FederalDaily - October 17, 2005

Union Protests Contracting Language

The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) last week called on Congress to end the use of the “best value” concept in the federal government’s practice of awarding cost-based contract awards. In letters to members of Congress, NTEU President Colleen Kelley said best value competitions “are simply a way for agencies to hand over work to private contractors without having to demonstrate a clear savings to the public.” Kelley called for approval of provisions included in the House-passed Transportation-Treasury Appropriations Bill by Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and in the Senate bill by Sens. Kit Bond, R-Mo., and Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., requiring that contractors must provide a minimum savings in order for work to be contracted out.

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New Clandestine Service in CIA

The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and the CIA director last week announced the president's approval of the establishment of the new National Clandestine Service (NCS) within the CIA. The new director of the NCS will report directly to the CIA director and will work with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to implement all of the DNI's statutory authorities. "I am confident that with the creation of the NCS, the U.S. government will have a more cohesive and truly national human intelligence capability," said John D. Negroponte, DNI. The NCS will serve as the national authority for the integration, coordination and evaluation of human intelligence operations across the entire intelligence community. The NCS was established in response to recommendations made in March 2005 by the President's Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction.

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DOE Cancels Outsourcing

The Department of Energy (DOE) decided to cancel a public-private contracting out study, thus keeping the work of environmental cleanup in the hands of federal employees. “I’m delighted by the DOE decision,” said President Colleen Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents some 1,900 DOE employees, including those whose jobs were under study for potential contracting out. Initially, some 684 jobs in DOE’s Environmental Engineering Services division were targeted for possible contracting out. DOE eventually cut back the scope of the contracting out study, but Kelley said several hundred jobs were still at risk. “The DOE correctly concluded that no one can do the work of the federal government better than federal employees,” she said.

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FEMA Updates Info on Government Hurricane Response

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on Oct. 13 issued an update on what the government has accomplished in the recovery efforts since Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane support statistics include the following:

• nationwide, more than 1.19 million households have received hurricane disaster assistance totaling more than $3.53 billion;
• 3,365 FEMA inspectors have completed more than 450,000 residence inspections;
• 59,197 temporary roofs have been installed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) (the USACE has a FEMA-assigned mission to provide temporary repairs to roofs damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita); and
• more than 416,000 applications for Transitional Housing Assistance have been approved totaling $982 million.

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