Union wants IRS work done in-house

The National Treasury Employees Union called on Internal Revenue Service officials Jan. 24 to bring work contracted to private companies back in-house, according to a union press release.

In a letter to IRS Commissioner Mark Everson, NTEU president Colleen Kelley said it would be in the agency’s best interest to conduct public-private competitions for contracted work.

Kelley pointed to three areas where returning the work to IRS employees would provide the best value and greatest security for taxpayers: the IRS’s lock-box program which provides security for tax agency documents; the work of its Modernization and Information Technology Services organization; and its agencywide shared services mailroom function.

“We are not aware of any IRS efforts planned or under way to move work under contract to in-house performance,” said an IRS representative. “For work that is commercial in nature, government workers or contractors or a combination of both might be used.”

The Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, the District of Columbia, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act of 2006, which President Bush signed Nov. 30, 2005, grants agencies the authority to conduct competitions to determine whether previously contracted work should be done in-house, according to the release.

To determine how best to meet program delivery goals, the IRS considers factors such as costs, risks, use of technology and short- or long-term strategy, the representative said.

Instead of the contractors, Kelly said, “the IRS workforce would be willing and able to perform this work” and save the agency money.