AR-News: (U.S.) NIH Privatization Under Fire

[Mary Finelli]

NIH PRIVATIZATION UNDER FIRE
Congressional democrats warn of outsourcing plan's effect on science, 
security, and morale
The Scientist, Merrill Goozner, Oct. 22, 2003
http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20031022/07


The National Institutes of Health (NIH) plan to put thousands of scientific 
support jobs up for bid by outside contractors drew fire this week from 
agency watchdogs.

In a letter sent to Joshua Bolten, director of the Office of Management and 
Budget, and Tommy Thompson, secretary of Health and Human Services, Rep. 
Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and the Maryland congressional delegation complained 
that the outsourcing plan would put NIH at risk because it "meddles with 
scientists, opens the door to unnecessary security threats, and seriously 
undermines morale and productivity."

The NIH effort is part of the Bush administration's effort to privatize as 
much government work as possible. Over the next few years, outsourcing could 
affect as many as 4600 jobs on the sprawling 327-acre NIH campus in 
Bethesda, Md., just outside the US capital.

Today (October 22), NIH will announce whether an outside firm or current 
employees will provide real estate management services at several agency 
sites. About 700 jobs are at stake, agency spokesman Don Robusky said. The 
first competition for administering and staffing the agency's $18 billion 
extramural grants program was won last month by the in-house team, but at a 
cost of 40 jobs.

"It is our intention to be as competitive as possible and to win 
competitions against the private sector in an open and fair process," NIH 
Deputy Director of Management Charles E. Leasure, Jr., said. But "if we find 
ways to increase efficiencies and improve our operations, we have an 
obligation to do so."

In July, Leasure said that NIH planned to take bids over the coming year on 
services ranging from the agency's highly specialized fire department to its 
veterinary and lab equipment repair staffs. His original plan also called 
for asking key scientific personnel to compete with outside contractors, 
including NIH staffers drawn through the intramural research fellow program 
and category 2 senior scientists. Those jobs are "inherently commercial," 
according to an internal committee report approved by NIH Director Elias A. 
Zerhouni.

But a firestorm of protest at the agency has put the latter plans on hold, 
according to the Waxman letter. "These two proposals would allow outside 
contractors to select many of the key scientists on the NIH campus," the 
legislators wrote. "NIH's future is jeopardized when political leaders fail 
to respect the scientists and scientific processes needed to produce 
breakthrough treatments and other medical advances."

An anonymous letter from an NIH senior scientist posted on Waxman's 
Government Reform Committee Web site triggered the protests on Capitol Hill. 
"The morale of my staff has never seemed lower," the scientist wrote. 
Outsourcing "will not save money. This will decrease, not increase, work 
efficiency." There are between 8 and 10 support personnel for every senior 
research scientist at NIH.

At a joint Senate–House hearing on the future of biomedical research held in 
early October, former NIH Chief Harold Varmus expressed concerns that the 
outside contracting process was sending a "wave of unnecessary anxiety and 
bureaucratic duplication to the agency."

Harold Shapiro, president emeritus of Princeton University and chair of an 
Institute of Medicine committee studying how to reorganize NIH's structure, 
warned that forcing workers to competitively bid on their own jobs 
threatened to "undermine some of the vitality of the organization."

"If they actually start doing this to a large number of people, it will have 
a devastating effect," a senior scientist at the National Institute for 
Allergy and Infectious Diseases told The Scientist this week on condition of 
anonymity. "Everyone will start looking over their shoulders."

Signers of the Waxman letter included John Dingell, ranking minority member 
on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Senators Barbara Mikulski and 
Paul Sarbanes of Maryland, and Rep. Chris Van Hollen, who represents 
Bethesda in Congress. There have been growing protests in the suburban 
Maryland district over NIH plans to build a biohazard level 3 research 
facility.

Privatizing the agency's 50-person in-house fire department will only fuel 
those fears, according to Richard Laubach, president of the American 
Federation of Government Employees Local 2419, which represents about 660 
employees at NIH. "It's a hazmat unit that knows how to handle pathogens and 
biological agents," he said. "Once we lose that expertise, how will we ever 
replace it?"

Laubach also worries about the national security implications of turning 
over maintenance of the new facility to outside contractors. "We will have 
no idea who those people are," he said. "Anybody with half a mind to do so 
could snag something and walk out."

Links for this article
H. Waxman et al., Letter to Joshua Bolten and Tommy Thompson, October 20, 
2003.
http://www.house.gov/reform/min/pdfs_108/pdf_inves/pdf_admin_hh 
s_a76_oct_20_let.PDF

C.E. Leasure, Jr., "Competitive sourcing reviews in fiscal year 2004," Memo 
to all National Institutes of Health employees, July 9, 2003.
http://a-76.nih.gov/A-76allhandsmemo7-9-03.pdf

Anonymous, "I am the NIH... and I need your help," posted by Rep. Henry 
Waxman (D-Cal.), ranking member, House Government Reform Committee.
http://www.house.gov/reform/min/politicsandscience/inside_nih.h tm

Politics and Science
http://www.house.gov/reform/min/politicsandscience/

E. Russo, "Report recommends major changes in the NIH," The Scientist, July 
30, 2003.
http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20030730/05/

P. Brickley, "Bioagents in the backyard," The Scientist, January 28, 2003.
http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20030128/04/

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