Jay Daniels: BIA furloughs another bad step in mismanagement

BIA is proposing to furlough employees for one day each pay period through the remainder of the fiscal year through September 30, 2013 to offset funding shortages supposedly created under the sequestration bill. BIA has suspended all travel and training, and frozen vacant positions meaning that all vacancies can't be filled. This seems a little extreme. Common sense says that if you suspend travel and training plus filling vacant positions, why would you need to furlough current employees? Travel and training costs amount to approximately 30 percent of overall BIA expenses. Furloughing employees maybe will save approximately $9.6 million, but freezing travel and training will save almost that much along with savings from current vacancies.

Vacant positions are a common issue as many BIA positions constantly are vacant. They usually cover these vacancies by detailing other BIA staff into these positions because they deem these positions critical. The detail means that someone is promoted with a temporary pay increase into the position and are provided travel costs, per diem and lodging paid for by the BIA. High priced costs to send someone into a location to temporarily cover a position which is vacant.