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Washington, D.C. -The National Park Service (NPS) is targeting more than 2,600 natural and social science positions for possible outsourcing to the private sector, according to an analysis by the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) of the Park Service’s most recent Federal Activities Inventory Reform (FAIR) Act list.

The employees in these positions—natural resource specialists, biological scientists, ecologists, fisheries experts,archeologists, anthropologists, and social scientists, among others—are charged with providing the United States government with professional and unbiased information on each of their specialties, as well as implementing a large number of federal laws.

“This is yet another example of the dangers of wholesale contracting out,” said NTEU National President Colleen M. Kelley. “In this instance, the Park Service seems willing to turn over to an unaccountable private sector the extremely important role of protecting and preserving our national landscape and historic places. This is not a job for profit-driven companies.”

On its FAIR Act list, the NPS has opened those positions up to potential outsourcing even as other Interior Department agencies with scientists in similar positions categorized them as “inherently governmental.”

The Park Service’s targeting of natural and social scientists occurs within the context of mounting administrative pressure to reduce the budget for national recreation and preservation activities. The president's fiscal year 2003 and 2004 budget requests called for 23 to 27 percent reduction in funds for programs charged with implementing the Antiquities Act, Historic Sites Act, National Historic Preservation Act, Archaeological Resources Protection Act, and Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. Many of the NPS' natural and social scientists are employed in these programs.

NTEU President Kelley is calling for the NPS to reclassify the scientific positions currently categorized on the FAIR Act list as “commercial,” recognizing the inherently governmental nature of their jobs. NTEU is further calling for a moratorium on competitive sourcing studies until the FAIR Act list, which provides the baseline information for such studies, can be fully reviewed and corrected.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing some 150,000 employees in 29 agencies and departments, including employees in NPS’ headquarters office.

For more information, visit the NTEU web site at www.nteu.org