February, 2006: The Council has received in-house bid Excel sheets showing where staff will be placed and what the grade distribution will be (see below). Although it appears that workers will be in central locations with lower grades, it remains unclear how HUD will accomplish this. Management has agreed that this work is location neutral, and could be accomplished anywhere in the service area. Thus, the Union has asked if employees could remain in their present locations as "outstationed" staff from the centers. We've also asked if employees can retain their present grades as "incumbent-only." Management has been unable to answer these questions. We will continue to pursue good jobs with job security as we move forward in this process.
MF Hsg MEO Total Costs spreadsheet | MF Hsg MEO Total FTE-CME spreadsheet
(the following was sent as an e:alert to bargaining unit employees on 2/16, see enews page for actual copy)
HUD Employees prevail in first major A-76 study conducted in 15 years:
A "good news/bad news" update
Although HUD contracts out more than $1 billion a year, almost none of it has ever been the subject of a cost-benefit analysis under OMB Circular A-76. The Agency recently completed its first major A-76 study that sought to "compete" the management and oversight of the non-Section 8 rental housing assistance contract administration. This is work currently done by employees in the Office of Multifamily Housing.
The decision to put this work up for competition was a Presidential Management initiative. Although the A-76 process involves an "in-house" bid, the rules require such a high degree of confidentiality that the in-house bid really does not involve significant employee participation. The employees on the in-house team weren't allowed to share their ideas or seek critical input from other employees.
Now that the competition process is complete, the Union has been invited to participate in the discussions on implementation. As this is very early in the process, we don't have a lot of information. But we want to quickly share what we do have.
This is a "good news/bad news" report.
The good news is that we won and the work will stay in-house. Had we lost, the work would be transitioned to contractors over the next six months, and the agency could RIF (or lay-off) 251 Office of Multifamily Housing employees.