Human Resource Professionals Urge Congress to Keep “Basic Pilot” Voluntary for Federal Contractors

Washington, D.C. -- In a letter delivered today to all U.S. Senators, twelve leading trade, professional and educational associations representing human resource experts and employers from across all sectors of the U.S. economy called on Congress to improve the federal employment verification system – known as Basic Pilot – before it expires next year, rather than require all federal contractors to participate in the system now.

The appropriations process is being used to circumvent normal legislative procedure, with policy “riders” attached to the following appropriations bills:

H.R. 3161 – Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration
H.R. 3093 – Commerce, Justice, Science
H.R. 3043 – Labor, Health and Human Services, Education
H.R. 3074 – Transportation, Housing and Urban Development

The twelve organizations have called for the removal of these riders, in addition to a similar rider to the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill, which has passed both houses of Congress, and should be removed in conference committee.

We endorse the concept of a secure, reliable electronic employment verification system. However, Basic Pilot is not ready to meet the challenge of immediately increasing its participant level to include an estimated 200,000 federal contractors – more than a 10-fold increase over current usage. Basic Pilot’s significant “non-confirmation” rate would result in the erroneous rejection of significant numbers of U.S. citizens and permanent residents, resulting in a lengthy bureaucratic ordeal for many, while adding an enormous burden on the Social Security Administration…

…Since the program remains a pilot, Basic Pilot is set to expire at the end of 2008.  This presents Congress with an opportunity to use the regular legislative process to transform the out-dated program into an appropriate employment verification system our country needs.  If carefully designed to incorporate state-of-the-art technologies, a federal electronic employment verification system can become a vital tool in ensuring that only authorized workers are added to U.S. payrolls.   Congress should not shortcut the deliberative process to require participation in what was designed as a voluntary program.

For a complete copy of the letter click here.

The letter was signed by the following organizations:
•    American Association of State Colleges and Universities
•    American Council on Education
•    American Council on International Personnel
•    The Association of American Universities
•    College and University Professional Association for Human Resources
•    HR Policy Association
•    International Public Management Association for Human Resources
•    NAFSA: Association of International Educators
•    National Association of Manufacturers
•    National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges
•    National Association of College and University Business Officers
•    Society for Human Resource Management

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