling challenges of contract awards, rather than the Government Accountability Office bid protest process other agencies use.

Although the exemptions were implemented to allow TSA to award emergency contracts quickly and efficiently, David Bodenheimer, a lawyer who specializes in government contracts, said that the opposite has occurred.

"TSA procurements have a disheartening history of schedule delays, cost overruns and performance shortfalls," Bodenheimer said. "Following the rules -- including competition and FAR -- will yield faster, cheaper and better acquisition results than continuing with TSA's exemption."

Alan Chvotkin, senior vice president of the Professional Services Council, a group that represents contractors, said bringing TSA under FAR will "expand opportunities for greater small business participation." He said small businesses lack the resources to train staff in separate TSA and DHS regulations.

But government witnesses said TSA needs the extra flexibility possible under the different system. "Under FAR, communication is regulated," said Rick Gunderson, TSA's assistant administrator for acquisition. He said the regulations "drag out the procurement process." With AMS, Gunderson said, TSA can focus on companies that are likely to win the award.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said in a statement he was "concerned about the cost of having two systems, in terms of training staff, conducting oversight and fostering departmental integration."

But Elaine Duke, chief procurement officer for DHS, said she had no problems recruiting the necessary staff, and that AMS was a superior system because it allowed contracting officers to "make more judgment calls." When asked why she didn't push AMS for the entire department, Duke said the idea "wouldn't be entertained in earnest [by Congress.]"

Carney was not the only lawmaker to remain opposed to the separate system. Thompson said "removing TSA's exemption . . . is a good start."

Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, planned to introduce the same measure Wednesday in the Senate. The Senate last week voted unanimously to accept an appropriations bill amendment that would accomplish the same thing. But the appropriations bill has yet to be completed. An identical amendment passed the Senate last year but did not make it into the final legislation.

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Senators consider steps to enforce small business goals

Anika Gupta — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Witnesses agreed that the lack of measures to hold agencies accountable for meeting goals is the most significant hurdle facing small businesses that work with the government, ahead of bundling contracts into large agreements less attainable for small companies and payment problems in subcontracts.

Under current statutes, the government is required to award 23 percent of all contract dollars to small businesses. The Small Business Administration reported that agencies awarded 25.4 percent of fiscal 2005 contract dollars to small businesses.

But there are no penalties for agencies that do not meet the 23 percent goal, the witnesses said. Some of the larger agencies, such as the Energy and Education departments, report very low percentages

"I asked a small business representative from one of the major agencies what happens to you if you don't meet your goal," said Magdalah Silva, a small business owner who represented the group Women Impacting Public Policy. "He told me he gives himself a stern talking to. We have objectives, but nobody's enforcing it."

If agencies faced more serious consequences for not meeting the goal, then they would make a more aggressive effort to market to and work with small businesses, Silva said.

"Procurement officials throughout the country are breaking [the] statutes," said Ronald Newlan, chairman of the HUBZone Contractors National Council, a group that represents small companies operating in historically underutilized business areas. "They break them on a yearly basis, and they get away with it." "Accountability, accountability, seems to be leaping out here," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., chairman of the committee. Some witnesses also expressed doubts as to whether agencies accurately report how they distribute contracts.

The Defense Department, which awards more contracts than any other agency, claims to meet the small business goal. But Todd McCracken, president of the National Small Business Association, said the numbers are misleading because the Defense Department automatically excludes small companies from lucrative overseas contracts.

"There have been a lot of doubts about those numbers," said Kathryn Seck, spokeswoman for the committee. "There might be some creative math involved in reaching those goals."

Recent legislation might change the targets altogether. A House bill introduced in April, H.R. 1873, would change the small business requirement to 30 percent of all contract dollars.

The Senate attempted to pass similar legislation last year, but the measure did not gain the necessary votes. Kerry plans to introduce a bill by the end of the year.

"We're going to do something that is measured and that has a chance to succeed," Kerry said. "It won't be perfect, but it will be a good start."

Seck said the bill might incorporate aspects of the House legislation, including language about changing the percentage. She declined to give more details because the legislation still is incomplete.

The bill also might address accountability and enforcement concerns. "Senator Kerry wants to get to the bottom of this accountability issue," Seck said. "We'll see what steps we can take in legislation that would put teeth into law."

She added that the solution might not be entirely legislative. "I don't know how far we can go in that direction," she said. "Part of it might not be changing the law but making the agencies comply with the law."

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DHS to review $8 million in unpaid security contract invoices

Anika Gupta — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

ICE owes the money to about 21 contract guard vendors, said Julie Myers, the agency's assistant secretary. The agency plans to review its entire backlog of unpaid invoices by Aug. 3, and to pay any debts the week after that, she said. Myers said most of the payment problems arose with older contracts for guards hired in the Washington, D.C., area.

Myers said ICE already had centralized its invoicing system, resolved some of its outstanding debts and appointed an ombudsman to oversee invoices and "liaison with contractors." The agency hopes to prevent future problems through training that will enforce a "customer service mentality" among federal agents who handle invoices, she said.

The announcement came on the heels of several congressional hearings about contract guards, and a week after several capital area guards walked out of the job because they hadn't been paid.

At Tuesday's press conference on the reforms, Robert Jenkins, owner of Washington, D.C.-based Jenkins Security Consultants, downplayed news of the walkout, saying "I don't like to talk about these things." He said the company resorted to emergency staffing to maintain security during the walkout.

Jenkins lauded the government for addressing the problem. "We are beginning to get some action," he said. "Back invoices are being taken care of."

But the head of another company said the government had not made enough progress. Keith Howard, who owned Area-Wide Electronic Solutions Inc. in Maryland, also attended the press conference as a spectator. At the end, he stood up and claimed that his business was driven into bankruptcy because the government did not pay him money it owed him.

"I am devastated," Howard said. "I am asking for your help." Myers said the situation would be taken care of.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., who co-hosted the conference, lauded ICE's actions. "Small businesses go out of business all the time," Norton said. "Our job is to make sure they don't go out of business at the fault of the federal government."

She also announced that she will file a bill prohibiting the Federal Protective Service -- the arm of ICE responsible for securing government facilities -- from contracting with guard companies owned or controlled by people with felony convictions.

Holmes' bill addresses security concerns that arose when FPS contracted with Systems Training and Research Technologies (STARTECH), a guard service whose vice president for business development, Weldon Waites, had been convicted of money laundering and fraud. Witnesses at a hearing in late June said Waites' financial mismanagement kept the company from making payroll. The government has since terminated its contract with STARTECH.

"This was a loophole in existing law," Norton said. "We just gotta close the loophole, and that will take care of the future."

Norton said that contracting with businesses whose managers have a history of ethics violations could put the nation's security at risk and increase payroll problems at poorly managed businesses. She said ICE's reforms combined with her bill would bring about fairness for security contractors.

Contract security guards Norton said, "are as essential to protecting federal employees and sites as members of the FPS."

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Undercover officials get license to buy dirty bomb materials

Anika Gupta — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

staff report released Thursday by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Investigations in conjunction with a hearing. GAO's findings, published in separate testimony, exposed potentially serious vulnerabilities in the licensing process.

In October 2006, GAO agents working at the request of the Senate subcommittee applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license to purchase mechanical equipment that contained sealed amounts of radioactive materials. The agents filed the application in the name of a bogus business.

Radioactive materials play a key role in food processing, medical treatment and mining equipment. The particular materials the agency sought -- Cesium 137 and Americium 241 -- are both common in moisture and density gauges.

Under current law, any company that wants to use devices with radioactive components must get a license either from NRC or from a regulatory body in an "agreement state" -- one that is compliant with NRC regulations and has the authority to grant radioactive material licenses.

NRC approved the bogus application within four weeks and mailed the license to the company. GAO reported that the agents who carried out the scheme "did not need to leave their office in Washington," except to post letters from another state, and they gathered necessary information about the application process from NRC's Web site.

GAO agents then illegally modified the license by authorizing the bogus company to purchase greater amounts of radioactive material than permitted by the original license.

When officials faxed the false license to two machinery suppliers, neither realized the license was forged, and both offered to sell the higher amount of radioactive material to the bogus business.

GAO officials said that with more time and money, they could have amassed enough radioactive material to threaten "permanent damage to a person who handled [it], or was otherwise in contact with [it], for some hours."

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations body that regulates global nuclear safety, categorized the equipment the GAO sought to purchase as Category 3. IAEA's categories for radioactive material run from 1-5, with 1 being the most likely to cause permanent injury and 5 being the least likely to do so.

According to IAEA guidelines, any explosive manufactured from the materials GAO sought would have been unlikely to permanently injure people in the immediate vicinity. But it could have caused temporary injuries or economic disruption, and would have needed to be cleaned up in accordance with international standards.

In early June, NRC temporarily suspended its licensing program in response to GAO's concerns. "Clearly, GAO's findings have brought into question the effectiveness of our [previous] guidance and are a cause for concern," said Edward McGaffigan Jr., NRC commissioner, in a statement. McGaffigan said NRC immediately changed its licensing procedure to require on-site inspections or in-office meetings with new materials license applicants.

The agency also plans to re-examine licenses already issued and implement new security measures in the licensing process, McGaffigan said.

GAO recommended stricter standards for examining NRC license applications, periodic reviews of application examiners and stronger measures to prevent counterfeit licenses.

Both GAO and NRC's inspector general previously had raised concerns about potential security gaps in NRC's licensing system.

If examiners had performed "even a minimal amount of screening," said GAO, "they would have developed serious doubts about our application."

The GAO agents withdrew their license application in Maryland, an agreement state, after an examiner insisted on a site visit prior to granting the license.

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Justice IG calls for jurisdiction over attorneys

Anika Gupta — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Justice Department lawyers investigating, litigating and providing legal advice are exempt from IG oversight, and have been since the Inspector General Act was passed in 1978. Glenn Fine, the department's IG, said the loophole prevents the Office of the Inspector General "from investigating an entire class of misconduct allegations."

At the time the Inspector General Act was passed, the Justice Department received permission not to establish an IG office, because its Office of Professional Responsibility already handled allegations of misconduct. The department also argued that "because of its law enforcement and litigation functions, the Justice Department was different from other agencies and did not need an inspector general," Fine said in his testimony.

In 1989, the Justice Department established an IG office but limited its jurisdiction. The office has expanded its oversight to include law enforcement officers, including FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration agents. But allegations of attorney misconduct -- even for high-ranking attorneys such as the attorney general and the deputy attorney general -- still go to the Office of Professional Responsibility.

Fine's suggestions come at a critical time for the Justice Department, as allegations of attorney general and deputy attorney general misconduct arose in relation to the 2006 firings of eight U.S. attorneys. Investigations into those firings were assigned to the Office of Professional Responsibility, but the IG office appealed the assignment and assumed joint responsibility for the ongoing investigation.

Fine said the divided jurisdiction hampers impartial treatment of misconduct claims. "It permits an attorney general to assign an investigation that raises questions about his conduct to an entity that reports to and is supervised by the attorney general and lacks the independence guaranteed by the IG Act," Fine said. He also raised concerns that the Office of Professional Responsibility does not operate transparently or publicly release any of its reports.

"I agree with you," said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., chairman of the committee.

The committee called the hearing to examine potential barriers to the independence of IGs across government.

Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, said some inspector general offices do not have independent general counsels to provide legal advice.

Brian cited the Defense Department, where the IG relies on legal advice provided by the Pentagon's general counsel lawyers. The arrangement undermines the independence of the Defense Department's IG, since the Pentagon "general counsel's role is to protect the agency, whereas an IG's role is to investigate it," she said.

A former IG for the Defense Department, Eleanor Hill, said that while she hadn't had any problems working with Pentagon lawyers during her tenure, her situation "was unique," and that "as a rule, IGs should have their own general counsel."

The hearing also covered aspects of legislation (S.1723) that has been proposed to enhance the efficiency and independence of all inspector general offices. If passed, the measure would set a fixed term for IGs, raise salaries and permit IGs to submit budget requests directly to Congress and the Office of Management and Budget.

The provision to raise IG salaries -- which witnesses said often lag behind those of other senior executives -- won the support of Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, ranking member of the committee, who introduced a bill (S. 680) in February that would provide the pay raise. The other measures met with mixed reactions from both senators and witnesses.

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Labor Department halts outsourcing of administrative jobs

Anika Gupta — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Last Tuesday's cancellation came in response to the enactment of an emergency supplemental spending bill (H.R. 2206) with language declaring all workers within Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration exempt from public-private competition, a department spokeswoman said. More than 20 percent of the workers affected worked at the mine safety agency.

According to rules governing public-private competitions, if the department wants to put the non-MSHA jobs up for bid, it will have to start a new competition. As of now, the agency has no plans to do so, the spokeswoman said.

GAP Solutions Inc. of Reston, Va., won the original competition in May, but had yet to sign a contract.

Union leaders who have fought the competition hailed the department's move as a victory. Eleanor Lauderdale, executive vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees chapter that represents the affected employees, said the cancellation was partly prompted by union opposition.

"We have been fighting this from the beginning," Lauderdale said. The union filed a grievance June 1 on the grounds that the competition targeted minority and older women, and organized a rally June 6 to protest the competition.

"Many times, these contractors will hire back federal workers to do the same jobs they did before," Lauderdale said. "But [the contractor] will offer a lower salary and fewer health and retirement benefits."

According to Lauderdale, the affected positions entailed a wide array of tasks not easily classifiable as administrative support jobs. "A lot of them were secretaries, but there were also jobs like 'EEO assistant' that were being outsourced," she said. Lauderdale said that although affected employees had been offered early retirement, none had accepted.

OMB tracks the status of agency competitions in annual competitive sourcing reports. The fiscal 2006 report showed that the Labor Department announced six competitions that year, representing the third-highest number out of the major agencies reviewed, behind the Defense Department (35) and NASA (26).

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Lawmakers criticize post-Katrina funding appeals process

Anika Gupta — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who serves as ranking member on the Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery, asked whether it would be "viable to set up an arbitration concept to aid in reconstruction." If appointed, a third party would be able to review and decide funding appeals made by cities to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA would be bound by the third party's decision.

Under current procedure, FEMA allots a certain amount of funding for a public reconstruction undertaking. Should local officials feel the allotment is insufficient, they can either sue the government or file an appeal with FEMA. Stevens said the system lacks independence, since the people who handle the appeals are the same ones who make the original funding decisions.

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., expressed concern that the appeals dialogue between FEMA and local officials could drag on for more than a year. "There is no open objective independent arbitration," said Landrieu, chairwoman of the subcommittee. "So it's a never-ending appeals process."

Henry Rodriguez, the president of Louisiana's St. Bernard Parish outside New Orleans, said inadequate funding and money tussles are the main reasons for delays in rebuilding. "If we had the money, we wouldn't be asking FEMA for anything," he said. "We'd be taking care of business."

Localities that cannot complete a project within the funding allotment must either file an appeal and wait for the results or start the project and risk defaulting on payments to subcontractors.

The lack of independent arbitration might deter small towns from filing an appeal at all, Landrieu said. "A small town like Waveland might have been glad to take what they could get," she said, referring to a Mississippi town that was destroyed by the hurricane. "They don't have the attorneys to sue the government."

Landrieu said she wanted to review the appeals filed, as well as the project allotments that had gone uncontested. "We need to see how well [FEMA] is working with small towns," she said, "and giving them what they need."

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Interior Department unveils new ethics plan

Anika Gupta — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

An Interior Department spokesman confirmed that Kempthorne had proposed a "10-Point Plan to Make the Department of the Interior a Model of an Ethical Workplace" in a June 27 memo to employees. The plan designates a senior-level agency ethics officer, whose responsibilities include reviewing and implementing ethics practices.

The agency also will expand the ethics briefings and training it requires for Senior Executive Service and presidential appointees, create a panel to ensure "fairness in the management of conduct" and impose harsher penalties for inappropriate Internet use by employees.

Kempthorne also expressed support for ending the "Indian lobbying loophole." Under current law, almost all senior federal officials who leave the government must wait one year before returning to their former place of employment as lobbyists. Those who leave to lobby for American Indian tribes are exempt from the cooling-off period, an exemption challenged by proposed Senate legislation. In the memo, Kempthorne supported the legislation, which was introduced in January by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

The ethics announcement came the day after J. Steven Griles, former deputy Interior secretary, received a 10-month prison sentence for his involvement in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. An Interior spokesman said the memo was unrelated to the Griles case, but rather part of "Secretary Kempthorne's continuing commitment to ethical service."

Some watchdog groups said the plan won't do enough to prevent future breaches.

"I don't see how punishing improper Internet use addresses the problems of unethical political appointees," said Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

Beth Daley, a spokeswoman for the Project on Government Oversight, recommended greater transparency, a call that Ruch echoed.

"Transparency in the ethics process helps keep people in line in a way that a government agency simply can't," Daley said. "Congress and journalists should be able to participate in holding Interior employees to high ethical standards."

Daley said additional training -- on top of the annual ethics training all department employees receive -- won't help.

"When there's a scandal, everyone's first response is 'more training'," she said. "Sometimes you also need to fire people. There's hasn't been enough of that at Interior."

Daley did commend Kempthorne for addressing the lobbying loophole. "Interior was the nexus of all the Abramoff issues," she said. "A lot of [the issues] rose out of that loophole."

According to the memo, Kempthorne appointed ethics lawyer Melinda Loftin as ethics officer, and suggested Mark Limbaugh as head of the Conduct Accountability Board. Limbaugh, who served as assistant secretary for water and science, has since announced he will leave the agency.

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Foes of private tax collection regroup after House defeat

Anika Gupta — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Supporters of the pilot program used a procedural move last week to remove language from the fiscal 2008 financial services appropriations bill that would have limited the program's funding to $1 million. The language, added by Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., would have shut down the program in all but name, since the IRS has estimated the cost of continuing it will be $7 million in 2008.

But lawmakers and union representatives who argue that the program puts taxpayer information at unnecessary risk say they have not given up.

The House Ways and Means Committee plans to consider stand-alone legislation to revoke the IRS' authority to contract out tax debt collection, a spokeswoman for Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said. Van Hollen, who introduced the bill (H.R. 695) in January, supports hiring more IRS agents instead of outsourcing, the spokeswoman said.

The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents many IRS workers, has consistently opposed the program, and says it will support Van Hollen's bill and a Senate counterpart (S. 335).

"We are urging a swift markup of this legislation," a spokeswoman for NTEU President Colleen Kelley said. "There is support in Congress to end this program." The Tax Fairness Coalition, a trade group that represents private debt collectors, hailed the House move as a victory.

"It's interesting that when they put in the $1 million to limit the program, they didn't put in anything to offset the cost of cutting the program," said Dan Drummond, a spokesman for the coalition.

The program had raised nearly $20 million as of April, and is projected to bring in between $60 million and $80 million in fiscal 2008. The IRS plans to expand the current pilot project into a full-scale program in 2008, a transition that will involve extending contracts to at least three more firms. Right now, the IRS has contracts with two private debt collection firms.

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