President of the Federal Managers Association Michael B.
Styles has criticized the House-Senate conference on 2006
Department of Homeland Security appropriations for providing
$20 million less than the department requested to implement
its new personnel system.
“Reducing the requested funding level by $20 million
certainly represents an ominous start,” Styles said.
Perhaps more ominous, a federal court has found that parts
of DHS’s personnel system are illegal after deciding
collective bargaining agreements would be non-binding.
FMA’s Styles called attention to what all this means to the
managers and employees who will have to live with the new
systems. “How can managers be confident in the implementation
process if we are already seeing a lack of necessary
financial support?” he asked.
DHS had asked for $53 million to fund its new system but
congressional chambers compromised and apportioned part of
that for fire fighters and first responders.
According to Styles, “inadequate funding” is “one surefire
way to impair the chances of success for the new personnel
systems at DHS and DoD as well as the rest of the federal
government.”
Styles went on to say, “I hope as we move forward with the
Working for America Act (the administration’s government-wide
personnel reform blueprint) and the National Security
Personnel System, we can see greater support for the full
funding for training under the proposed systems.”
The National Treasury Employees Union, which has opposed the
new personnel system from the beginning, sees the reduced
funding as a victory. Unions have also questioned the need
for a $175 million contract with Northrop-Grumman to
implement the DHS system, and want to know what the total
cost would be.
NTEU praised the conference report for including language
directing DHS to submit to Congress a report detailing all
contract obligations and expenditures broken out by
contractor, year and purpose.
