OSC in 2023 had referred to the USDA allegations by employees that the Agricultural Research Service’s Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) failed to adequately address complaints concerning workplace conditions. Image: USDA Photo by Rafael Diaz.
By: FEDweek StaffWhistleblower disclosures regarding safety and maintenance hazards at an Agriculture Department site in Maryland have been confirmed and the USDA is taking some 60 actions in response, the Office of Special Counsel has said.
The OSC in 2023 had referred to the USDA allegations by employees that the Agricultural Research Service’s Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) failed to adequately address complaints concerning workplace conditions over years, leaving “unsafe conditions throughout its 300 buildings and structures.”
The investigation found “pervasive safety deficiencies in many of the facilities and structures at BARC, including a lack of running water, malfunctioning elevators, inadequate heating and cooling, widespread water damage, mold and non-functioning fire suppression systems in dozens of buildings,” the OSC said in a statement.
In a letter to the White House, the OSC said that Agriculture “concluded that many of the problems at BARC have accumulated over decades due to inadequate funding from Congress to repair, maintain, and modernize BARC, as well as ARS laboratories and research centers nationwide. The agency identified $190 million in deferred maintenance needs at BARC. However, as noted by the whistleblowers, years of inefficient facility management have likely resulted in wasteful spending.”
Actions taken or underway in response include diverting $50 million previously allotted for a new building construction to repairs and modernization of existing facilities and “the hiring of new and highly competent BARC and facilities directors,” it said.
The statement thanked the whistleblowers and recommended that the USDA “recognize their contributions to improve government efficiency and the safety of BARC workers and consider issuing a monetary reward.”
The AFGE union said the disclosures came from employees who were officers of its local who risked “their careers and reputations to blow the whistle on the agency . . . our success here validates how employees can make a huge difference in addressing government waste, fraud, and mismanagement when they don’t fear for their jobs and are protected from retaliation.”
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