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This number would diminish irrespective of which entity has the responsibility if, as and

when contracting out takes place.

Mr. WHITE. We think there is a combination that could work, and if we are trying to save money, and I assume that is what the goal is, not just simply to eliminate FTEs, but to have it less costly, then it may be there are some savings and that some things could be done centrally. We do that now, for example. All of our electronics technicians and engineers are on a central payroll. They work all over the Hill. At the moment we can't move people from the Senate side to the House side.

[CLERK'S NOTE.-The Architect has submitted the following information for the record:]

The Architect of the Capitol has been requested by the House Subcommittee on Legislative Branch Appropriations to develop a budget for fiscal year 1996 that reflects 1) the core mission programs within the AOC; 2) priorities as they relate to the AOC's core mission; 3) programs and costs that could be examined in terms of privatizing; and 4) a scaled-down request for fiscal year 1996 taking the foregoing analysis into account.

The AOC has prepared the following summaries that respond to these requests. It should be emphasized that all of the program activities now being performed by the AOC are undertaken under ongoing legislative authority. As such, both the House and Senate Leadership, as well as the appropriate oversight bodies, have ongoing responsibility for determining any changes in the present operational structure. Further, many of the AOC operations are "Joint" activities in that they fall under the purview of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The AOC is prepared to provide information and support to any process that may be created to review the present operational structure.

On the basis of transferring the responsibility for custodial operations and by funding only the remaining core mission programs, and by additional centralization of maintenance activities, a permanent work force of approximately 1,625 employees for House, Joint and Senate operations could be achieved. That is a reduction of 30% of the staffing from the 2,311 presently allowed. That might be further reduced by contracting out certain functions provided, of course, that analysis indicates that arrangement would be a cost saving measure.

The following summaries distribute budgeted cost allocations in a manner that differs significantly from the present structure. It has been developed to generally describe the budgeted costs of core mission programs by appropriation. The present administrative management systems, i.e., accounting, payroll, etc., do not at the present time distribute or account for costs in this manner.

The summaries have also been developed based solely on budgeted costs for permanent positions. Funding for temporary and Davis-Bacon FTE's has been included in the "Operating Costs" categories, which is where such positions are normally allocated. Position numbers therefore do not reflect the full FTE limitation for the AOC.

There are two separate summaries. The first identifies programs and costs for fiscal years 1995 and 1996, and serves as a comparison between the present level of operations in fiscal year 1995 and the requested level of operations in fiscal year 1996. The second summary identifies programs that are presently being contracted out, or that could be contracted out, as well as those that should in the judgment of the AOC remain to be performed by in house forces. As a point of reference, it should be noted that at the present time over 40% of all monies appropriated to the AOC are "outsourced," that is, contracted out, spent in the private sector for goods and services, or paid for temporary trades employees when hired as "in-house" contract employees.

89-935 95-11

Core Mission

Each Core Mission program has been identified as "CM" in the "Program Category" column. Other programs have been designated "AF," for Ancillary Function, in the Program Category column. The most important aspect of fulfilling these responsibilities is that the Congress has established a centralized office, i.e., the Architect of the Capitol, to provide professional services to both the House and the Senate on a neutral, bicameral and non-partisan basis. The AOC provides expertise and advice relating to preserving the built environment and operating the infrastructure supporting the Congress. In so doing, the AOC utilizes available architectural, engineering and professional staff expertise in order to provide the Congress the most appropriate, timely and cost effective recommendations. Inherent with such a structure is the organizational efficiency that would be reduced if, for example, each entity provided its own services.

The "Core Mission" of the office consists of the following: the maintenance and renovation of historic and monumental buildings as well as other office buildings; the design and construction of new buildings; the design and construction of major and minor modifications to existing buildings and building systems; the design and construction of major projects such as the Fort Meade project for the Library of Congress; the maintenance and restoration of works of art both freestanding and as integral parts of buildings; the protection of the urban design aspects of Capitol Hill; the providing of interior design needs, including office areas and committee spaces; the providing of landscape architecture, maintenance and improvements for Capitol Grounds; the providing of derivative architectural and engineering needs associated with the above responsibilities; and the acquisition and disposition of real property for the Congress.

As stated in response to Questions from the House Subcommittee on Appropriations, the AOC has indicated that at the present time there are two program areas that, with appropriate Leadership approval and legislative direction, might be transferred to another Legislative Branch entity; one is the custodial care of the House and Senate Office Buildings, and the other is the Senate Restaurants. This analysis refers only to "House" and "Joint" items, permitting the Senate to make judgements on matters within its sole jurisdiction. There are some other additional program areas that have been identified as being ancillary to the core activities; these include, for example, the payment of the nurse positions that are under the authority and supervision of the Attending Physician. The AOC has served only as a payroll function for these employees. This is another program that could be transferred from the AOC to another entity similar to action proposed for fiscal year 1996 for House garage personnel.

Priorities

Viewed in terms of priorities, all of the existing Core Mission programs have been identified as being necessary to continue the ongoing needs of the Congress. Those programs designated as "AF" have a lower priority within the AOC budget; this is not, however, to say that these programs are not required at all when reviewing the overall operations of the Congress. Clearly, provision of custodial services is essential, as are the needs for food and nursing services. All projects have been given the customary designations that have been used for the past four fiscal years: "C" for Critical, "HD" for Highly Desirable and "D" for Desirable.

Privatization

With respect to House operations, it is apparent that there is a great interest in the Congress that the AOC look into contracting out more services. The AOC is committed to carrying out this evaluation, and to this end has already embarked upon an internal review of operations. As noted before, many activities are already being contracted out; more are being identified that appear susceptible to such treatment. In the past, unanticipated small maintenance projects that arise from time to time have been accomplished by hiring temporary employees to perform the work. The AOC is investigating the feasibility and cost of contracting out for as many of these needs as possible. Additionally, a significant effort is being made to contract out for most of the larger projects. There may be some exceptions due to overriding concerns, such as security, scheduling flexibility, or completion of an existing project that is now being performed with temporary forces. However, virtually all of the new projects that are requested in the fiscal year 1996 budget could be contracted out. Once the Congress approves an appropriations bill for fiscal year 1996, the AOC will endeavor to ensure that any direction to adopt a "contract out/privatization" policy is carried out.

The area within the immediate purview of the House that has been discussed the most has been the domestic care of the House Office Buildings. Although this program area has been noted on the following summaries as one that could be contracted out, such a move should be made only after taking into account the following considerations. First, the AOC would clearly need direction and approval from the Leadership and House Office Building Commission to proceed in such a manner. Additionally, the AOC would recommend that before issuing a blanket directive to contract out these operations, the scope of services and costs be carefully compared in order to achieve the most cost-effective solution. The Congress must also recognize that the security of property and materials, including memorabilia, will be of concern in introducing contractor, non-government workers into Leadership, Members and Committee suites. Once these are reported to and/or considered by the Leadership and House Office Building Commission, a judgment can be made by such authorities on whether to proceed. Finally, the AOC is committed to serving not only the needs of the Congress, but its employees. The AOC therefore recommends that any such conversion take place over a phased transition period in order to allow for existing employees, many of whom have many years of dedicated service, to retire without penalty, find other comparable employment, or be afforded some job and benefits protection to them for a transitional period. In this manner, the transition could take place without adversely affecting this large group of employees. This phased process would also allow for an actual and gradual comparison of services and costs to take place; if the Congress determined that either the provided services were inadequate, or the cost too high, then steps could be taken to make necessary adjustments.

Scaled Down Request

A scaled down funding level for the AOC budget for core mission programs would reflect no funding for ancillary functions. It should be noted that transferring these functions to other Legislative Branch entities will reduce the AOC budget, but would also result in increases to the budgets of the other entities. Additionally, as stated before the House Subcommittee on Legislative Branch Appropriations, there are economies that might be achieved if additional efforts at centralization were authorized.

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