FederalDaily - December 27, 2006

NTEU Slams FDA Lab-Closing Plan

The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) is highly critical of a preliminary Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plan to consolidate its 13 regional laboratories and close as many as half of them, forcing out some employees. NTEU said Dec. 21 that while details of the plan are sketchy, it appears that FDA’s Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA)—which, among other activities, oversees the labs—plans to close between seven and nine laboratories, leaving only four to six labs open. In a communication to employees, FDA’s associate commissioner for regulatory affairs said that ORA has undergone several years of zero increases and the closings would “maximize efficiencies.” But NTEU President Colleen Kelley said closing the labs would reduce FDA’s ability to react in an emergency. Also, the highly-specialized scientists and researchers would probably refuse involuntary reassignment and seek work elsewhere, she said. “This plan is particularly short-sighted in light of several recent and serious public health issues dealing with food,” Kelly said. The NTEU represents more than 5,200 FDA employees. To see more, go to: www.nteu.org.

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GAO: DoD Needs Contracting Oversight Czar

DoD is losing the battle to control its private contractors and needs to appoint an oversight czar to manage and track the service providers supporting deployed military combat forces, a government report said. The Government Accountability Office in a Dec. 18 report looked at the problem-plagued DoD contractor situation to see if the Pentagon has improved its management and oversight of contractors since a previous 2003 audit. They had not, the report said. DoD has taken some steps to improve its guidance on the use of contractors, the report said, but a number of problems persist—even in knowing how many contractors there are. DoD doesn’t have aggregate contractor numbers because there is no one organization within DoD or its components that keeps a count of contractors at deployed locations, the report said. “For example, when the Multi-National Force-Iraq began to develop a base consolidation plan, officials were unable to determine how many contractors were deployed to bases in Iraq,” the report said. To see more, go to: www.gao.gov/highlights/d07145high.pdf.

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VFW Supports Veteran's Supreme Court Appeal

The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) filed a court brief supporting a veteran who wants to overturn a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) decision rating his tinnitus (ringing in the ear)—which he suffers in both ears—as a single disability, cutting his benefits in half. Ellis C. Smith, an Army veteran, has appealed to the Supreme Court seeking to overturn a lower court decision that allowed the VA single disability rating—regardless of whether it affects one or both ears, the VFW said Dec. 20. The VA approved his initial claim, but as a single disability, reducing his monthly compensation from $218 to $112. In June, a lower appeals court upheld the VA rating, prompting the Supreme Court challenge. Prior to the June court decision, the VA had withheld more than 4,000 VFW-assisted tinnitus claims. Once the decision was released, the VA activated those cases and summarily denied them. VFW service officers now are helping those affected veterans preserve their appeals. To date, more than 800 already have appealed, the VFW said. To see more, go to: www.vfw.org/index.cfm?fa=news.newsDtl&did=3760.

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