FederalDaily - July 31, 2007

Union Applauds FPS Measure in Homeland Security Funding Bill

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) lauded the inclusion last week of language in the Fiscal Year 2008 Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill that the union said will halt downsizing at the Federal Protective Service (FPS). The provision, offered as an amendment by Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., specifies that the FPS workforce must include “not fewer than 1,200 commanders, police officers, inspectors and special agents,” and that the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of Management and Budget “shall adjust fees as necessary to ensure full funding.” AFGE National President John Gage said that the administration “is attempting to unilaterally alter the mission” of FPS, “despite the demonstrated need for high security at federal buildings and complexes. Passage of this amendment will ensure that attempt doesn’t happen.” The union said the administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the bureau that oversees the service, had called for cutting “hundreds” of FPS slots. David Wright, president of AFGE Local 918, a national local that represents FPS employees, called the amendment “essential” to the future of the service. “ICE has been taking every step to reduce the FPS workforce, and FPS is losing experienced law enforcement officers on an almost daily basis,” Wright said. AFGE represents about 80 percent of FPS employees. For more, go to: http://www.afge.org/Index.cfm?Page=PressReleases&PressReleaseID=775.

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Tennessee Postal Consolidation Canceled

The American Postal Workers Union (APWU) Friday announced on its Web site that the Postal Service had notified it of the cancellation of yet another postal facility consolidation study. The proposed consolidation in question would have moved certain mail processing operations at the Jackson, Tenn., Post Office into the Memphis Processing and Distribution Center about 90 miles away. The canceled Area Mail Processing study proposal for the Jackson facility was announced in December 2005. So far, 36 consolidation-feasibility surveys have been terminated or placed on hold since April 2006. For more, go to: http://apwu.org/index2.htm.

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Legislation Would Make TSA Accountable Under FAR

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., last week attached an amendment to the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill that would make the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) subject to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) that governs the contracting activities of other federal agencies. TSA has enjoyed free reign in its contracting activities since its creation in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The amendment requires TSA to adhere to contracting goals that require that at least 23 percent of federal contracts go to small businesses, and smaller percentages to socially and economically disadvantaged businesses, and to women-owned and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses. “Why should an agency fraught with wasteful spending and contract mismanagement continue to receive a free ride while every other major federal agency must abide by the law?” said Kerry. “The taxpayers deserve better. Our small businesses deserve better. ” Kerry, who chairs the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, called the proposed change “long overdue.” For more, go to: http://sbc.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=279956.  

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