Washington

Is the fire department at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) essential to the agency's core mission? And what about its grant support staff? The Bush administration's suggestion that these and thousands of other NIH jobs might be contracted out to the private sector is drawing fire from Democrats in Congress.

“The scientific mission [of the NIH] is at risk because of a misguided privatization plan that meddles with scientists, opens the door to unnecessary security threats, and seriously undermines morale and productivity,” says a 20 October letter to administration officials, signed by Representative Henry Waxman (Democrat, California) and four senators and congressmen from Maryland, where the NIH is based.

The letter was addressed to Joshua Bolten, chief of the White House budget office, and Tommy Thompson, head of the Department of Health and Human Services, to which the NIH belongs. It criticizes a government-wide initiative that asks agencies to determine which of their jobs might be done more efficiently by the private sector, and then initiate competitions with private bidders to determine who will do a better and cheaper job. The Bush administration is committed to the competitions, but they have worried some government scientists, who say that research agencies require skills that are not available from outside (see Nature 424, 478; 200310.1038/424478b).

Waxman's letter says the competitions are draining resources and hampering the NIH's core mission. It adds that the agency is spending $15 million on job reviews, and that NIH employees have already spent 100,000 hours preparing for competitions. The agency also plans to put some 4,000 jobs — including some scientific roles — up for bidding by 2005, the letter claims.

Health department spokesman Bill Pierce says Thompson is merely trying to ensure that the government saves as much money as possible. “Very few people would say it would not be a worthy goal for the NIH to do things more efficiently,” Pierce adds.

Pierce says the government has to ensure that federal dollars are well spent. The NIH, Pierce notes, has won both competitions held this year, and will therefore retain its grant-support staff and infrastructure managers. “For the NIH to be doing its job better and more efficiently, but still within the NIH, is very positive,” he says.