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FederalDaily - June 7, 2006

Army Makes Drastic Spending Cuts

The Army Vice Chief of Staff, Gen. Richard Cody, on May 26 issued immediate spending restrictions to cope with Congress’ delay in completing the fiscal year 2006 Emergency Supplemental bill. “Although we anticipate that Congress will finish the bill in June, we need to take action now to control spending…” said Cody’s memo. He outlined minimum actions to take to cut spending, including:

do not order noncritical spare parts or supplies;

postpone or cancel all nonessential travel, training and conferences;

stop shipments of goods unless necessary to support deployed forces or units with identified deployment dates;

hold all civilian hiring actions (recruiting can continue, but final offers cannot be made);

postpone summer hires until receipt of the supplemental;

freeze all contract awards and new task orders on existing contracts; and

suspend the use of government purchase cards.

“These are painful actions but they are absolutely necessary in order to continue operations during the month of June,” the memo stated.

Supreme Court Ruling Impacts Feds

The Supreme Court on Monday vacated a decision by a federal court of appeals that limited federal employees’ access to the courts, according to the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU). The Supreme Court decision set aside a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that held that federal employees who are covered by a negotiated procedure allowing them to grieve violations of law are precluded from seeking a remedy in federal court. The case, Whitman v. U.S. Department of Transportation, No. 04-1131, involved a claim that a Federal Aviation Administration drug-testing program violated a federal employee’s constitutional and statutory rights. The Ninth Circuit ruled that because the plaintiff might have been able to file a contractual grievance to challenge the program, he could not file a lawsuit in federal court to enjoin its implementation. The Supreme Court remanded the case.

Air Traffic Controller Contract Implemented

After months of controversy over a new contract with air traffic controllers, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) implemented its own proposed contract on Monday. FAA Administrator Marion Blakey issued this statement: “Despite negotiations lasting nine months, including one month of mediation, the Federal Aviation Administration and [the National Air Traffic Controllers Association] NATCA could not agree on the terms of a new contract that would allow necessary changes in the agency’s personnel system. As provided by law, we sent our entire proposal, along with NATCA’s proposal and objections, to Congress on April 5, 2006, for a period of 60 days. That period for review has ended without modification of our proposal by Congress. Therefore, under the terms of our statute, the FAA’s proposed change takes effect as of today, and we will begin the process of implementing our proposal.” NATCA President John Carr said the House was expected to vote on June 6 on legislation, H.R. 5449, which would modify bargaining requirements for proposed changes to FAA’s personnel management system.

Industry Group Decries Defense IT Cuts

The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) on Monday issued a statement calling reported attempts to redirect Department of Defense (DoD) information technology (IT) funds to pay for National Guard deployment on the southern border “extremely shortsighted” and “counterproductive.” ITAA asked House and Senate conferees meeting on the Defense Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill, H.R. 4939, to block attempts to cut DoD IT funding. Specifically, ITAA said the DoD funding shift would reduce the Army’s Joint Network Nodes program by 30 percent and eliminate all supplemental funding for Army information system security. ITAA said the information security threat is constantly changing, and criticized the funding cuts. For more on this, go to www.itaa.org/.