Contracting Competency Assessment

 23 May 2008

MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT (MOA)

ON

Department of Defense (DoD) Contracting Competency Assessment

1.      American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Council 214 and Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC), hereafter referred to as the Union and Management, hereby enter into this Memorandum of Agreement regarding subject assessment as it applies to bargaining unit employees covered by the Master Labor Agreement (MLA) between the parties.

2.      The DoD Contracting Competency Assessment is a comprehensive data gathering initiative aimed at determining the distribution of key knowledges, skills, and abilities across the DoDcontracting community.  It seeks to assess the current workforce according to the recently developed “Contracting Competency Model.”  The assessment will be used to target training and development opportunities to improve the overall performance of the contracting community.  The assessment is two-fold.  Employees will be asked to assess their own competencies.  Supervisors will be asked to assess the employees they supervise.  The paired assessments will be averaged and incorporated into a DoD “inventory of competencies.”

3.      The Parties agree to proceed with the competency assessment subject to the following provisions:

a.       It is agreed that a high participation rate will provide more accurate and detailed results, but it is also agreed that participation will be strictly voluntary.  This will be clearly communicated to each employee invited to participate.  Management agrees not to coerce employees to participate, nor to penalize an employee in any way for declining to participate.

b.      An employee’s individual self-assessment will be treated as confidential personal information releasable only by the employee him/herself.  Supervisors will not have access to an employee’s self assessment unless voluntarily disclosed by the employee.  Administrators of the assessment data will protect the confidentiality of individual responses and will guarantee that results are only reported at “aggregate” levels.  Individual assessment results will not be provided.  The level of aggregate results will be reported at the Command/Installation level, but in some instances assessment results may be reported at Wing/Group level.

c.       The assessment is not intended and will not be used as an instrument of performance management.  Supervisors will not retain or use a competency assessment to develop mid-term performance feedback or an annual performance appraisal.  Upon the request of an employee, it is permissible for the supervisor to discuss competency assessments submitted for that employee.

d.      Employees will be given duty time to submit a self-assessment.

f.       Management will notify the Union and local unions when assessment results are available to be discussed.  At the request of the union, a briefing on the results of the assessment survey will be provided when available.  The union will be informed before the workforce is briefed on the assessment results.

4.      All remedies available under the MLA or 5 U.S.C. 71 will remain available to the parties if concerns cannot be cooperatively resolved.

For Management                                                          For the Union