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The Honorable Frank R. Wolf
United States Congress
Washington, D.C. 20510
Via Facsimile: 202-225-0437
Dear Congressman Wolf:
The National Council of EEOC Locals, No. 216, thanks you for asking Chair Cari Dominguez difficult and thoughtful questions regarding the EEOC�s FY �05 Budget Request during the agency�s March 25, 2004, CJS Subcommittee Oversight Hearing.� Our members share pointed concerns about the EEOC�s $5 million dollar �Workforce Repositioning� request.
Specifically, Union members are concerned about the EEOC�s proposed privatized National Contact Center.� Telemarketers with three weeks of training will not be able to distinguish questions which involve basis versus complex issues, such as jurisdiction.� As a result, your constituents civil rights will be put in peril.� Right now all employees responding to calls are classified as �inherently governmental.� Even if this work should be reviewed for outsourcing, Federal employees should have an opportunity to compete for the work.� Instead it appears the agency failed to obtain a waiver from OMB circular A-76 before it published its solicitation.���
At EEOC�s September 8, 2003 Public Meeting, Cynthia Pierre, who headed the contact center workgroup stated �We weren't focused on how much money could we save from this process� . .� and� �it may be for the same amount of dollars.�� At the hearing, Chair Dominguez now claims that it would cost $8-12 million dollars to accomplish the task in-house.�� How could this be, when the work is accomplished in-house now, with no additional budget allocation?� For the record, the Subcommittee should request a detailed foundation for this claim.
The Agency�s $5 million repositioning request is also intended to pay for �office relocation costs,� �staffing adjustments,� and �office adjustments.� The Chair�s own hand-selected �Repositioning Workgroup� does not believe that a business case has been made for her plan to reduce field offices in favor of a� ten �mega� district office structure. Chair Dominguez needs to provide answers for the record on the details of this plan.���
EEOC Commissioner Miller recently stated: "I don't understand how the plan to designate 10 or 11 district offices as 'mega-offices' either strengthens our mission or addresses the agency's funding issue, and I remain unconvinced that redirecting an enormously large amount of EEOC's scarce resources into a centralized call center makes us more efficient or effective.���
Our members hope
that Congress provides a needed increase to the EEOC.� However, we request restrictive language that prevents valued
dollars from going to �Workforce Repositioning,� in the form of a
privatized national contact center or a reduction of� field offices.
Sincerely,