IFPTE Urges Support for STEM Civil Service Careers at NASA in Letter to House Science Committee and Oversight Committee
In a letter to the chairs of the House Committees with jurisdiction over NASA and federal civil servants, IFPTE shared concerns about the NASA provisions in S.1260, the U.S. Innovation and Competitiveness Act — which recently passed the Senate with bipartisan support. IFPTE urged the Committee leaders to build on the advantages of the civil service to make NASA careers more attractive to STEM graduates and federal workers.
Read the letter below and download the letter here.
July 7, 2021
Hon. Eddie Bernice Johnson, Chairwoman
Science, Space, and Technology Committee
U.S. House of Representatives
2306 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Hon. Carolyn Maloney, Chairwoman
Oversight and Reform Committee
U.S. House of Representatives
2308 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Hon. Donald Beyer, Chairman
Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics
U.S. House of Representatives
1119 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Hon. Gerald Connolly, Chairman
Subcommittee on Government Operations
U.S. House of Representatives
2238 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Chairwoman Johnson, Chairwoman Maloney, Chairman Beyer, and Chairman Connolly:
We are writing to you as the executive officers of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), representing upwards of 90,000 workers, including over 6,000 federal scientists, engineers, technical, and administrative employees working at four NASA centers and NASA Headquarters. The purpose of this letter is to share our priorities and recommendations for addressing hiring, recruitment, and promoting STEM careers at NASA and to urge you to respond to counterproductive provisions in recent Senate legislation that would make a career in NASA’s civil service workforce less attractive to STEM professionals.
Concerns with U.S. Innovation and Competitiveness Act Provisions that Undermine Civil Service Protections at NASA:
The Senate’s passage of the U.S. Innovation and Competitiveness Act (S.1260) offers an opportunity for your respective Committees to craft a similar bill to address critical federal research and development priorities and align federal R&D investments with the goal of supporting U.S. economic competitiveness. Unfortunately, some provisions in S.1260 would work against these stated goals at the expense of NASA’s civil service, namely in Title VI-Part VII.
Section 2665 of S.1260 creates an expansive three-year pilot program giving the NASA Administrator the power to circumvent time-honored federal safeguard to directly hire up to 3,000 workers, the equivalent of ~20% of its current workforce. The scale is wholly inappropriate and risky for a pilot program that could destroy NASA’s technical independence and credibility by creating a cadre of politically selected and vulnerable employees who lack the full civil service protections needed to speak truth to power. If the last four years have taught us anything, handing this easily corruptible hiring authority to a STEM Agency should concern lawmakers and citizens of all political stripes.
Section 2666 and 2667 would give NASA broad authority to move work to “multi-institutional consortia” and outsource federal work to corporate and academic institutions. This shift could result in the transfer of inherently governmental work into institutions whose private interests do not necessarily align with that of the public or the Nation. Instead, we ask House to recommit to President Kennedy’s inspiring call to patriotic action and build back a solid next generation of intellectual infrastructure at NASA with a bill that fosters civil service careers for young Americans dedicated to country and public service, insulated from private or corporate greed.
Attracting and Retaining STEM Professionals by Affirming Civil Service, Career Development, and Utilizing Existing Authorities:
Should the House Science Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics consider provisions in Title VI of S.1260 or a standalone NASA authorization bill, we urge them to include provisions that attract and retain STEM professionals by reinforcing the federal civil service, not diluting it. A framework for this already exists in the NASA Flexibility Act of 2004. We ask the Subcommittee to direct NASA to expand its the use of the existing “three R’s” – recruitment, relocation, and retention bonuses. These bonuses could be targeted to rank-and-file technical workers by setting aside 0.1% of the funds within each of NASA programs. Bonuses could be further focused by requiring that 80% of these bonuses be used to reward deserving STEM employees.
In addition, a NASA-related Title should allow for NASA to review and immediately convert all eligible term employees, establish a formal mentorship program for all early career employees, and increase opportunities for continuing education and technical conferences and associated travel for STEM employees. House legislation should promote fully re-staffing NASA’s beleaguered Centers and Headquarters by eliminating the arbitrary Full Time Employee ceilings and empowering Center Directors to hire STEM staff at up to 110% of their FY21 ceilings. To ensure a STEM pipeline for NASA civil service positions, House legislation should authorize funding for NASA predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships and internship opportunities at NASA Centers and Headquarters and include an emphasis on diversity and racial and gender equity.
Our recommendations and concerns regarding Title VI of S.1260 call for the Committees of jurisdiction to focus on ensuring NASA uses existing authorities to hire for critical needs, maintaining NASA’s long-term, internal science and technology capabilities, and preserving core institutional knowledge, all while preventing any further increase in reliance on external capabilities that may or may not be there when NASA needs it.
Modernizing federal employee compensation, pensions
Our union members’ experiences and career decisions show us that solutions to attracting and retaining STEM workers in the federal sector will have to involve Congress and the Executive Branch addressing government-wide issues in federal employee compensation. These issues include restoring equity to the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) through a uniform 0.8% contribution rate for all FERS employees which cruelly punishes NASA’s best and brightest young technical talent, raising the arbitrary General Schedule pay limit (i.e., raising GS-plus-locality pay limits to III of the Executive Schedule) which is creating a brain drain of NASA’s best and brightest senior technical employees, and promoting federal pay comparability by fully implementing the bipartisan Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act of 1990 to provide fairness for all civil servants across all Agencies.
Finally, we ask your respective Committees to reclaim proper jurisdiction over various aspects of this legislative package and ensure that all its significant policy changes are properly vetted and authorized (or modified appropriately). IFPTE supports increasing federal R&D funding and ensuring those investments support domestic manufacturing, strategic industries, good jobs, and economic prosperity. However, legislation this important to the public interest must not be compromised through rushed and untransparent deliberations, nor by incomplete prior engagement with all stakeholders.
Thank you for considering our recommendations and concerns. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us directly or to reach out to IFPTE legislative representative Faraz Khan at 202-239-04880
Sincerely,
Paul Shearon
IFPTE President
Matthew S. Biggs
IFPTE Secretary Treasurer/Legislative Director