Norton Saves Jobs for 350 Federal Workers at Walter Reed in D.C. in DoD Appropriation

Norton Saves Jobs for 350 Federal Workers at Walter Reed in D.C. in DoD Appropriation

In a spectacular turnaround win, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) tonight scored a victory that many had labeled impossible by convincing Department of Defense (DoD) appropriators to save the jobs of 350 federal employees scheduled to lose them this month as a result of an outsourcing contract at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Norton was able to get an amendment included in the House-passed DoD appropriation bill to block the privatization on the grounds that the bidding process--known as an A-76 privatization review-- was "illegal, wasteful, biased and botched." Because the process took 68 months rather than 30, as required by a Defense Appropriations Subcommittee limitation enacted by Congress, "this privatization became the poster child for contracting out with unfairness to workers at hideous costs to taxpayers, rather than the savings required by law," Norton said. "If allowed, the decision to contract out these services would have cost taxpayers almost $22 million, according to a cost estimate prepared by Walter Reed, instead of the initial purported savings of $7 million."

Because neither Republicans nor Democrats want anti-privatization amendments on the DoD appropriation, Norton spent the day explaining that the Walter Reed contracting out was "so grotesque that it was the right vehicle to make DoD abide by its own regulations as well as the outsourcing requirements imposed by the DoD subcommittee itself."

Norton first went to bat for these mostly blue-collar employees in March after meeting with their union representatives from the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), and being shocked by the "troubled history" of the proposed contract with a private company seeking to take over Walter Reed base operations support services. The Congresswoman subsequently got regional Members of Congress to sign a letter she wrote to Secretary of the Army Francis J. Harvey, asking DoD not to enter into the contract. Norton warned that the awarding of the contract under "highly unusual circumstances demands sustained congressional scrutiny and if necessary, decisive congressional intervention," and tonight she delivered on that warning.

The Walter Reed employees initially won the $120 million contract in 2004. However, the Army's privatization process and review were so lengthy in violation of the time allowed by law, and so costly, that the Army itself tried to cancel the privatization effort, but DoD officials refused its request. Earlier this year, over the objections of Walter Reed's Deputy Garrison Commander, the Army reversed its earlier decision for the employees and awarded the work to a contractor.

Tonight, however, Norton was successful in arguing that the A-76 award was illegal because it was in violation of DoD appropriations provisions that impose time limits on these reviews because "the longer they go on, the more they cost, defeating the whole point of saving money for the government." The Walter Reed A-76 began in June of 2000 and ended in January of this year, 68 months later, although an A-76 must be no longer than 30 months by law. "Tonight's dual victory for workers and taxpayers alike was the right win-win resolution and well worth fighting for," Norton said. "I am grateful that my colleagues were willing to hear me out concerning a very technical process to the point of understanding that this contract was fatally flawed."

http://www.norton.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=384&Itemid=6