From the Billings Gazette, by Eve Byron
The jobs of Forest Service employees who give information to the public are being scrutinized to see whether they might be better handled by private public relations firms.
The evaluation is part of a process that the Bush administration says could "increase the cost-effectiveness of Forest Service work," according to agency memos. But a national government employee watchdog group - Public Employees for Environmental Responsibil-ity - said this is a ploy to manipulate information.
"Civil servants are under a legal obligation to tell the public the truth while PR firms specialize in shading it. Outsourcing the public information function risks putting a premium on spin at the expense of candor," said PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch.
Paula Nelson, a public affairs specialist with the Forest Service's regional headquarters in Missoula, noted that reviews of efficiency in government have been occurring since the Reagan administration, with the various presidents either pushing forward or letting the process idle.
"A lot remains to be seen as to what this really means. It could be dire, it could be a small focus study. It's just part of the process for a more efficient government," Nelson said.
Ruch said the plan calls for surveying 700 of the agency's informational positions, with an eye on putting 100 of those jobs out to bid at private public relations firms.
The Forest Service would make decisions this fall, and contractors could be in place by January. He said hundreds of other Forest Service positions may be subject to similar privatization in 2006.
Both Ruch and Bill Dougan, president of the federal union that represents Forest Service employees, questioned the economics of outsourcing, noting that the Forest Service spent about $100 million on private contractors to just put together private sector competitions in a recent attempt to outsource law enforcement, biologist and silvaculturist positions.
"Taxpayers will once again bear the costs of this ill-advised mandate to take work currently done by government employees and attempt to hand it to private contractors at inflated costs," Dougan said in a press release.
"It is ironic that this effort to outsource the agency's in-house communications staffs coincides with allegations that taxpayer money is being used to contract with private public-relations firms to promote partisan political agendas.
"To date, the agency has spent nearly $100 million on competitive sourcing-related activities, with no substantiated cost savings. How many more millions of dollars must be wasted on these efforts which claim cost efficiency and better delivery of goods and services as their basis? The public and the employees deserve better treatment."
