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

Heading: Negotiability of the Proposals

Text: 23 The obligation of a federal agency to bargain with the exclusive representative of its employees over the conditions of employment does not extend to the agency's exercise of the management rights declared in section 7106(a) of the Civil Service Reform Act. 5 U.S.C. § 7106(a) (Supp. IV 1980). Included in these express management rights is the authority to make determinations with respect to contracting out. Id. § 7106(a)(2)(B). At the same time, section 7106(b) provides that section 7106(a) does not preclude negotiations about the procedures which ... the agency will observe in exercising any authority. Id. § 7106(b)(2). Thus, Title VII and § 7106 establish a balance between the nonnegotiable substantive rights of management and the negotiable procedures to be followed when management exercises its substantive rights. Veterans Administration Medical Center v. FLRA, 675 F.2d 260, 262 (11th Cir. 1982). 24 In the present case, the FLRA determined the negotiability of Local 1167's proposals under the Authority's direct interference test. See Department of Defense v. FLRA, 659 F.2d 1140, 1159-60 (D.C.Cir.1981), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 102 S.Ct. 1443, 71 L.Ed.2d 658 (1982). 8 Based on the factual record before it, the Authority concluded that the release of Agency deliberative memoranda under the proposed Article 12.1 would impair the Agency's decisionmaking process regarding contracting out. 9 Similarly, the Authority concluded that the participation of Local 1167 representatives at bid conferences under the proposed Article 12.3 would directly interfere with Agency deliberations. We cannot say that these conclusions were unreasonable. Congress intended the needed judgments to be made, not by this court, but by the Authority. Id. at 1161. Therefore, because the Authority's judgment in this case was not arbitrary or capricious, we affirm it. 10