Return
to the "POINTER VIEW"October 25, 2002
Return
to the "POINTER VIEW"
October
25, 2002
West Point department heads attended a briefing Thursday about the Army’s next round of outsourcing initiatives.
Jose Roman, the Directorate of Resource Management’s chief of strategic sourcing and analysis, scheduled the briefing to explain how the Third Wave will affect the U.S. Military Academy’s civilian and military workforce members. Roman is the academy’s member of the Army Non Core Competencies Working Group and will have input into how the Army conducts the program.
The Third Wave surfaced on Oct. 4 when Secretary of the Army Thomas White sent a letter to all major commanders outlining the plan.
"You will develop and present to me ... an implementation plan for privatizing, divesting, outsourcing using ‘alternatives to A-76,’ competing using A-76, converting military spaces to civilian or contract, or transferring to other government agencies, all non-core functions that fall under your purview," White said in his letter. "The source of funding for military conversions will be those functions identified for divestiture. Your plan should focus on the total workforce (military, civilian employee, contract) in the operating forces and infrastructure."
The secretary also said that the next round of "public-private competitions" would be bigger and faster than the previous two rounds of competitive sourcing, a point echoed by USMA DRM Cecelia Solomon, who stressed that cooperation with this process is vital.
"The rules are changing and everything is fair game," Solomon said. "This is very serious and we have a very short timeline.
"We need everyone’s cooperation."
The Army plan could involve more than 200,000 employees in various outsourcing initiatives. More than 58,000 soldiers could see their jobs eliminated and find themselves in new fields.
There are approximately 1487 civilian and 331 military here that are coded for review under the new program.
"All civilian and military positions coded L through V on the TDAs are now susceptible to outsourcing or conversion," he explained. "The study will examine what functions are redundant, or unnecessary, and get rid of them."
The study will also look for alternatives to A-76 competitions to improve the privatization process, Roman added. And a lot more is now susceptible.
"They [DA officials] are looking at changing current laws that protect some functions," he explained, citing the recent change in congressional language on contracting out security guard positions and the present study of the feasibility of contracting out federal firefighters
"The Army is looking to improve operational capability and move soldiers into more military functions," Roman added. "DA must focus its energies and talents on our core competencies -- functions we perform better than anyone else -- and seek other services from the private sector, where it makes sense."
Core functions are those that directly affect the installation’s mission. DA is mainly looking at non-core functions such as Acquisition, Logistics and Technology. John Anderson, the Army’s assistant deputy chair of the NCCWG group, told media representatives Oct. 10 that the program would help free up resources. He promised the process would be open and impartial.
"Congress requires us to do this to get the very best bang for the buck for the taxpayer," said Anderson. The program would also mean the military can perform more vital functions, he added.
Roman said requests for exemption from this program need to be submitted by Oct. 29, but the same old arguments would not work.
"Don’t try to make the ‘not commercial’ argument, that’s already been decided," he explained. "And think in terms of ‘function’ not ‘position.’"
DA officials will review exemption requests and relay decisions on exemptions by Dec. 20. They expect the program to being in March 2003.
"The Army’s strength is its people -- its soldiers and its civilian employees," officials said. "The Army has always and will always treat our people with dignity and respect while at the same time becoming as efficient as we can be."