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    Labor Management Relations Glossary

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    Contract Bar

    The incumbent union is protected from challenge by a rival union if there is an agreement in effect having a term of not more than three years, except during the agreement's "open period"--i.e., 105 to 60 days prior to the expiration of the agreement. See § 7111(f)(3) and 5 CFR 2422.12 (d) and (e) regarding contracts of 3 years or less or contracts of more than 3 years, respectively. Compare with election bar and certification bar.

    Contracting Out

    A right reserved to management by § 7106(a)(2)(B). It includes the right to determine the criteria governing the exercise of the right. For example, a proposal permitting contracting out only if the agency can demonstrate that contracting out would be "economically efficient, effective to the mission, or in the best interest of the Federal Government" directly interferes with the right to contract out. 45 FLRA No. 122. Similarly, prohibiting the contracting out of a function that had undergone a RIF for a year after the effective date of the RIF interferes with the right to contract out. 49 FLRA No. 84, #10.

    Attempts to enforce the contracting-out requirements of Office of Management and the Budget (OMB) Circular A-76 through the negotiated grievance procedure have been found to be prohibited by the Circular, a Governmentwide regulation, in IRS v. FLRA, 996 F.2d 1246 (D.C. Cir. 1993), 48 FLRA No. 15 (#17), 52 FLRA No. 70, and 52 FLRA No. 125.

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