GSA to transfer 250 acquisition employees

In response to an anticipated $50 million loss this fiscal year in a business line offering contracting support, the General Services Administration announced Friday that it will transfer about 250 employees out of the unit.

During a teleconference, GSA officials said that while the agency's Federal Acquisition Service overall is doing well financially, its Assisted Acquisition Services component will finish this fiscal year significantly in the red. That branch provides a variety of technical, acquisition and project management support services to FAS customers on a fee for service basis. GSA Administrator Lurita Doan said that while some of GSA's new contracts will bring in more revenue, it was necessary for Assisted Acquisition Services to cut costs.

"Successful businesses all know that to maintain a cycle of risk-taking and entrepreneurialism, it is not enough to launch new programs," Doan said. "You also have to have the courage and willingness to modify programs that are not performing successfully or are not meeting expectations . . . For us to do nothing was not an option."

Both Doan and Jim Williams, the commissioner of FAS, emphasized that the change will not bring layoffs. Instead, the reorganization will shift people from an area with too many employees to areas facing vacancies. Williams added that FAS is not planning to seek authority to grant early outs or buyouts to employees.

"There are other parts of GSA where these resources can be used," Williams said. "So what we'll be looking at in trying to break even in fiscal year '08 is how do we take those people where we have really an excess . . . in one business portfolio and move them either to other business portfolios within FAS that are growing and need those kinds of people or looking to our partners in the Public Buildings Service."

GSA planned to notify affected employees, who will include people with a range of specialties across a number of pay grades, later Friday. Gail Lovelace, GSA's chief human capital officer, said the move will be skill-based, meaning that all Assisted Acquisition Services employees qualified for positions that are vacant will be considered for relocation.

The transition will start at the end of this month and continue through the end of the year. While Williams said the agency is working closely with the affected employees and their unions to make sure the move goes smoothly, the National Federation of Federal Employees has yet to be briefed on the reorganization.

"They should have come to the union with some details before they went to the press, said Jack Hanley, president of the NFFE Council of GSA Locals. "They broke faith with us by going to the press before they came to us." Hanley said that once the agency presents the changes officially, "we'll be putting in proposals and bargaining it thoroughly, making sure the impact on employees is not overly severe."

He said the financial justification for the reorganization had not been shared with the union, but added he believes it is primarily a reaction to a decrease in business from the Defense Department.

"They're disrupting 250 people's lives and I have no idea what the analysis was behind the decision because they provided us nothing," Hanley said. "We have to do our job and look out for the employees. We're supposed to have access to all the information in GSA's system of records and they refuse to provide it."

Bruce Williams, president of the American Federation of Government Employees' GSA Council, said he will meet with GSA representatives on Monday to begin negotiations.

In addition to the reorganization, GSA will attempt to pump money into the Assisted Acquisition Services business line by expanding the types of services available. FAS soon will offer both pre- and post-award services for agencies conducting internal acquisitions and will provide assistance with new contracts, including Alliant technology services and contracts related to Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12. That order requires agencies to issue employees and contractors standard identification cards.