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Washington D.C. — At a time when the nation is justifiably wary of the safety of a wide variety of imported products, it makes no sense whatsoever for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to consider contracting to the private sector the work of more than 300 positions, the leader of the union representing FDA employees said today.

“I think it is a disgrace,” said President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), “given the recent crises we have experienced with our food supply and other imports that FDA would entertain the idea of outsourcing this work.”

In addition to lacking a business rationale, Kelley said, “there has been a stunning lack of transparency in this process, creating the potential for a bad deal for taxpayers. This appears to be studying jobs for contracting just for the sake of contracting out.”

The process the NTEU leader referred to involves FDA’s notice to NTEU that it had identified 332 positions as commercial in nature, in eight different FDA organizations, about which it intended to conduct 13 separate studies leading to possible contracting out.

FDA has said the positions to be studied for possible outsourcing are in more than 20 cities, and include a variety of technical and administrative jobs.

NTEU is working to have the impacted employees provide detailed information to the agency on their job responsibilities. “Often in situations where an agency decides to put a position up for bid, the full scope of employees’ work is not considered. Federal employees contribute far more to their agencies’ missions and the American taxpayers than can be captured in a job description. It is essential that any attempt to send the work of the federal government to the private sector reflect the full range of what federal employees do,” President Kelley said.

Kelley was critical of the “haste” with which the agency was conducting the competition and questioned whether an accurate accounting of the work performed by the federal employees could be achieved. “The position descriptions of these employees do not capture all of the work that they actually perform. Without a completely accurate picture, a poor contracting decision could be made and the contractor will not deliver the same services that are currently delivered by in-house personnel,” Kelley said. Without timely and reliable support services, the nation’s food and drug supply could be threatened.”

This latest issue involving the FDA comes on the heels of an agency decision—made under considerable congressional pressure generated in large part by NTEU—to halt its plan to close more than half of its laboratories nationwide as part of a reorganization of its Office of Regulatory Affairs.

While welcoming that decision, President Kelley said it does not go far enough. “A temporary halt to a misguided plan is not enough,” she said earlier this month. “The idea of closing the labs needs to be scrapped.”

The agency’s notice to the union regarding the potential contracting was inconsistent with its obligations under the law to provide specific notice to the union of changes in working conditions, Kelley said. She added: “The agency has not thus far offered the union an opportunity to bargain over the impact and implementation of the studies,” and if it continues to refuse to recognize its bargaining obligations, NTEU “will explore appropriate steps, including the filing of a grievance.”

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments, including some 5,200 in the FDA.