November 24, 2002

An emboldened administration has accelerated its plan to contract out our jobs. I've written to you about contracting out many times in the past. It is a threat to our jobs and to the ability of our agency to perform its mission. What's changed?:

• The timetable has been moved up. Instead of moving toward a goal of 50% over many years, agencies must hit 50% in 12 months.
• The concept of what jobs are subject to contracting out has been greatly expanded. The Administration’s new policy with regard to federal jobs is that ALL activities performed by federal employees are now considered "commercial in nature" and thus eligible for privatization, unless agencies justify that the jobs are inherently governmental. Presuming that all government jobs are commercial, and not inherently governmental, is a sweeping change in federal procurement policy, which can only lead to a major downsizing of the federal workforce.
• The Administration’s gives contracting officers even more discretion in making contract awards to contractors based on political favoritism, rather than based on what is in the best interests of the taxpayers.
• The ability of interested parties, such as NTEU, to comment has been significantly reduced.

Not surprisingly, absent from the Administration’s proposal are changes that NTEU has long advocated such as: more accountability and oversight of contractors, guaranteed opportunities that federal employees will be able to compete in defense of their jobs before they are contracted out, and appeal rights for federal employees and their union representatives to challenge faulty contract awards

NTEU considers the proposal reckless. NTEU staff is currently reviewing the 62-page revision and will be submitting extensive comments to OMB. Please realize that the new congress significantly reduces our the ability to influence this.