EEOC Schedules Vote on Call Center

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has scheduled a vote for Sept. 17 on obligating funds to establish a privatized national call center to provide a customer service contact point for the commission, according to Cynthia Pierre, EEOC director of field management programs. The commission held a notational vote Sept. 10, in which one of the commissioners voted to put the matter on EEOC's meeting agenda, Pierre told BNA. EEOC Chair Cari Dominguez then scheduled the vote for Sept. 17, Pierre said. EEOC has received approval from the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, and the Judiciary to move ahead with its plans to establish the center, she said.
 

Commission officials said Aug. 30 that the commission was finished reviewing contractor bids to establish the privatized national call center for EEO complaints, even as it worked to address congressional concerns about the center in preparation for a commission vote to choose the winning contractor sometime in September (171 DLR A-9, 9/3/04).

The American Federation of Government Employees has expressed opposition to the privatized call center, asserting that the work should be performed by EEOC employees rather than contractors. According to AFGE, EEOC by contracting out the call center work without a public-private job competition is skirting Office of Management and Budget Circular A-76, which governs the federal government's competitive sourcing program.

EEOC spokeswoman Jennifer Kaplan said Sept. 3 that the number of contractor employees that would be used at the call center will depend on which contractor is selected to perform the work.