Opinion ID: 405905
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: FLRA Proceedings

Text: 6 On August 27, 1979, Local 1167 appealed the Agency's claim of nonnegotiability to the FLRA, pursuant to section 7117(c)(2) of the Civil Service Reform Act, 5 U.S.C. § 7117(c)(2) (Supp. IV 1980). App. 1-11. The Authority granted Local 1167 an extension of time to comply with the filing requirements for negotiability appeals. App. 12-13; see 5 C.F.R. pts. 2424, 2429 (1982). Local 1167 complied in timely fashion. App. 14-16. Homestead Air Force Base then filed a timely statement explaining its allegations of nonnegotiability, as required by 5 U.S.C. § 7117(c)(3) (Supp. IV 1980). App. 17-33. Following its receipt of the Agency statement on November 21, 1979, Local 1167 had fifteen days to file a response. 5 U.S.C. § 7117(c)(4) (Supp. IV 1980). However, Local 1167 failed to meet this time limit when it responded on December 10, 1979, nineteen days after its receipt of the Homestead Air Force Base statement. App. 34-39. 7 The FLRA issued its Decision and Order on September 18, 1981. National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 1167 (Homestead Air Force Base), 6 F.L.R.A. No. 105 (1981). Because the response by Local 1167 to the Agency statement was untimely, the Authority refused to consider it in reaching its decision, id., slip op. at 1, and accepted the factual representations made by Homestead Air Force Base. With respect to the Milestone Charts mentioned in the proposed Article 12.1, the FLRA stated: 8 (T)he Agency has explained that such charts are internal management recommendations, developed from feasibility studies, used by management officials in determining whether to contract out. Since this explanation is uncontroverted, it is adopted for purposes of this decision. 9 Id., slip op. at 4. With respect to the pre-bid and the bid-opening conferences mentioned in the proposed Article 12.3, the FLRA stated: 10 The Agency states that the pre-bid and bid-opening conferences are wholly management related meetings at which the management aspects of the contracting out issue are either discussed or acted on, and which occur after the union has been afforded the opportunity to comment on the contracting out proposal. Since this explanation of the purpose and function of these conferences is uncontroverted, it is adopted for purposes of this decision. 11 Id., slip op. at 7. The FLRA also accepted the representation of Homestead Air Force Base that the proposed Article 12.3 was intended to permit the submission of views by Union officials in the pre-bid and bid-opening conferences. Id. 12 Based on the Agency explanations of the Milestone Charts, the bid conferences and the Union's intent with respect to Article 12.3, the FLRA ruled that the relevant portions of these two proposals were nonnegotiable. The Authority held that the last sentence of Article 12.1 was nonnegotiable because it would improperly involve Local 1167 in management's internal deliberative process and would directly affect( ) the exercise of management's rights under section 7106(a)(2)(B) to make determinations with respect to contracting out. Id., slip op. at 5; see 5 U.S.C. § 7106(a)(2)(B) (Supp. IV 1980). The Authority also rejected the negotiability of the first sentence of Article 12.3, reasoning that Local 1167's involvement in managerial deliberations and discussions ... would directly interfere with management's rights under the Statute to make determinations with respect to contracting out. National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 1167, 6 F.L.R.A. No. 105, slip op. at 7. 13 Local 1167 filed a timely petition for review of the FLRA Decision and Order, limiting its challenges to the italicized portions of the two proposals set forth above. This court has jurisdiction pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 7123 (Supp. IV 1980).