By Doug Cunningham

The National Treasury Employees Union has won a round on privatization. NTEU successfully challenged a decision by the Department of Energy to award work to a private company. This is the first win on privatization under revised federal contracting rules. DOE had decided to give a headquarters logistic contract to a private company taking the work away from public employee unions even though the union bid for the work was lower. The NTEU argued that the privatization of this work was not the best value for the Department of Energy. The private contractor's bid would have cost taxpayers $2.6 million more than if unionized federal workers did the work. The NTEU represents 150,000 workers in thirty different federal agencies.