FederalDaily - January 25, 2006
NTEU Files Brief against DHS Personnel System
The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) filed a legal brief on Monday
asking the court to uphold two lower court decisions blocking implementation
of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regulations that would establish a
new personnel system. The matter is before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia Circuit. NTEU is arguing that under the rules proposed
by DHS, union contracts with the agency would not be binding and enforceable.
NTEU also alleges the regulations “would severely restrict employees’ collective
bargaining, due process and appeal rights.” NTEU represents 14,000 employees
in DHS’ Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.
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Protecting Marine Mammals from Air Force Detonations
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Service is
seeking comments now through Feb. 22 on a proposal from the Air Force to conduct
air-to-surface gunnery exercises in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida.
The exercises conducted from Eglin Air Force Base may result in the incidental
harassment of marine mammals, according to NOAA. Aircraft gunnery missions
involve water surface impacts of projectiles and small underwater detonations,
which could potentially affect marine mammals. But Air Force plans include
limiting impacts to areas where marine mammals are not sighted. If a dolphin
or sea turtle is sighted within five nautical miles of the designated site,
they will postpone the firing exercise, and select an alternative area. NOAA
Fisheries Service said it is anticipated that no marine mammals or sea turtles
would be seriously injured or killed.
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Union Wants Work Returned to Feds
The IRS should use recently-enacted legislative authority to conduct public-private
competitions to bring back into the hands of agency employees work it previously
contracted out, the National Treasury Employees Union said on Jan. 24. The
new legislation is part of the 2006 Transportation-Treasury Appropriations
bill. NTEU said before this bill became law, agencies did not have the authority
under government contracting rules to conduct such competitions to determine
whether previously contracted work should be brought back in-house. In a letter
to IRS Commissioner Mark Everson, NTEU President Colleen Kelley said three
areas where IRS employees would provide the best value are: the IRS’s
lockbox program, the work of its Modernization and Information Technology Services
organization; and its Agency-Wide Shared Services mailroom function.
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Navy Contractor Took Illegal Gratuities
Barbara Speller—a former independent government contractor at the Norfolk
Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, VA—pleaded guilty to two counts of accepting
illegal gratuities and one count of conspiracy to accept illegal gratuities,
the Department of Defense (DoD) inspector general announced last week. Speller
was sentenced to a 21-month incarceration period and three years of probation.
She was also ordered to pay more than $250,000 in restitution. By 2003, a joint
DoD and Navy investigation uncovered that Speller accepted “items of
value” from Expedited Cargo Services, Inc., in exchange for awarding
government freight transportation contracts for the Norfolk Naval Shipyard.
The company provided 41 cash payments to Speller, ranging from $1,000 to $4,600,
and paid for several meals. Speller performed duties related to the shipping
of freight in support of the Navy both as a federal employee (from 1987 to
1998) and later as a contractor.
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