Fiscal 2006 is seven months away, but a number of federal agencies facing budget cuts by the White House are taking steps now to deal with them rather than waiting to see if Congress might bail them out.
The Office of Governmentwide Policy at the General Services Administration is a case in point. The office, with 210 full-time workers, plans to cut about 44 percent of its staff, mostly in April.
To comply with President Bush's budget blueprint, 47 employees will lose their jobs and 45 will be transferred to other parts of GSA, said Marty Wagner, associate administrator for government-wide policy at GSA.
"I'm taking the president's budget as articulating the priorities for my organization, and in order to meet a change of this magnitude, I don't think it is prudent to wait," Wagner said.
If recent years are any guide, Congress will not make its final budget decisions until autumn, and Wagner said holding off on a staffing decision until late in the year did not seem feasible.
"I'm concerned about minimizing the impact on my organization as well as delivering on the mission of the organization," he said. "This seems the best course of action."
GSA's approach, however, is drawing criticism from the National Federation of Federal Employees GSA Council, headed by Jack Hanley. "They are moving out very, very fast, and want people out of here by the end of April," Hanley said, adding, "What if Congress decides to fully fund the office? What's the hurry?"
The Office of Governmentwide Policy was created nine years ago, and Wagner has been with it from the start. The office took over policy functions from the GSA operating divisions on the theory that the agency needed a stronger policy focus and a way to avert possible conflicts of interest that can develop when the people who write rules are also selling services.
The office works on issues involving electronic government, technology, property management, travel, mail and other systems.
"As we have evolved, in order to get some things to happen, we have gotten engaged in actually doing it," Wagner said. The 2006 budget calls on the office to shed its operational activities and get back to focusing on policy making, he said.
The president's budget would cut the office's budget authority by $9 million and reduce its spending by $6 million.
The office probably won't be the only part of GSA facing staff shake-ups this year.
GSA is looking at putting administrative support and marketing jobs up for bid as part of Bush's "competitive sourcing" initiative. "Until these studies are complete and a decision has been made to either keep the work in-house or contract it out, it is hard to estimate if any GSA jobs will be lost as a result of the studies," agency spokeswoman Viki Reath said.
GSA also is moving to merge the Federal Supply Service and the Federal Technology Service into a single organization -- another fiscal 2006 budget plan that might lead to job cuts. "At a minimum, we will look for ways to streamline and reduce current duplication," Reath said.
For the moment, GSA hopes to arrange soft landings for workers who are transferred or let go.
The 45 employees sent to other parts of GSA will continue performing operational jobs. Pending approval by the Office of Personnel Management, GSA plans to offer cash buyouts and early retirements to the 47 employees who will lose jobs. GSA also will help these workers look for other positions in the agency.
But Hanley believes many of the displaced employees will not end up with jobs that meet their expectations. "From our point of view," he said, "if you are going to do buyouts, let these people have another year of full salary before you push them out the door."
Wagner said he hopes to avoid layoffs, which are carried out under often-disruptive reduction-in-force rules. "We are working to avoid the RIF," he said.
Kerry to Address NTEU
Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) will address the opening session of this year's annual legislative conference of the National Treasury Employees Union, the union announced yesterday.
NTEU endorsed Kerry's bid for the White House last year and worked on his behalf. More than 400 labor leaders are scheduled to attend the conference, which begins Tuesday.
E-mail: barrs@washpost.com
