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Studies favor keeping Forest Service jobs in-house
By BUDDY SMITH
Ravalli Republic
HAMILTON – A first round of “competitive sourcing” studies has concluded that several types of maintenance jobs in the Forest Service should continue to be done by federal employees, the agency announced Tuesday.
In the agency’s Northern Region, which includes the Bitterroot National Forest, five studies done in separate geographic zones examined fleet, roads, building and grounds maintenance as well as trails maintenance work and compared whether the jobs could be done more cost-effectively by the private sector.
Federal agencies like the Forest Service have been tasked with studying jobs deemed not to be “inherently governmental.” Competitive sourcing is among the initiatives in a management agenda undertaken by President Bush to improve government efficiency. The recent studies, which started this year, were conducted in national forests and grasslands in Montana, northern Idaho and North Dakota. The studies essentially compared the cost of the work to private sector bids for doing similar services, officials said.
Based on the study results, competition determined the Forest Service is able to provide maintenance and trails services to taxpayers at the lowest cost, and the agency will retain the jobs, according to regional headquarters in Missoula.
Region One was part of a larger area in which 19 studies were done in Forest Service regions roughly from the Canadian border to the Mexican border and from Nevada to Colorado, said Forest Service spokesman Ed Nesselroad.
The studies found the most cost-effective and efficient way to do the work was to retain the jobs in-house, he said.
“It also means we’re good at what we do,” Nesselroad said. “We should be. We’ve been taking care of trails for 100 years in the Forest Service, so we should know how to do that pretty effectively.”
That’s not to say such work can’t be done effectively by private contractors, Nesselroad added, noting that the agency currently uses some private contractors for temporary work.
“So we think we, in response to tight budgets, have already developed a pretty effective and efficient organization, and at least for this kind of work, that’s what the studies also indicate,” he said.
A separate, nationwide “full study” of information technology jobs in the Forest Service is ongoing, and results are expected next spring, plus the agency is expected to examine other jobs in the future and how they compare with private competition.
But in the recent study, according to Bob Kirkpatrick, a competitive sourcing coordinator for the Forest Service in Missoula, in Region One roughly 150 to 160 "full-time equivalents” were examined in the maintenance program studies, though the work is performed by many people, including seasonal employees. The studies were conducted by a Forest Service team and contracted consultant specialists, he said.
The results came as a relief to employees across the region whose jobs were examined, he said. In Hamilton, reaction among Bitterroot National Forest employees he shared the news with was much the same, said Supervisor Dave Bull.
“It’s something we’ve been going through quite a bit of concern and consternation with, just basically from the impact on employees and local communities standpoint this potentially could have,” he said. “It’s nice to know that, and I’m just like all the other taxpayers, that we’re looking at a very efficient operation in our maintenance programs in the Bitterroot National Forest, as we are in the rest of the Northern Region, which reflects well on our ability to accomplish work in a cost-efficient manner and make sure the public’s getting a good value from their tax dollar.
“We don’t really have any concerns about being reviewed to see how our costs do shake out,” Bull said. “In fact, it’s probably a good way to operate, but the results show we’re doing something right and being very conscious about spending.”
Competitive sourcing has been criticized by some, including federal government employees’ unions and some who fear the loss of federal jobs in rural communities. Others support it, like the group Americans for Tax Reform, which has said examining certain jobs saves more tax dollars by promoting more competition for federal goods and services by subjecting the federal government’s “commercial” activities to private sector bidding.
The Forest Service began the studies this year, and under the current process, over the next five to eight years is expected to look at job types deemed “non-inherently governmental” to see if they could be done most effectively by an in-house workforce or by private contractors. The maintenance jobs studied this year will be studied again in five years, according to the process.
The competitive sourcing process has been around for about 30 years and under various administrations, officials say, but has been more widely used under the Bush administration through the federal Office of Management and Budget. Federal agencies such as the National Park Service are also undergoing competitive sourcing studies.
Forest officials say it’s not yet clear what types of jobs will be studied in the 2004 fiscal year and what kinds of studies will be used. Congress currently has included language in the House and Senate versions of the Interior Department appropriations bill that could influence competitive sourcing studies. Lawmakers, who set budgets for government agencies, have indicated their desire to be consulted and to have a say on how money is spent on the studies, for instance.
“Because of ongoing discussions at the administrative and congressional level we haven’t firmed up what we’re going to look at in 2004,” Nesselroad said.
Studies favor keeping Forest Service jobs in-house
By BUDDY SMITH
Ravalli Republic
HAMILTON – A first round of “competitive sourcing” studies has concluded that several types of maintenance jobs in the Forest Service should continue to be done by federal employees, the agency announced Tuesday.
In the agency’s Northern Region, which includes the Bitterroot National Forest, five studies done in separate geographic zones examined fleet, roads, building and grounds maintenance as well as trails maintenance work and compared whether the jobs could be done more cost-effectively by the private sector.
Federal agencies like the Forest Service have been tasked with studying jobs deemed not to be “inherently governmental.” Competitive sourcing is among the initiatives in a management agenda undertaken by President Bush to improve government efficiency. The recent studies, which started this year, were conducted in national forests and grasslands in Montana, northern Idaho and North Dakota. The studies essentially compared the cost of the work to private sector bids for doing similar services, officials said.
Based on the study results, competition determined the Forest Service is able to provide maintenance and trails services to taxpayers at the lowest cost, and the agency will retain the jobs, according to regional headquarters in Missoula.
Region One was part of a larger area in which 19 studies were done in Forest Service regions roughly from the Canadian border to the Mexican border and from Nevada to Colorado, said Forest Service spokesman Ed Nesselroad.
The studies found the most cost-effective and efficient way to do the work was to retain the jobs in-house, he said.
“It also means we’re good at what we do,” Nesselroad said. “We should be. We’ve been taking care of trails for 100 years in the Forest Service, so we should know how to do that pretty effectively.”
That’s not to say such work can’t be done effectively by private contractors, Nesselroad added, noting that the agency currently uses some private contractors for temporary work.
“So we think we, in response to tight budgets, have already developed a pretty effective and efficient organization, and at least for this kind of work, that’s what the studies also indicate,” he said.
A separate, nationwide “full study” of information technology jobs in the Forest Service is ongoing, and results are expected next spring, plus the agency is expected to examine other jobs in the future and how they compare with private competition.
But in the recent study, according to Bob Kirkpatrick, a competitive sourcing coordinator for the Forest Service in Missoula, in Region One roughly 150 to 160 "full-time equivalents” were examined in the maintenance program studies, though the work is performed by many people, including seasonal employees. The studies were conducted by a Forest Service team and contracted consultant specialists, he said.
The results came as a relief to employees across the region whose jobs were examined, he said. In Hamilton, reaction among Bitterroot National Forest employees he shared the news with was much the same, said Supervisor Dave Bull.
“It’s something we’ve been going through quite a bit of concern and consternation with, just basically from the impact on employees and local communities standpoint this potentially could have,” he said. “It’s nice to know that, and I’m just like all the other taxpayers, that we’re looking at a very efficient operation in our maintenance programs in the Bitterroot National Forest, as we are in the rest of the Northern Region, which reflects well on our ability to accomplish work in a cost-efficient manner and make sure the public’s getting a good value from their tax dollar.
“We don’t really have any concerns about being reviewed to see how our costs do shake out,” Bull said. “In fact, it’s probably a good way to operate, but the results show we’re doing something right and being very conscious about spending.”
Competitive sourcing has been criticized by some, including federal government employees’ unions and some who fear the loss of federal jobs in rural communities. Others support it, like the group Americans for Tax Reform, which has said examining certain jobs saves more tax dollars by promoting more competition for federal goods and services by subjecting the federal government’s “commercial” activities to private sector bidding.
The Forest Service began the studies this year, and under the current process, over the next five to eight years is expected to look at job types deemed “non-inherently governmental” to see if they could be done most effectively by an in-house workforce or by private contractors. The maintenance jobs studied this year will be studied again in five years, according to the process.
The competitive sourcing process has been around for about 30 years and under various administrations, officials say, but has been more widely used under the Bush administration through the federal Office of Management and Budget. Federal agencies such as the National Park Service are also undergoing competitive sourcing studies.
Forest officials say it’s not yet clear what types of jobs will be studied in the 2004 fiscal year and what kinds of studies will be used. Congress currently has included language in the House and Senate versions of the Interior Department appropriations bill that could influence competitive sourcing studies. Lawmakers, who set budgets for government agencies, have indicated their desire to be consulted and to have a say on how money is spent on the studies, for instance.
“Because of ongoing discussions at the administrative and congressional level we haven’t firmed up what we’re going to look at in 2004,” Nesselroad said.
