Consultants join talks on closing GSA warehouses

The General Services Administration has hired an outside consultant to review the financial health of its supply warehouses.

The continued viability of the warehouses has been the focus of ongoing discussions between GSA and the American Federation of Government Employees over the future of eight facilities in GSA's stock program.

GSA Administrator David Barram and Frank P. Pugliese, commissioner of GSA's Federal Supply Service, have said that the stock program's financial numbers clearly indicate that it is a dying business. But union officials, who are trying to defend the jobs of as many as 2,000 warehouse employees, have questioned that conclusion.

In December, AFGE offered a proposal to GSA on how the stock program could be run profitably. The union believes that with some restructuring, including eliminating some overhead costs, the warehouses could be profitable.

Pugliese hired Logistics Management Institute, of McLean, Va., to conduct a review of the stock program. At AFGE's request, LMI will consult with Professor Roy D. Shapiro, chairman of the Technology and Operations Area of Harvard University's business school, and with Dr. Ann E. Gray, a consultant and former Harvard Business School professor.

According to a message Pugliese sent FSS employees, the consultant was hired to "obtain an objective third-party financial and strategic business environment assessment, with a special emphasis on right-sizing our capacity."