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On Friday, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe
Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Me., laid out their vision for a
more effective and efficient Department of Homeland Security as a guide for the next
Administration and the 111th Congress. The bill introduced Friday, represents the first Senate
bill, the Chairman and Ranking Member hope to improve the ability of DHS to carry out its
missions and become the mature and effective Department the nation demands.
The bill represents a comprehensive package of homeland security improvements, to include
addressing significant issues related directly to the Federal Protective Service. Many of these
issues have been priority concerns of AFGE Local 918-FPS members and as such the Local
has vigorously pursued to have these important issues included in the Senate’s DHS
authorization bill. These include enhanced law enforcement retirement coverage, authorization
for off-duty carry of firearms and increased staffing for FPS. A summary of the FPS authorization
follows:
TITLE XI: FEDERAL PROTECTIVE SERVICE AUTHORIZATION
Section 1101. Authorization of Federal Protective Service Personnel.
This section requires that the Secretary of Homeland Security ensure that the Federal Protective
Service (FPS) maintain no fewer than 1200 FTE’s, including 900 law enforcement officers, for
FY2009, and no fewer than 1300 FTE’s, including 950 law enforcement officers, for FY2010. It
authorizes $650 million for FY2009 and $675 million for FY 2010 for this purpose. This section
also requires the Secretary to submit a report to Congress evaluating whether all, part, or none
of the FPS’ budget should be funded by fee collections, direct appropriations or some other
funding mechanism. Currently, the FPS is entirely fee funded.
Section 1102. Report on Personnel Needs of the Federal Protective Service.
This section requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to study and report on the staffing
needs of the FPS, including recommendations on the level and composition of staffing required
to accomplish the missions of the FPS.
Section 1103. Authority for Federal Protective Service Officers and Investigators to Carry
Weapons During Off-Duty Times. This section amends Section 1315(b)(2) of title 40 to permit
FPS law enforcement officers to carry weapons and effect arrests during off-duty times. It does
not extend the jurisdiction of FPS law enforcement officers.
Section 1104. Amendments Relating to the Civil Service Retirement System.
This section amends the Civil Service Retirement System to provide law enforcement
retirement benefits to FPS Police Officers, Law Enforcement Security Officers/Inspectors, and
Criminal Investigators.
Section 1105. Federal Protective Service Contracts.
This section directs the Secretary of the Homeland Security to promulgate regulations
prohibiting the award of contracts for guard services by the Federal Protective Service to any
business owned, controlled or operated by an individual convicted of serious felonies.
This is just a first step. AFGE Local 918-FPS will continue to pursue all options to ensure that
these issues are formalized into law. It is essential for the viability of FPS that these bill
becomes law. The inclusion of these provisions in the Senate’s authorization bill would not be
possible without the lobbying and grassroots efforts of AFGE Local 918-FPS President David
Wright and other members of the Local’s Executive Board and especially without the
extraordinary efforts of our lobbyist, Eric Shulman, who would not be possible without the dues-
paying members of the Local. In addition, the grassroots efforts our members have made in
contacting their Congressional representatives have proved invaluable in achieving our goals
in Congress. AFGE Local 918-FPS thanks all of our dues-paying members for their hard work
and support of the union.
Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Me., laid out their vision for a
more effective and efficient Department of Homeland Security as a guide for the next
Administration and the 111th Congress. The bill introduced Friday, represents the first Senate
bill, the Chairman and Ranking Member hope to improve the ability of DHS to carry out its
missions and become the mature and effective Department the nation demands.
The bill represents a comprehensive package of homeland security improvements, to include
addressing significant issues related directly to the Federal Protective Service. Many of these
issues have been priority concerns of AFGE Local 918-FPS members and as such the Local
has vigorously pursued to have these important issues included in the Senate’s DHS
authorization bill. These include enhanced law enforcement retirement coverage, authorization
for off-duty carry of firearms and increased staffing for FPS. A summary of the FPS authorization
follows:
TITLE XI: FEDERAL PROTECTIVE SERVICE AUTHORIZATION
Section 1101. Authorization of Federal Protective Service Personnel.
This section requires that the Secretary of Homeland Security ensure that the Federal Protective
Service (FPS) maintain no fewer than 1200 FTE’s, including 900 law enforcement officers, for
FY2009, and no fewer than 1300 FTE’s, including 950 law enforcement officers, for FY2010. It
authorizes $650 million for FY2009 and $675 million for FY 2010 for this purpose. This section
also requires the Secretary to submit a report to Congress evaluating whether all, part, or none
of the FPS’ budget should be funded by fee collections, direct appropriations or some other
funding mechanism. Currently, the FPS is entirely fee funded.
Section 1102. Report on Personnel Needs of the Federal Protective Service.
This section requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to study and report on the staffing
needs of the FPS, including recommendations on the level and composition of staffing required
to accomplish the missions of the FPS.
Section 1103. Authority for Federal Protective Service Officers and Investigators to Carry
Weapons During Off-Duty Times. This section amends Section 1315(b)(2) of title 40 to permit
FPS law enforcement officers to carry weapons and effect arrests during off-duty times. It does
not extend the jurisdiction of FPS law enforcement officers.
Section 1104. Amendments Relating to the Civil Service Retirement System.
This section amends the Civil Service Retirement System to provide law enforcement
retirement benefits to FPS Police Officers, Law Enforcement Security Officers/Inspectors, and
Criminal Investigators.
Section 1105. Federal Protective Service Contracts.
This section directs the Secretary of the Homeland Security to promulgate regulations
prohibiting the award of contracts for guard services by the Federal Protective Service to any
business owned, controlled or operated by an individual convicted of serious felonies.
This is just a first step. AFGE Local 918-FPS will continue to pursue all options to ensure that
these issues are formalized into law. It is essential for the viability of FPS that these bill
becomes law. The inclusion of these provisions in the Senate’s authorization bill would not be
possible without the lobbying and grassroots efforts of AFGE Local 918-FPS President David
Wright and other members of the Local’s Executive Board and especially without the
extraordinary efforts of our lobbyist, Eric Shulman, who would not be possible without the dues-
paying members of the Local. In addition, the grassroots efforts our members have made in
contacting their Congressional representatives have proved invaluable in achieving our goals
in Congress. AFGE Local 918-FPS thanks all of our dues-paying members for their hard work
and support of the union.
| Senate Homeland Security Committee Introduces DHS Authorization Bill Includes key provisions for FPS to include increasedstaffing, enhanced retirement and off-duty carry among other issues September 26, 2008 |
Government Executive: Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
Chairman Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., Tuesday outlined his panel's priorities for the year,
including the first authorization bill for the Homeland Security Department. Lieberman indicated
he would like his committee to mark up the authorization bill before congressional appropriators
approve the department's annual spending bill.
Chairman Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., Tuesday outlined his panel's priorities for the year,
including the first authorization bill for the Homeland Security Department. Lieberman indicated
he would like his committee to mark up the authorization bill before congressional appropriators
approve the department's annual spending bill.
| LEGISLATIVE ALERTS |
| 2009 |
| 2008 |
| Copyright 2010: American Federation of Government Employees Local 918. All rights reserved. |
| July 8, 2009 LIEBERMAN AND COLLINS TO DRAFT FPS REFORM LEGISLATION Agency Needs Additional Resources, Training Plans; Bomb Materials Smuggled into 10 Federal Buildings |
WASHINGTON – Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe
Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Me., Wednesday announced they
would introduce legislation to set the Federal Protective Service (FPS) on course to fulfill its
mission of protecting 9,000 federal buildings around the country after federal investigators
smuggled bomb-making materials past guards at 10 high security locations.
At a hearing before the Committee, titled Federal Protective Service: Time for Reform, a
Government Accountability Office (GAO) witness told how investigators smuggled liquid bomb-
making materials past FPS contract guards, made bombs in public restrooms, and moved about
the buildings undetected. The GAO will produce a report later this summer detailing the agency’s
failures to properly train guards, ensure that guard certifications are current, and oversee guard
“GAO has found that FPS is not doing anywhere near enough to make sure that its 15,000 or so
private contract guards – the first line of defense at federal buildings -- are qualified and trained
for their jobs, or are actually doing what they were hired to do,” Lieberman said. “As we approach
the eighth anniversary of 9/11, and some 14 years after the bombing at the federal building in
Oklahoma City, it is outrageously unacceptable that the federal employees working within these
buildings, and the citizens who pass through them, are still so utterly exposed to potential attack
by terrorists or other violent people.”
“We need to immediately remedy these very serious and alarming gaps in our security,” said
Collins. The GAO findings indicate “a pervasive, systemic problem in federal building security. If
the GAO inspectors had been successful in entering one or two federal buildings, then that
would have been cause for concern. But 10 out of 10 times is egregious and illustrates a security
crisis,” she said.
“We have an urgent problem,” she told the FPS chief. “The threat is here and present. We can’t
be just `working toward solutions.’ We have to have solutions right now. …..It sounds like there’s
no accountability in this whole system.” Collins and Lieberman told the FPS chief to report back
to them in two weeks with his recommendations on how to immediately correct the situation.
Senators Lieberman, Collins, Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and George Voinovich, R-Ohio, will soon
begin drafting an FPS authorization bill that would give the Department of Homeland Security
Secretary authorization to move the agency from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to the
National Protection and Programs Directorate within DHS, provide an initial increase in funding,
and require a long-term strategy for staffing and training.
The four Senators originally asked GAO to investigate the Federal Protective Service in 2007 to
determine if it was fulfilling its mission. GAO produced its first report last June and concluded
that FPS lacked adequate financial and management practices, severely hampering its ability to
perform its mission.
The second report will tell of how FPS contract guards are required to have more than 120 hours
of training, including training on the operation of metal detectors and X-ray equipment but that, in
many cases, guards received no X-ray or metal detector training at all. FPS also requires guards
to maintain certain certifications, for example in CPR, First Aid, firearms training, and to provide
proof that they have not been convicted of domestic violence. GAO found that 62 percent of FPS
contract guards it reviewed lacked valid certifications in one or more of these areas.
The report will further describe how, after new guards were hired, FPS did little to ensure they
complied with relevant rules and regulations. For example, the Service did not conduct
inspections of guard posts after regular business hours. But when GAO did, it discovered guards
taking prescription medication while on duty and sleeping on an overnight shift. In another case,
an inattentive guard allowed a baby to pass through an X-ray machine conveyor belt. That guard
was fired, but he ultimately won a lawsuit against the FPS because the agency couldn’t
document that he had received the required training.
FPS has begun work to close the vulnerabilities GAO documented.
Witnesses at the hearing were Mark Goldstein, Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues at GAO,
and Gary W. Schenkel, Director of the Federal Protective Service.
Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Me., Wednesday announced they
would introduce legislation to set the Federal Protective Service (FPS) on course to fulfill its
mission of protecting 9,000 federal buildings around the country after federal investigators
smuggled bomb-making materials past guards at 10 high security locations.
At a hearing before the Committee, titled Federal Protective Service: Time for Reform, a
Government Accountability Office (GAO) witness told how investigators smuggled liquid bomb-
making materials past FPS contract guards, made bombs in public restrooms, and moved about
the buildings undetected. The GAO will produce a report later this summer detailing the agency’s
failures to properly train guards, ensure that guard certifications are current, and oversee guard
“GAO has found that FPS is not doing anywhere near enough to make sure that its 15,000 or so
private contract guards – the first line of defense at federal buildings -- are qualified and trained
for their jobs, or are actually doing what they were hired to do,” Lieberman said. “As we approach
the eighth anniversary of 9/11, and some 14 years after the bombing at the federal building in
Oklahoma City, it is outrageously unacceptable that the federal employees working within these
buildings, and the citizens who pass through them, are still so utterly exposed to potential attack
by terrorists or other violent people.”
“We need to immediately remedy these very serious and alarming gaps in our security,” said
Collins. The GAO findings indicate “a pervasive, systemic problem in federal building security. If
the GAO inspectors had been successful in entering one or two federal buildings, then that
would have been cause for concern. But 10 out of 10 times is egregious and illustrates a security
crisis,” she said.
“We have an urgent problem,” she told the FPS chief. “The threat is here and present. We can’t
be just `working toward solutions.’ We have to have solutions right now. …..It sounds like there’s
no accountability in this whole system.” Collins and Lieberman told the FPS chief to report back
to them in two weeks with his recommendations on how to immediately correct the situation.
Senators Lieberman, Collins, Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and George Voinovich, R-Ohio, will soon
begin drafting an FPS authorization bill that would give the Department of Homeland Security
Secretary authorization to move the agency from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to the
National Protection and Programs Directorate within DHS, provide an initial increase in funding,
and require a long-term strategy for staffing and training.
The four Senators originally asked GAO to investigate the Federal Protective Service in 2007 to
determine if it was fulfilling its mission. GAO produced its first report last June and concluded
that FPS lacked adequate financial and management practices, severely hampering its ability to
perform its mission.
The second report will tell of how FPS contract guards are required to have more than 120 hours
of training, including training on the operation of metal detectors and X-ray equipment but that, in
many cases, guards received no X-ray or metal detector training at all. FPS also requires guards
to maintain certain certifications, for example in CPR, First Aid, firearms training, and to provide
proof that they have not been convicted of domestic violence. GAO found that 62 percent of FPS
contract guards it reviewed lacked valid certifications in one or more of these areas.
The report will further describe how, after new guards were hired, FPS did little to ensure they
complied with relevant rules and regulations. For example, the Service did not conduct
inspections of guard posts after regular business hours. But when GAO did, it discovered guards
taking prescription medication while on duty and sleeping on an overnight shift. In another case,
an inattentive guard allowed a baby to pass through an X-ray machine conveyor belt. That guard
was fired, but he ultimately won a lawsuit against the FPS because the agency couldn’t
document that he had received the required training.
FPS has begun work to close the vulnerabilities GAO documented.
Witnesses at the hearing were Mark Goldstein, Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues at GAO,
and Gary W. Schenkel, Director of the Federal Protective Service.
WASHINGTON— Democratic and Republican leaders of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee introduced bipartisan legislation Monday to reform
and modernize the Federal Protective Service (FPS), which is responsible for providing security at 9,000 federal buildings with 1,200 fulltime employees and 15,000
contract guards.
The Supporting Employee Competency and Updating Readiness Enhancements for Facilities Act of 2010 (SECURE Facilities Act) was introduced by Committee
Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Me., Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the
District of Columbia Chairman Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and Subcommittee Ranking Member George Voinovich, R-Ohio.
“FPS is essentially a dysfunctional agency whose mission is in grave peril,” Lieberman said. “Budget shortfalls, mismanagement and multiple operational challenges
have taken their toll on the agency, making it a prime candidate for reform. We aim to provide FPS with adequate resources, strengthen its management capabilities,
and help it function at a higher level so it can more effectively protect visitors and employees at federal buildings across this country.”
Collins said: “The FPS is charged with securing nearly 9,000 federal facilities and protecting the government employees who work in them, and the Americans who use
them to access vital services. But, independent investigations by the Government Accountability Office and the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General
have documented serious and systemic security flaws within the operations of the FPS. These lapses place federal employees and private citizens at risk.
“While shining a light on these failings in multiple hearings, our Committee pressed the FPS to take action to close these security gaps. Although some tentative steps
have been taken by FPS, we can no longer wait for the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Homeland Security to implement the absolutely critical
security measures necessary to help protect our federal buildings, our federal employees, and the American public. The SECURE Facilities Act would help close these
security gaps at our federal buildings. The American public that relies on these facilities and the federal employees who work in them deserve better and more reliable
protection.”
Akaka said: “I am pleased to join this bipartisan effort to address training and operational challenges within the Federal Protective Service. “This legislation ensures
FPS has the full time staff it needs to carry out its mission, and increases oversight of contract guards. FPS must have the tools it needs to keep over 9,000 federal
facilities safe.”
Voinovich said: “We must do all we can to ensure that our federal buildings are safe for employees and visitors alike. This much-needed bill will bring FPS up to the
staffing and security levels needed to protect these individuals and property. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.”
The senators asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to undertake a comprehensive review of the FPS, leading to eight reports to Congress between 2004
and 2010. GAO concluded that contract guards lacked adequate training, FPS oversight of the guards was poor, and many of the standards and manuals guiding guard
behavior were outdated. GAO investigators were able to slip bomb-making materials through security at several high security buildings, assemble a bomb in a public
restroom, and wander the halls at will. Elsewhere a contract guard was found to be asleep at his station, while another allowed an infant in a carrier to go through an x-
ray machine.
The SECURE Facilities Act of 2010 addresses shortcomings reported by the GAO and congressional oversight and incorporates many of GAO’s recommendations.
Under the SECURE Facilities Act, FPS would be formally authorized for the first time, as would the interagency body responsible for establishing security standards for all
federal facilities.
The bill addresses four major challenges:
• Ensure that FPS has sufficient personnel to carry out its mission. This legislation provides adequate resources for FPS to hire 500 additional full time employees
over the next four years. It also ensures that FPS never employs fewer than 1,200 full time employees at any point.
• Tackle deficiencies within the contract guard program. The bill requires FPS to maintain testing programs to assess the training of guards, security of federal
facilities, and to establish procedures for retraining or terminating ineffective guards.
• Ensure FPS is focused and prepared to address the threat of explosives. The SECURE Facilities Act requires DHS to establish performance-based standards for
checkpoint detection technologies for explosives and other threats at federal facilities. It would allow FPS officers to carry firearms off duty, just as most other federal law
enforcement officers can, enabling them to respond to incidents more quickly.
• Pay attention to the delicate balance between public access and security. Though the emphasis remains on security, the bill also supports avenues of appeal if a
building tenant believes security measures unduly hinder public access.
and modernize the Federal Protective Service (FPS), which is responsible for providing security at 9,000 federal buildings with 1,200 fulltime employees and 15,000
contract guards.
The Supporting Employee Competency and Updating Readiness Enhancements for Facilities Act of 2010 (SECURE Facilities Act) was introduced by Committee
Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Me., Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the
District of Columbia Chairman Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and Subcommittee Ranking Member George Voinovich, R-Ohio.
“FPS is essentially a dysfunctional agency whose mission is in grave peril,” Lieberman said. “Budget shortfalls, mismanagement and multiple operational challenges
have taken their toll on the agency, making it a prime candidate for reform. We aim to provide FPS with adequate resources, strengthen its management capabilities,
and help it function at a higher level so it can more effectively protect visitors and employees at federal buildings across this country.”
Collins said: “The FPS is charged with securing nearly 9,000 federal facilities and protecting the government employees who work in them, and the Americans who use
them to access vital services. But, independent investigations by the Government Accountability Office and the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General
have documented serious and systemic security flaws within the operations of the FPS. These lapses place federal employees and private citizens at risk.
“While shining a light on these failings in multiple hearings, our Committee pressed the FPS to take action to close these security gaps. Although some tentative steps
have been taken by FPS, we can no longer wait for the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Homeland Security to implement the absolutely critical
security measures necessary to help protect our federal buildings, our federal employees, and the American public. The SECURE Facilities Act would help close these
security gaps at our federal buildings. The American public that relies on these facilities and the federal employees who work in them deserve better and more reliable
protection.”
Akaka said: “I am pleased to join this bipartisan effort to address training and operational challenges within the Federal Protective Service. “This legislation ensures
FPS has the full time staff it needs to carry out its mission, and increases oversight of contract guards. FPS must have the tools it needs to keep over 9,000 federal
facilities safe.”
Voinovich said: “We must do all we can to ensure that our federal buildings are safe for employees and visitors alike. This much-needed bill will bring FPS up to the
staffing and security levels needed to protect these individuals and property. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.”
The senators asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to undertake a comprehensive review of the FPS, leading to eight reports to Congress between 2004
and 2010. GAO concluded that contract guards lacked adequate training, FPS oversight of the guards was poor, and many of the standards and manuals guiding guard
behavior were outdated. GAO investigators were able to slip bomb-making materials through security at several high security buildings, assemble a bomb in a public
restroom, and wander the halls at will. Elsewhere a contract guard was found to be asleep at his station, while another allowed an infant in a carrier to go through an x-
ray machine.
The SECURE Facilities Act of 2010 addresses shortcomings reported by the GAO and congressional oversight and incorporates many of GAO’s recommendations.
Under the SECURE Facilities Act, FPS would be formally authorized for the first time, as would the interagency body responsible for establishing security standards for all
federal facilities.
The bill addresses four major challenges:
• Ensure that FPS has sufficient personnel to carry out its mission. This legislation provides adequate resources for FPS to hire 500 additional full time employees
over the next four years. It also ensures that FPS never employs fewer than 1,200 full time employees at any point.
• Tackle deficiencies within the contract guard program. The bill requires FPS to maintain testing programs to assess the training of guards, security of federal
facilities, and to establish procedures for retraining or terminating ineffective guards.
• Ensure FPS is focused and prepared to address the threat of explosives. The SECURE Facilities Act requires DHS to establish performance-based standards for
checkpoint detection technologies for explosives and other threats at federal facilities. It would allow FPS officers to carry firearms off duty, just as most other federal law
enforcement officers can, enabling them to respond to incidents more quickly.
• Pay attention to the delicate balance between public access and security. Though the emphasis remains on security, the bill also supports avenues of appeal if a
building tenant believes security measures unduly hinder public access.
| SENATORS INTRODUCE BILL TO MODERNIZE, REFORM FEDERAL PROTECTIVE SERVICE Bipartisan SECURE Facilities Act Would Transform Agency in Peril |
September 20, 2010
| 2010 |
| LOCAL 918-NATIONAL PROTECTION AND PROGRAMS DIRECTORATE Representing NPPD Employees Nationwide |