FederalDaily - May 2, 2007
AFGE Seeks Cancellation of A-76 Plan at Keesler AFB
The eight-year A-76 privatization review at Keesler Air Force Base—which could cost the jobs
of 300 federal employees—should be canceled because it has dragged on for so long, said the American
Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). The union has filed an appeal with the Air Force on behalf
of approximately 300 Keesler employees to stop the transfer of their work to a contractor, said AFGE
President John Gage on April 30. The privatization review was in violation of the Office of Management
and Budget’s (OMB) rules and federal laws that require the reviews to be completed in a reasonable
amount of time, Gage said. “The length of the Keesler A-76 is so excessive that it is in violation
of OMB’s own rules as well as the law, and the integrity of the process has been compromised,” said
Gage. The review at the Biloxi, Miss., installation has resulted in a tentative award to contractor
DynCorp, for $317 million. To see more, go to: www.afge.org/
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GAO: VBA Makes Strides in Improving Compensation Network
After more than 10 years of effort, the Veterans Benefit Administration (VBA) has made great strides
in replacing its aging system for paying compensation and pension benefits, said a Government Accountability
Office (GAO) report released April 27. However, the new system—known as the Veterans Service
Network (VETSNET)—is far from complete, the report said. VBA, a major component of the Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA), has developed critical functionalities needed to process and pay certain
original compensation claims using the replacement system, but the system remains under construction.
Furthermore, VBA has not yet developed sufficient plans for performing the substantial task of moving
records from the old Benefits Delivery Network (BDN) to the replacement system—approximately
3.5 million beneficiaries are currently being served by the older system, the report said. “The
system requires further development before it can be used to process claims for the full range of compensation
and pension benefits available to veterans and their dependents,” the report said. To see more,
go to: www.gao.gov/highlights/d07614high.pdf
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Congress Urged to Remove FEMA from DHS
Sinking morale is causing considerable problems with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA),
according to a labor official who said the agency needs to be moved out of the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS). In an April 30 letter to Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., Leo Bosner, president
of American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 4060, asked Congress to step in. FEMA’s
mission of responding to domestic emergencies is a bad fit with the anti-terrorism priority of DHS,
Bosner said. He also called for the replacement of FEMA Director David Paulison. FEMA ranked 211 out
of 222 subcomponent government agencies in the recently released 2007 Best Places to Work rankings.
The agency scored near bottom in such categories as strategic management (a rank of 203 out of 222
rated subcomponents), teamwork (210) effective leadership (203), support for diversity (209) and providing
a work/life balance, (212). “Since Hurricane Katrina, FEMA has become associated with waste,
incompetence, mismanagement, and the abuse of the power and resources given it by Congress,” said
Bosner. To see more, go to: www.afge.org/Index.cfm?Page=PressReleases&PressReleaseID=734
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