SEQUESTRATION-DRIVEN FURLOUGHS FOR NNSA FEDS UNLIKELY

While the Department of Defense is planning to address the impacts of sequestration with up to 11 furlough days for its civilian workforce, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s federal employees appear to be getting off easier. NNSA spokesman Josh McConaha said the agency is not planning any furloughs, having avoided a major impact to its budget through strategic hiring, a voluntary separation program, and cutbacks on support service contracts and federal travel. “While this has increased the workload on the staff who remain, we believe that this was the best approach available to see us through the current budget climate and hope that congress will support the President’s FY14 request,” McConaha said.

In contrast to the Pentagon, most of the NNSA’s work is performed by contractors across the weapons complex, and only a small portion of its workers, about 3,000, are federal employees. The agency’s contractors have also avoided the brunt of sequestration impacts thus far, with one of its hardest hit sites, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, postponing any decisions on furloughs or closure days until June after initially suggesting it would have to take action in April to address budget shortfalls.