Buyout Watch

A running list of agencies coping with budget pressures by offering employees incentives to leave.

August 30, 2012

The roster of federal agencies offering buyouts or early outs continues to grow, and we are tracking them.

Check back here for updates on agencies offering or considering the separation incentives, and let us know through the comment section if your agency should be added to the list.

Agency	Date offered	Employees affected
Agriculture	March 2012	Some 7,000 employees departmentwide have already taken buyouts, and more are expected. Offers were made to 1,966 Rural Development division employees. In May 2011: 544 employees eligible for buyouts; early outs offered departmentwide. In March 2012: 900 buyout offers are expected to yeild 300 buyouts, offset by 150 hires at lower grades.
Air Force	March 2012	Officials announce a third round of buyouts following an earlier round this year and and a hiring freeze and 6000 buyouts and early-out offer in 2012.
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives	Sept. 12 - Oct. 14, 2011	400 employees eligible for buyouts/early outs
Army	September 2011	The Materiel Command is offering buyouts to 33 civilian employees as part of the Army's plan to cut 8,700 positions.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention	October 2011	Performing an analysis to determine how many buyouts to offer
Commerce	August 2011 - December 2012	8 different offices
Defense	August 11, 2011 - September 30, 2011	35 senior executives were offered early outs and 12 accepted.
Education	September 2011 - January 2012	12 different offices
Energy	February 2012	Los Alamos lab submits plan to give 400 to 800 buyouts.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission	No plans to offer buyouts.
EPA	No plans to offer buyouts.
FAA	No decision yet on whether to offer buyouts or early outs.	N/A
Federal Trade Commission	May 2011	Agencywide
General Services Administration	Dec. 27, 2012 to March 19, 2012	Offered 652 employees buyouts or early retirements, and 85 accepted. The employees who received offers were from the Office of Governmentwide Policy, Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technology, Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Federal Acquisition Service Distribution Centers, Integrated Warehouse Acquisition Center and Region 9 Assisted Acquisition Service (VSIP only).
Government Accountability Office	August 2011 (sought permission)	56 positions, primarily management level, upper-level analysts and criminal investigators
Government Printing Office	June 2011 (sought permission)	Agencywide, with a target of reducing the workforce by 15 percent. 247 employees accepted the offer.
Health and Human Services	June 2011 (considering)	N/A
HUD	Aug. 8, 2011 - Aug. 18, 2011	Office of Field Policy and Management in Region 9
Internal Revenue Service	January 2012	Additional 400 offers announced in January. In November, 1,600 offers were extended to 5,400 employees.
International Trade Commission	No plans currently to offer buyouts
Justice	January 2011; Expects more later this year	Anti-trust division employees
Labor	Declined to comment.
Library of Congress	Oct. 24, 2011 - Nov. 3, 2011; applications due Oct. 3, 2011	Targeted positions affecting roughly 350 employees
NASA	Latest round runs through July 20, 2012.	50 packages available to 147 at headquarters through November 18; The Kennedy Space Center in Florida offered 150 buyouts; The Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., offered 50 packages and had 15 approved by Sept. The Johnson Space Center in Houston offered 150 employee buyouts through Sept. 30. Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama is offering buyouts to 120 workers. Goddard Space Flight Center offered buyouts and early outs to 117 employees; employees have until July 20, 2012, to accept.
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency	January 2012	Offering to 150 employees who have until February to respond.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission	Offered first round in June 2011	In 2011 offered to 48 employees, 35 accepted.
Postal Service	August 2012	The service offered 3,300 eligible employees voluntary early retirements in August 2012. Eligible employees have until Nov. 19 to accept the deal and must agree to retire by Dec. 31. USPS expected more than 7,000 takers after offering buyouts to 45,000 mail handlers eligible for $15,000 and $20,000 early-out incentives for eligible postmasters in plan announced May 2012. Buyouts were offered to 7,500 administrative employees in March 2011.
Small Business Administration	October 2011	Buyout and early-out offers went to 300 employees in October 2011, and 130 accepted
Smithsonian Institution	May 16, 2011 - July 22, 2011	Exemptions for animal keepers, electricians, police officers, security guards and veterinary medical officers, and employees paid from private funds.
Transportation Security Administration	Oct. 1, 2011 - Sept. 30, 2013	Agency offered voluntary early retirement to an unspecified number of select employees from Oct. 31, 2011, to Dec. 31, 2011. It opened a new window on Jan. 15, which will close on July 31.
USAID	No plans to offer early outs or buyouts.
Veterans Affairs		Early out authority requested for 11 regional networks to standardize the VA's billing and collection activities. Early outs offered to eligible employees in the Office of General Counsel, effective Sept. 30

Correction: This chart contained errors drawn from an outdated story on July 14th, 2012. The mistakes -- which have now been corrected in the chart -- involved the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Small Business Administration and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Buyout-related stories from GovernmentExecutive.com

Postal Service offers 3,300 more early retirements
August 29, 2012

NASA offers buyouts to Goddard employees
July 9, 2012

USPS estimates 7,400 employees will take buyout offers
July 6, 2012

USPS, mail handlers union reach buyout terms
May 25, 2012

Keep rural post offices open, but cut employee hours and benefits, USPS says
May 9, 2012

Air Force to offer third round of buyouts
March 26, 2012

Agriculture to offer more buyouts
March 5, 2012

Los Alamos lab submits plan to offer buyouts
February 23, 2012

Buyouts, early outs could be part of Army plan to cut 80,000 soldiers and officers
February 3, 2012

Printing office announces 2011 buyout figures
January 24, 2012

IRS to offer second round of buyouts
January 13, 2012

No furloughs expected at GAO, officials say
January 13, 2012